During his 2008 State of the City address former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford declared "together we can do anything, divided we can do nothing."

The former mayor had a vision for the Magic City; to make the city grow by turning Birmingham into a destination city.

That vision included bringing a Mall of America into North Birmingham.

A Mall of America may not be in the cards today but even with the recent news that the city must close a $77 million budget hole projects like the Fair Park revitalization will continue.

But as Council President Roderick Royal explains, that's only because the project doesn't require additional city dollars. "It just so happens that project is already paid for. The issue is how to reimburse the city for the money that was used to pay for it."

Fair Park is being built out of money that was meant for a domed stadium. For now, that project appears to be indefinitely on hold.

Royal says the city must reimagine how to approach such a massive commitment. "One idea that has come up is to build the entertainment center first. So that might be the thing to do, because the tax revenue from building the entertainment center first may allow us to go forward."

And then there was Langford's plan to completely replace the city fleet through a lease to own program.

That plan appears to still be on as the new mayor, William Bell, showed off five new fire trucks and four new SUV's for the city fire department.

But the city must cut somewhere. So, the future of the x-o laptop program, the renovations of the Birmingham Zoo and the construction of a new baseball museum next to Rickwood Field could all be delayed or canceled in the future.

But for now Royal says the city will simply take each project one at a time. "I think the idea is to phase projects in and I don't think the idea is to cut projects out."