What's interesting to me is that while the residential areas North of Springfield have always been much worse the commercial areas have always done much better. Lots more businesses, fewer empty buildings and while it certainty took a hit like the rest of us, no where near as bad as Main Street in Springfield. Attitudes of the local organizations (SPR to MetroNorth) back then certainty played a part in all that. Fortunately, SPAR is changing and is getting better.
Mr Lumb, well, we'll just say good luck with all that. Nothing has happened yet and I do not see it happening with him, maybe if someone better gets elected in his place, real progress can be made. In his defense, no council person has had the b... - tenacity - to go up against Code Compliance. Sad but very true. OK, Daniels sort of tried once but we were told by a couple of councilmen they could do nothing about MCCD - IE Kim Scott.
Without changing the script at MCCD, Springfield and it's sister communities will have a tough time getting to much further ahead with the abandoned house/ rolling fine issue. In fact, MCCD seems intent upon making the issues worse rather than better.
And what works for Springfield will certainly work for the areas surrounding it. In fact, the 26 million from NSP1 ( as one example) was supposed to address those issues in the areas surrounding Springfield, as well as Springfield itself. Can't you see the difference it made? (Neither can I). That's the other thing that needs changed. How those millions of federal dollars are spent - they need to be positive things, not tear down historic buildings or fund over priced developments. The decisions need to be moved to the people rather than the developers themselves. EPIC seemed like a move in the right direction, but has stalled badly with little hope of being properly moved forward.
The best thing is the parks. Next we need fixed rail and the development and increased need for density it will bring. Until then, I doubt we will see any real progress other then what we are seeing today. A great group of spirited and often younger people coming into Springfield on a daily basis.