* Dean Olsen at the SJ-R has a comprehensive story on the $210 million renovation plan for the Statehouse’s west wing. You should read it all, but here’s an interesting little excerpt…
Also scheduled for removal is the north side drive next to the building. The drive features more than 100 parking spaces that put lawmakers and others with those spaces only a few steps away from the entrance doors.
The curved drive has been part of the Capitol grounds ever since the building was constructed over a 20-year period that ended in 1888. But modern-day concerns about car bombs, events such as the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and terrorist attacks on government facilities nationwide fueled plans to eliminate the drive, according to Eleni Demertzis, spokeswoman for Illinois House Republicans.
“Especially given everything that’s happening across the country, this is a huge issue I think that needs to be addressed as soon as possible,” she said.
The Capitol architect’s office is looking at ways to “memorialize” the north drive through paving or landscaping “to mimic it,” Aggertt said.
That drive made it really easy to drop people off and pick them up. Also, I’m now wondering what will happen to the parking spots of us lesser mortals.
- Ok - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 7:05 am:
It’s not like there is a shortage of parking. When you step back and look at the capital, it looks like a curved scar on the grounds when full with cars. I think this is really more of a asthetic thing than safety.
- Bruce( no not him) - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 8:20 am:
===I’m now wondering what will happen to the parking spots of us lesser mortals.===
I think there will be plenty of parking for journalists out at the State Fair Grounds. S/
- Transplant - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 8:28 am:
Great photo of the east end of the Capitol in the article
- Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 9:11 am:
Hope someone remembers to place a marker on the “porch” of the north entrance where a young state senator from Chicago would often stand having a fast smoke and gazing at the falling down State Armory and gravel parking lots of across the street.
When he returned a few years his motorcade used and parked on the north drive.
- Sonny - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 9:22 am:
Cool now do something with the acres of absurd surface lots.
- Skeptic - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 9:24 am:
“I’m now wondering what will happen to the parking spots of us lesser mortals.” Some of the potholes are big enough you could park one car over the other to save space.
- Chicago Cynic - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 9:30 am:
I’m sure that work is necessary, but man that’s going to be a pain in the butt for those of us that work in that building during session. And I get the concerns about the North Drive but they can be addressed through a variety of methods to keep the building secure. Not a fan of removing it altogether, even if I don’t have a coveted spot like Rich Miller does.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 10:03 am:
Used that drive for over 30 years. I understand the security concerns, but it has a lot of memories for me. Alas, all things change.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 10:29 am:
Anyone know what’s going to happen to that recently demolished state office building lot at the NE corner of College and Monroe? This mostly glass building used to have Governor’s Office of Citizens Assistance housed there among other agencies, but has been abandoned about last 2 years and its support beams had been deteriorating. That’s close enough to the Capitol to be used as extra parking.
- City Zen - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 11:25 am:
==“memorialize” the north drive==
Memorialize a circular driveway? The capital should be surrounded by greenspace.
- annonin - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 11:57 am:
The lack of development of the land on Edwards and alllllll of those surface lots really illustrate how IL gov’t misses the mark with transit infrastructure and planning. They shouldn’t want every staffer and every elected to drive to the capitol complex, but alas…
They could maybe make that space more attractive with green space or put a mixed use development on the south side of Edwards with parking underground, but nahhhh
- Your Mom - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 12:12 pm:
Those legislators who waited for the status of prime parking will never let it happen.
- Joe Schmoe - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 12:40 pm:
I’ve been to a lot of state capitol complexes and Illinois is one of the worst, after Alaska. Get rid of the north driveway, the old Spring Street driveway, clean up and landscape the lots on the north side of Monroe and you’ll have a much more appealing layout and plenty of parking for those who need it.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 1:02 pm:
==But modern-day concerns about car bombs, events such as the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and terrorist attacks on government facilities nationwide fueled plans to eliminate the drive==
Wasn’t the North drive and North entrance the same one where security guard Bill Wozniak was killed at in Sept. 2004?
- Miss Marie - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 1:04 pm:
“It’s not like there is a shortage of parking.” For legislative staff on session days, there definitely is a shortage of parking. There’s a lot of people who would park on the gravel lot who aren’t suppose to, and it takes away spaces that the staff is suppose to park at, so they have to walk further to get to work. Also during session, it’s usually staff that stays later than anyone else, leaving when it’s dark out. So yeah, it’s definitely a safely issue, too.
Once again, legislative staff will probably get the short end of the stick when the north drive is gone.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 1:05 pm:
==Get rid of the north driveway, the old Spring Street driveway, clean up and landscape the lots on the north side of Monroe==
Don’t forget also the vacant lots in the block southwest of the Howlett, bounded by Edwards, Spring, College and Cook streets. Court of Claims’s building, and another house are the buildings IIRC that still exist on that block; the rest are unusuable vacant lots.
- IllinoisBoi - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 3:43 pm:
“Don’t forget also the vacant lots in the block southwest of the Howlett, bounded by Edwards, Spring, College and Cook streets…” It’s impossible to forget one of the worst eyesores in Springfield –and right by the Capitol complex. How long has it been vacant? 40, 50 years? Rumor has it that it’s an ultra-toxic Superfund site. Who owns it?
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 5:44 pm:
== So yeah, it’s definitely a safely issue, too.==
And sadly, the area immediately around the Capitol Complex, and the rest of the Vinegar Hill neighborhood, are no longer areas I would feel safe at at night.
Plus if nothing else other than the current site of Pawn King is going into the old Vinegar Hill mall, then that can be torn down too. Pawn King will probably move to MacArthur with their other brother and sister pawn shops.
Maybe while they’re at it they can tear down Handy Pantry too as that’s an eyesore near the complex.
- MyTwoCents - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 5:52 pm:
If the primary concern was security, they also would be doing something about the west side of the Capitol between the Capitol & Stratton since any attack could theoretically target 2 buildings at once. But any changes to the north drive should be done as part of a comprehensive project for the entire Capitol Complex to address the entire parking situation.
IllinoisBoi, as for the vacant lot, doing a little research with Sangamon County records & the Secretary of State, the bulk of that area is owned by Spring & Edwards, LLC, which is managed by the Central Laborers’ Pension Fund.
- Advocate - Tuesday, Jul 13, 21 @ 7:06 pm:
As someone who has driven down by car to lobby at the Capitol, when you arrive there is no clear indication at all as to where a visitor is supposed to park. We do need to improve signage and such around the Capitol complex.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jul 14, 21 @ 7:56 am:
==“Don’t forget also the vacant lots in the block southwest of the Howlett, bounded by Edwards, Spring, College and Cook streets…” It’s impossible to forget one of the worst eyesores in Springfield –and right by the Capitol complex. How long has it been vacant? 40, 50 years? Rumor has it that it’s an ultra-toxic Superfund site. Who owns it?==
I just checked the southwest corner of Edwards and Spring at this lot on the Sangamon County Recorder’s land record search. With old photos of the site included. In 1967 a Marathon gas station existed at that site. Could underground gas tanks still exist at that site from that station, and have Superfund issues?
The station may have still existed as recently as 1987, according to a picture of the northwest corner of Cook and Spring that showed Spring and Edwards in the distance.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jul 14, 21 @ 7:59 am:
Also re: the vacant lot. I remember around early 2007 some developer (maybe it was Spring and Edwards LLC) wanted to build a laundromat and some other business (perhaps a convenience store) at the southeast corner of College and Edwards. But of course it never went anywhere.