Reinventing Springfield
by Bill Dusty
The real downtown Springfield
Springfield has been struggling economically for decades, thanks in no small part to the short-sightedness and outright corruption of its past leaders. For over forty years, now, Springfield has been slapping on band aids in response to a changing job market and an ever-increasing poverty rate. While other cities and towns have looked to alternative industries to prop up their economies, Springfield instead turned to state welfare solutions in order to retain a population that would have otherwise gone down as residents moved away in search of employment elsewhere. Social aid heaped upon more social aid has been the highlight of such efforts, with “sales pitches” that focused on low-income housing initiatives and convenient access to free services – all of which didn’t create a single job (except for our hard working politicians and their friends and relatives), but sure did rake in the region’s poor. But that was okay, too, because all Springfield’s leaders really cared about was keeping up the city’s population in order to get as much state aid as possible. It’s been so much easier, after all, just to live off of the state’s life support system than it is to establish a new economic base for the city.
This policy of bringing Springfield down to virtual Third World status has been long in the making. Going back to the early 1990s soon-to-be disgraced Springfield City Councilor Francis Keough and then-Mayor Mary Hurley recognized the magnitude of the damage being done by bringing in so much low-income housing to the city’s already struggling communities. “We’re becoming a city of subsidies where the poor are being warehoused,” complained Keough in a Boston Globe story at the time. Nearly two decades later, then, the term “warehousing” would again be used to describe the city’s continued addiction to accommodating the region’s poor. (Ironically, Keough himself would later be indicted for taking advantage of the very same poor he warned about bringing in.)
By the end of the 1990s, the South End and North End sectors of Springfield would be crushed by the upsurge of poverty coming into the city. And by the beginning of the 2000s, “ghetto creep” would be surging into the neighborhoods of Forest Park. (One Springfield Finance Control Board member actually used the term “ghetto creep” to describe the influx of blight that was overwhelming the northern side Forest Park. He was roundly scolded by both the community and the press for making such an “insensitive” remark. The fact that the statement was true didn’t seem to really matter.)
And, of course, heaping disgust onto misery, it didn’t help that the city was so poorly led that the state had to finally move in and clean up the mess. That was back in 2004.
This sad recent history of Springfield has given critics all the ammunition they need to hammer away at the City of Homes. It’s a legacy so painful that even today’s truths can’t seem put a dent into long-held misconceptions.
After five years of work, the Springfield Finance Control Board brought the city back from financial ruin, and by 2009 the city was again operating under local rule. Several redevelopment projects have sprung up throughout the city – albeit largely financed by the federal government’s “stimulus” program that taxpayers will be making payments on for generations to come. Baystate Health, meanwhile, has almost single-handedly redeveloped the North End and continues to expand its medical center there.
Ongoing redevelopment along Main Street in Springfield's South End.
New trees, plant holders, and trash receptacles set along newly-poured sidewalks.
Springfield's past buried under the present: old street bricks are uncovered during street re-surfacing.
Back in 1998, the Springfield Business Improvement District was created with the goal of cleaning up the downtown’s streets and making the city look presentable to both workers and visitors. Today, largely as a result of their efforts, Springfield’s downtown streets are clean and well maintained. There is no sign of the “warfare” and bloodshed that anonymous online bashers continue to rant about.
At the Main & State Street intersection, across from the MassMutual Center.
Unfortunately, too, there is also little sign that the city has any kind of effective, centrally run marketing campaign in place to erase its sorry image. (Though rumor has it that such an endeavor is in the works.)
Throughout the northeast, cities that once based their local industry on manufacturing have since gone on to reinvent themselves, transforming their economies to fit the modern age. Cities such as Northampton, MA, and Keene, NH, are cultural oases. (I once came across a young mom and dad who brought their kids to downtown Northampton just to sight-see for the day.) More recently, Holyoke has taken some positive steps towards rebuilding its own downtown with initiatives to redevelop the canal district (including the building of a canal walk for visitors). Meanwhile, other cities have undertaken enormous projects to completely transform the infrastructure of their urban environment. Pittsfield, MA, introduced “Creative Pittsfield” a few years back as a new slogan to attract the Berkshire region’s artists, tourists and shoppers. But their effort didn’t end with a mere slogan. The small city established an Office of Cultural Development and went on to adapt its zoning and city ordinances to fit the new cultural emphasis. An entire district of the downtown was retrofitted to accommodate artists and entertainers.
But even as its neighbors work diligently to reinvigorate themselves, Springfield itself appears to be stuck in the past with such historically stale terms as the “City of Homes” or “City of Firsts,” both of which seem to look back longingly to bygone eras. (As if to say, “This is what we used to be! – sigh…”)
Springfield was the “City of Homes” back when wealthy people built grandiose Victorian homes – and lived in them. Now-a-days, most of those homes are either in disrepair or boarded up (if they still exist at all). Few people, save history buffs, are going to stroll the city’s residential streets today to marvel at its housing stock.
Springfield could still effectively use the “City of Firsts” theme to attract visitors – if only it had a plan to take advantage of that historical legacy. Currently, there isn’t one. (One idea could be to link the city’s various historical attractions into one large tour – either a physical one or a virtual one showcased online. Of course, it might take some sprucing up of both the route in between said attractions as well as the sites themselves. But Springfield has its museums, the Basketball Hall of Fame, Dr. Seuss’s famed Mulberry Street, the Duryea Brothers automobile test-drive route [Florence and Spruce Streets] and the Springfield Armory, just to name a few historical locations.)
New street signs are part of the South End redevelopment project.
Today, Springfield’s downtown is a beautiful place to visit. A lot of work has been done to both the Main Street and State Street corridors. What’s needed next is to get some support for the small businesses which line those streets. Leaders might want to start by lowering the outrageously high commercial tax rate (currently set at $39.25 per thousand, the highest rate in the state). For far too long the city’s leaders have looked upon small businesses as just another tax source rather than as avenues for local employment (which in turn would increase the number of taxpayers). Apparently envisioning their owners as wealthy individuals who can afford to be taxed to the highest degree, the truth is that the majority of small businesses in the city are sole proprietorships that can barely afford to pay their bills, never mind hire help.
And if businesses can’t afford to hire help, then the city is doing a pretty poor job of growing the tax base.
Springfield’s downtown could also use a heavy dose of the arts to help liven things up on the sidewalks. Currently, downtown “entertainment” primarily involves eating sodium-rich foods and getting drunk. Yes, there are great shows and events going on at Symphony Hall and the MassMutual Center, but in those cases a visitor’s travel route goes something like this: parking lot, venue, parking lot, home. There’s little going on to keep people strolling the sidewalks (especially during the daytime on weekends). One answer could be to open up student art galleries or working galleries where artists could show off their work. There are several vacant storefronts that could be put to good use as galleries and workshops, if only their owners could be talked into a good, workable deal. Galleries are easily set up – requiring for the most part just a fresh coat of paint on the walls and clean windows. They would make for good “place holders” for property owners until they could find permanent leasers, and the retail shops and restaurants to either side of them would greatly appreciate the company. (It’s also a good idea to have these small galleries band together in promoting their downtown presence, so visitors can easily stroll from one to the other.)
Events such as the upcoming 4th annual Hoop City Jazz and Art Festival, set to be held on July 9th, 10th and 11th in downtown Springfield this year, should become more commonplace in the city.
This building on Main Street would make an excellent first-floor gallery with a workshop on the second floor. The second floor windows would be ideal for large art displays.
Across the street, the Essence Bar & Grill does business at the former Sonoma Restaurant location.
Shops along Main Street, Springfield.
The hysterical cries about how dangerous downtown Springfield is are just a cynical myth.
As it happens, the president of NAI Plotkin Commercial Real Estate, Evan Plotkin, is a huge booster of the arts in Springfield. He’s been working with city officials for some time, now, on getting the city out of its cultural funk. City councilors Tim Rooke and John Lysak have also been proactive in targeting the arts for Springfield. Last year, Rooke organized a road trip to Pittsfield for a tour of that city’s arts initiative. And first-termer Lysak has been a longtime booster of the arts in Indian Orchard.
Speaking with Rooke last year after the Pittsfield trip, he lamented the fact that the then-City Council wasn’t interested in taking a similar route as Pittsfield. He’s more hopeful these days that the new Council will have a different view. “Maybe it was the messenger,” Rooke quipped – noting that he’s not the most popular guy in the privileged halls of city government. The first signs seem to be encouraging, as Rooke and Lysak are considering a trip similar to the Pittsfield getaway by going to Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and checking out that city’s arts initiative. New ward City Councilor Michael Fenton has also expressed an interest.
There will of course always be naysayers when it comes to such efforts. And not everyone on the City Council is hot about taking up the arts as an industry in Springfield. Just as there are many boosters out there, there are also very many critics who will insist that the city must first solve its many social ills before it ventures into such “frivolous” projects as the arts.
But that’s just narrow-minded thinking. Keeping Springfield on state-sponsored life support indefinitely and hoping for more and more taxpayer bailouts is not a recipe for future success. Springfield needs to finally stop complaining about the loss of its manufacturing base and move on.
It’s time for Springfield to reinvent itself.
LINKS:
- Springfield CityBlock Concerts
- Hoop City Jazz and Art Festival
- SBID Moves to Bring Arts to Springfield (Reminder story)
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- Holyoke Canal Walk
- Holyoke Creative Arts Center
- Holyoke league of Arts and Crafts
- Holyoke Heritage State Park
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- City of Pittsfield
- Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development
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- (model city) Pawtucket, RI, Arts Vision Plan
- Pawtucket Arts Festival.
- (model city) Paducah, KY Convention and Visitors Bureau
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15 Responses for “Reinventing Springfield”
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Excellent read, as usual.
Bill, I’m having trouble getting directions to the Holyoke Canal Walk. Can you help me out? (This seems to be a problem common to many such pedestrian amenities–you can’t find the darn things unless you were involved in developing them or they exist in your neighborhood.)
Sheila, I believe its the section of the canal facing Heritage State Park (opposite side). They have a website here – Friends of the Canalwalk
Your article brings up memories of stories told by my father, grandfather, grandmother and great Aunts and Uncles. My family has deep roots in Springfield. During our holiday picnics, I was an attentive youngster and would sit for hours, to just listen. They would reflect about growing up in the city and recall fascinating stories about manufacturing the Springfield rifle and Indian Motorcycles etc. It was fun to imagine my relatives as children sledding down Mulberry Street in the winter. Life seemed to be so simple and fun. I hope the city continues in the right direction. Someday I hope share the sights and history with my grandchildren.
Good piece. Im not sure why you seem to dichotomize seeking more state aid and encouraging private sector economic redevelopment? Shouldn’t city officials be agressively advocating for state aid equity AND exploring new industries? Isn’t there plenty of examples of efforts to “re-invent” Springfield, like the the Hall of Fame, efforts to partner with UMass life sciences, the small business efforts at STCC, even efforts to revitalize the downtown entertainment district. Shouldn’t private sector redevelopment be initiated and sheparded by the private sector? Why do we expect government to “re-invent” the city?
Jerold,
I have no problem with state aid, per se. My point is that the city focuses on state aid as an end-in-itself, not a means to an end.
You commented, “Shouldn’t city officials be aggressively advocating for state aid equity AND exploring new industries?”
The city should have been far more proactive in seeking out ways to improve its economy so that its budget is not so dependent on state aid. Period. Instead, it’s been milking the state and bawling about the loss of manufacturing jobs.
Aggressively advocating state aid equity? How about aggressively advocating job growth and exploring ways to not be so dependent on state aid?
In the past twenty or more years the city has actively sought to keep up the population (currently at about 152,000) almost entirely in order to get more state aid – as well as to keep its state rep. count where it is – rather than accept that the city would be more sustainable with a lower population. Logically, when the jobs left Springfield, the population should have decreased accordingly as residents left to find work elsewhere. This occurred in the 1960s and up to about mid-1970s, as the city population went from about 175,000-plus to the 150-160,000 range. Some people may not accept or particularly like that notion, but that is the natural course of economics.
However, after around the late seventies/early eighties, local leaders began a policy of artificially bumping up the population by providing increased low-income housing opportunities for the region’s poor. (I lived here after that policy began, and watched as one apartment complex after another went “affordable.” Before that time, young families – married and just starting out – lived in those apartments. Afterward, single teen-aged moms came in – along with their non-support-paying boyfriends – and subsequently transformed the complexes into mini ghettos. I’ll name two of them from back then: Spring Meadow Apartments [now known as "Spring Ghetto apartments"] and Allen Park apartments.) This is a policy that continues to this day. It is a fact – a *fact* – that the vast majority of poverty-stricken residents currently residing in Springfield today did not live here at the beginning of the 80s. Hell, a good percentage didn’t even live here at the beginning of the 90s.
I am sick and tired of city officials crying about how Springfield is suffering because of the loss of manufacturing jobs in the 1960s and 70s. This city’s currently impoverished state has nothing to do with those jobs going away all those many years ago. This city needs to stop bitching and start actively working to re-establish its economic base – something it should have been doing aggressively back in the 1970s.
I understand you’re going to dispute my positions on such matters, Jerold. But that’s simply a matter of opinion between a left-leaning guy and a right-leaning guy. Frankly, I think the Left loses the debate badly in light of the thirty-plus years they’ve been in power in this city and virtually brought it to its knees.
As far as “re-inventing” the city goes, I am speaking of the city’s currently poor reputation, as well as its poor job at promoting itself. Other cities promote not only their historic and cultural sites, but also their businesses and local events. This city does little of either. Instead, we want people to marvel at how affordable our housing is.
We have the BB Hall of Fame, and I’m of course not saying it’s not good for the city. What I’m saying is the city should tie it into an overall marketing campaign that also emphasizes this city’s other attractions. I live in the South End and frequent the Unos over by the BB Hall of Fame. I personally have chatted with very many visitors – either people passing through or tourists visiting the Hall of Fame. A grand total of NONE OF THEM had any idea the nation’s first Armory was right down the road. Never mind that we have a beautiful museum complex even closer still.
So yes, in answer to your question, it is the local gov.’s job to promote the city. As an example of this, I will note the City of Pittsfield’s Office of Cultural Development, which actively promotes the city’s theaters and business/non-profit-run fairs and festivals both locally and via that office’s Facebook page. The City of Boston also actively promotes the Red Sox and other arts and tourism events on its site. (Pawtucket, RI, is also in the midst of re-doing its website to promote the arts industry there.)
If a city wants to increase the job market and so increase its tax base, yes they damn well better help promote what’s going on there.
As far as working with the local colleges goes, I not only support and applaud those efforts, I wish there would be much more of them. I would like to see more college graduates be able to stay in Springfield to work here rather than having to move elsewhere to find jobs. I would also like to see an increased presence of college students visiting – and living in – the downtown. I’d like to see the city team up with our own colleges here so that students going to school here can be introduced to Springfield in a positive way.
I’ve been going to classes at STCC for the past 2 years. Do you have any idea how many young students I’ve talked to are actually *afraid* of the area outside of the STCC campus, and who also wouldn’t dare venture downtown because of what their parents told them about it?
That’s precisely what I’m talking about when I say Springfield needs to reinvent itself.
You write, “Frankly, I think the Left loses the debate badly in light of the thirty-plus years they’ve been in power in this city and virtually brought it to its knees.” I think you see left v. right where it doesn’t exist. There has never been much a of “left” in city politics and Beacon Hill’s “left” only emerges on hot button social issues.
There is nothing right or left about the need to balance public and private efforts at community development and economic revitalization. I’m an academic, and though I consider myself a liberal in my personal politics, my posts are intended to raise questions and offer alternative perspectives, not to “advocate” for anything. In Massachusetts, a “D” after one’s name is hardly definitive evidence of a progressive ideological approach.
I just think you expect too much from the local government and not enough from the local residents. Shouldn’t Springfield’s business leaders be expected to do the heavy lifting on this? After all, local government’s aren’t supposed to manage the economy, are they?
I left Springfield because of a what I saw as a failure of the citizenry, not simply the government. Sub-standard schools result far more (in my opinion) from private irresponsibility than from public corruption.
BTW, It appears that the NYTimes resident conservative and I have been thinking alike lately- http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/birthers-polls-and-public-ignorance/?nl=opinion&emc=tyb1
Jerold,
There has been a huge politically correct, left wing socialist presence in Springfield’s society and leadership for the past 30 or more years. The fact that you don’t notice it is telling. (Are you assuming liberal people get elected into local politics and then don’t enact liberal policies? Certainly you’re not trying to say Springfield residents aren’t liberal?)
As I’ve often noted: The reason why liberals don’t see liberal bias – in the media, politics, entertainment, or wherever liberalism holds sway – is because they themselves are liberal. When a liberal person reads a liberally-slanted story, he just thinks it’s a normal, reasonable article. (Works the same way for conservatives reading/watching conservative material.) Same goes for local government politics. When a liberal sees gov. raising taxes and imposing fees on business, or enacting “hate speech” legislation, or he sees politicians actively courting union support (a routine occurrence in these parts), he thinks, “Well, that sounds reasonable to me.”
Well, I’m glad you’re at least now admitting you’re liberal, Jerold. And I’m sorry, but it really does show in your writing. (You would have never bothered commenting on my Arizona post unless my conclusions bothered you.)
- Bill
Thanks for another great article, Bill. Over the last several years, Kimball Towers Condominium at 140 Chestnut Street in Springfield has been embracing the ideas you espouse of attempting to build an art community in town.
We have held several art or combined art and craft shows in our lobby and community rooms for the public, and we intend to do so in the future. For instance, we plan to host an art show this year on September 11 and 12 combined with a real estate open house.
Our resident owner Morocco Flowers will lead our art show for those days and plans to show works of local school-aged children. We hope this will generate visits from parents and teachers into the city. Mr. Flowers is a renowned photographer and has led art events in Boston, where he lived before coming to Springfield.
This show of the work of children will be the weekend after Labor Day and coincides with the wonderful and traditional nearby Mattoon Street Arts and Craft Show. We have advertised cooperatively with Mattoon Street for several art events and will do so in September.
We also are in early planning stages of a celebration of 100 years of the Hotel Kimball in March 2011. We may well combine our celebration with another art show. Perhaps you have seen on Apremont Triangle, where the Kimball Condos sit, that BID is promoting one of the buildings as potential artist studios.
Local businesses, owners and residents believe in the notions in your wonderful article. Please keep writing about us.
Thanks, Brad. Good luck to you folks! I’ll try to swing by during the Mattoon festival.
I have one word that can go a long way for reinvention. It is not happening today, tomorrow, or even next year, but as God as my witness it will.
F I L M
Bill,
I swear we must be in the same vicinity often enough w/o knowing it because much of what you write could have been taken directly from one of my many daily rants. I find your responses to Jerold particularly interesting because I see much of the same disconnect w/ reality in his posts that I believe you do. I find it both laughable and incredibly irritating when a self described ‘academic’ lectures busines owners, like myself, as to what our responsibilities are. Because let’s face it, around here, if you belong to the “profession” know as academia, there’s a better than even chance that your paycheck is at least partially funded by taxpayer dollars. So apparently, on top of figuing out how to deal w/ the constant tax hikes and fee increases, it’s also our job as business owners to figure out how to market the city in spite of the incompetence and disregard of it’s political “leadership” It’s hard enough trying to pay our bills, keep people employed and jump through all of the myriad rules and regulations put forth by people who think they know better than we do. Now, according to Jerold, I have to figure out how to help the arts in Springfield too. My girlfriend already thinks I don’t pay enough attention to her. With these new added responsibilities of mine, shee’s really going to be pissed.
Adam,
Your girlfriend’s name wouldn’t happen to be Kate, would it?
Ya, that’s her. Next round is on me.
Brilliant article. You hit the nail on it’s head – lack of genuine leadership for the past 30+ years has done incredible harm to this once beautiful and thriving city.
Building an economy on “subsidized housing” and state aid is appalling and doomed to fail. Businesses will not locate here, families will not move here, money will not be invested here if all we do is keep relying on state aid to keep us afloat.
The cities that have survived the “de-urbanization of America” are those whose leaders were innovative, creative, daring, willing to change, to try something new, to find new sources for job creation and economic development.
Springfield has many wonderful attributes and you are right – our leaders are absolutely clueless on how to capitalize on those assets – the museums, the Armory, The Basketball Hall of Fame, Historic Districts, etc. Marketing those assets is beyond our City leaders’ abilities … even recognizing that they SHOULD be marketing those assets is beyond their abilities.
The folks down at City Hall are the perfect example of insanity – they just keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
New sidewalks … nice. New flower planters … also nice. New curbs … nice too. None of it will bring capital investment, new businesses or middle income families to Springfield. It is just spending money for the sake of spending it. It looks great, but 2 years from now main street will be as desolate as it is today.
Tim Rooke has the right idea on the creation of an arts district. He has done his research and it behooves council to get behind him on this one. THAT would be money well spent.
Great article. Great insight. Great ideas on how to change the tide…
Now if only the powers in City Hall would hear what you are saying …