How Fast is Springfield Dying Now?
by Bill Dusty
Main Street redevelopment - Springfield, MA, 2010
The Forbes report judged cities based on “fleeing populations, painful waves of unemployment and barely growing economies.”
One metropolitan area that also made the list was Springfield, MA – this despite the fact that the region had shown a slight increase in population of 2,643 from 2000 to 2008, according to the Forbes study. That slight population increase, however, did not mean the area’s economic fortunes had improved. There was only a modest, 1% annualized GDP growth during the same time period. Unemployment, meanwhile, rose from 3% in 2000 to 5.9% in 2008, according to the study.
Even though the Forbes study actually included the entire Springfield Metropolitan NECTA (New England city and town area) in its results – an area that includes over two dozen other cities and towns in Western Massachusetts – Springfield leaders took the Forbes study as a slap at Springfield proper. Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno even went so far as to fire off a letter to Forbes disputing their listing of Springfield as a dying city.
“Reading the recent Forbes article about the ten fastest dying cities led us to think about Mark Twain,” read the letter, “less about the man and more about one of his quotes: ‘The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.’ In the case of Springfield, Massachusetts, we would argue that Forbes not only exaggerated but also miss-read [sic] the vital signs.”
The letter went on to argue that while the Springfield MSA’s population edged up by over 2,600 according to the study, two other cities that did not make the list, Boston and Philadelphia, showed declines in the same time span. “We’re particularly puzzled by this one,” the letter read.
Going over other data from the Forbes report and comparing it to other cities around the country, the letter sought to bring Springfield into a more promising light by claiming that, despite having suffered severe financial problems which eventually led to the state bringing in the Finance Control Board to run the city, things were actually looking pretty good for the City of Homes.
The letter was signed by Sarno and then-Chief Development Officer David B. Panagore.
Of course, we’ve all read these kinds of letters from our leaders before. In all probability, former Springfield Mayor Mike Albano was issuing such cheery releases even as the city’s financial foundation was crumbling into oblivion.
It’s unfortunate that our leaders have had to so often dispute the widely reported (and accepted) failings of our city. It’s even more unfortunate that Springfield continues to languish under a brutally high poverty rate – estimated at over 25% in 2007 – with middle income and higher residents continuing their exodus from the city even as our leaders continue to cheer-lead Springfield into its grave.
Back in 2008, even as Mayor Sarno’s letter was being sent to the mean-spirited folks at Forbes Magazine, the city was busy paving the way for yet another low-income housing project for the city, this one being located in a Forest Park neighborhood that had been struggling to stave off the creep of inner-city poverty for years. (The project, which also abuts the impoverished South End district, opened this year, much to the delight of city officials and other supporters of the Poverty Lobby, including the Republican Newspapers.) And so even as it criticized the unemployment and stagnant economic growth numbers issued by Forbes, it was in fact signing off on an increase in poverty in the city of over 100 families in the Forest Park neighborhood, a decision which is sure to bring even more hardship to an already struggling school system.
Meanwhile, since 2008, as the rest of the country has plunged into the worst economic recession since the 1930s, Springfield, too, has slid into economic decline, going from a 5.9% poverty rate in 2008 to 10.4% as of July, 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And yes, while it’s true that the state and federal governments have pumped millions of dollars into the pockets of construction companies the past couple of years so that we can have nice new sidewalks and newly paved streets in downtown Springfield, none of it has provided any long-term jobs for the residents of the city, and the boarded-up, vacant storefronts lining the South End in particular continue to put a damper on the idea that anything has changed at all for the people who live here.
See you at the funeral?
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7 Responses for “How Fast is Springfield Dying Now?”
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Great post. I’m amazed at how the Powers That Be can keep bringing low income housing and other poverty-attractors to Springfield and somehow think that it’s going to save the city. It’s not. They need to reduce the number of housing projects and social programs and other things that attract poverty if they want to save the city. People who work don’t have time to, say, shoot people bringing home Chinese takeout.
We all know the 10.4% unemployment figure is woefully inaccurate to the low side because of the specific parameters that are used for it. If we counted all of the people in Springfield who do not work, period, my educated guess is that the true number would be upwards of 20 or 25%. And this current economic situation aside, the main reason is that quilt ridden white liberal lawmakers make it too damn easy for certain people not to work, (i,e, anyone w/ a membership card to victimship).
It’s also true that many Latinos are still not able to find good-paying jobs here because of their inability to speak English. Springfield’s inner-city neighborhoods saw a large influx of Latinos in the 1990s and 2000s, but many were unable to find skilled work because of the language barrier. (And there are few if any unskilled, good-paying jobs in Springfield.) And that’s not just my opinion: The Federal Reserve Bank performed a study a couple years back that came to that same conclusion. Unemployment among Latino males at that time (I think it was 2006) stood at about 18%. Hispanic females fared even worse, at around 24%. And that was *before* the recession. Here’s a link to that study (pdf format).
I agree with what has been said to a point. I tend to blame not the “poverty lobby” per se, but rather the construction lobby. While one cannot discount the importance of the industry, in economic depressed places (and Springfield is no exception nationally or in Mass), they are as much as anybody pushing projects down our throats we may or may not need or at least not need them on the scale ultimately built . Consider, the school building authority, the Big Dig, casinos, public housing, and more.
Even Longmeadow is not immune. While they can afford the cost from a strictly financial point of view (but they get MSBA money, too), their high school renovation project will cost way more than it should have had they just kept the school in good repair or performed minor renovations/additions periodically. Very possibly the same good be said for Putnam and Minnechaug. I know Bill wrote something on this subject recently. But as Longmeadow illustrates, it is a problem that transcends the city and happens in supposedly “healthy” places like Boston, too. Have you seen some of the over development on the South Boston waterfront or near Fenway Park? There is a market for some, but not all of it.
Finally, you can blame the construction industry (and real estate to a point) for the country having too damn much retail space. Surveys say that before the recession America was thoroughly “overmalled.” Indeed, every time I heard that a new retail project going up anywhere in Metro Springfield, I shivered, because there simply is not the market and all it will do it kill the existing venues, creating, yes more eyesores.
I understand and agree that there is a social harm being done by saturating ourselves with social services and harming the cities overall finances and competitiveness. However, I point to something more sinister than a naive eagerness to hastily correct the problem.
Another great article Bill. Sure wish we had someone strong, independent and not beholding to anyone, any group or any party to run for Mayor. We need leadership … not someone who continues with the status quo and expects (hopes for?) a different result. In other words, someone with brains and vision.
It would be a breath of fresh air to have leaders who recognize that spending millions on redoing the sidewalks on Main street is not enough to bring middle income families, small businesses and investment into Springfield. Great sidewalks. Too bad they are lined with boarded up stores and buildings falling down. Too bad businesses keep leaving the City. Too bad middle class flight is accelerating. But hey, let’s just keep pumping millions into do nothing projects and the cultivation of poverty.
Keep up the good work Bill. Investigative journalism is vital to an informed population and thank goodness you are providing it.
A large part of springfield’s problems is the corruption and incompetence in city hall. A friend that used to work there said you hear people talking/bragging about the “mafia” daily and how officials lavishly spend the taxpayers dollars on useless projects because they get *wink* *wink* cash kickbacks.. If they get caught, or don’t play ball, they “resign” or abruptly “retire”..
Great post. I’m amazed at how the Powers That Be can keep bringing low income housing and other poverty-attractors to Springfield and somehow think that it’s going to save the city. It’s not. They need to reduce the number of housing projects and social programs and other things that attract poverty if they want to save the city. People who work don’t have time to, say, shoot people bringing home Chinese takeout.