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Newly released census figures show a slight drop in the Springfield-area population the last three years, a trend that is reflected in most other similar-sized Illinois cities.

Estimates for 2015 released this week put the local population at 211,156. The figure is down by less than 1 percent from a 2012 peak of 212,019 and still above the 2010 figure of 210,170. The estimate covers the Springfield metro area of Sangamon and Menard counties. […]

President and CEO Chris Hembrough of The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce said the numbers highlight the importance of focusing on retention and expansion of existing companies, while also trying to bring jobs in from outside the area. He added that housing initiatives intended to attract younger workers — especially in the health-care field — are an important component.

A variety of local demographic studies have identified “urban living” among the preferences for young workers.

“We’re continuing to facilitate housing developments in downtown Springfield and other urban offerings,” said Hembrough, “because we know that has the potential to help keep millennials here.”

* The Question: Aside from generics like “creating jobs” (not denigrating that, just saying we all agree), what should Springfield do to keep and/or attract young people? No snark, please. Thanks

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:46 pm

Comments

Champaign has a great neighborhood of quality restaurants and night life. I was there again Saturday and it was filled with grad and post-grad students and young faculty types.

So, instead of planting fast food joints everywhere, how about setting up a similar district here for younger people? I don’t mean a bunch of loud college bars, either. Maybe move the ballpark out of its land-locked residential neighborhood and use it as an anchor.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:50 pm
The state should figure out how to incentivize entrepreneurship in small towns and mid-sized cities rather than seemingly focusing all attention on large existing corps and startups based in the city.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:51 pm
more late night dining options downtown, free wifi downtown (prob never going to happen), downtown UIS law school and later liquor licenses to live music venues

Comment by frisbee Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:51 pm
===Champaign has a great neighborhood of quality restaurants and night life. I was there again Saturday and it was filled with grad and post-grad students and young faculty types. ===

Was at the Quality Beer Bar’s beer garden in their “alley” last week and was very impressed with how European that whole block felt

Comment by frisbee Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:52 pm
=Champaign has a great neighborhood of quality restaurants and night life=

Yes!

At times, and in places, Bloomington/Normal does to. they have a few nice festivals too.

Comment by JS Mill Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:54 pm
Not just Springfield, but all of Illinois: major property tax reform. It eats the disposable income like the Ebola virus.

Comment by Westward Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:55 pm
Providing what the people want in housing in amenities is typically a market reaction to a demand. The best thing government can do is to be flexible with zoning and permits to allow mixed use development to happen in a way that will preserve and enhance the value of surrounding property.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:56 pm
The ballpark is a good idea. Also UIS should have a campus and dorms downtown

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:56 pm
Springfield should embark on a municipal broadband initiative like they did in Chattanooga, Tennessee (and which is currently being explored in Jacksonville and Bloomington if the articles I read are correct). Not only would that bring broadband competition, and much needed revenue to the city - but high-speed internet is the one thing every young person wants. No one wants DSL and the cable companies are a joke. Chattanooga has fiber to the home at gigabit speeds. Truly remarkable. That’s what Springfield should do.

Comment by Name Withheld Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:57 pm
Growing UIS student population would entice development and as mentioned before, free WiFi would be big.

Comment by pool boy Monday, May 23, 16 @ 1:59 pm
More apartments in the downtown area. That is where the nightlife is, and makes the area more attractive to young singles. The city blocked a developer last year from building a new apartment building for SIU/UIS med/grad students.

Comment by D'town Springfield Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:00 pm
One of the ongoing problems is that Springfield has never had a strong plan for its downtown. Our central business district is dominated by state offices with very few retail businesses other than restaurants. If the only thing driving commerce in the CBD is restaurants, there won’t be growth. Most people today think, and I tend to agree, that Springfield’s actual CBD is on West Wabash is continuing to move South and West. So, while there is nothing wrong with having more than one CBD, right now ours is not conducive to growing the community at large since two-thirds of the population have to commute 25-30 minutes to get to our retail area.

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:00 pm
If anybody says more parking they are missing the point.

Champaign and Bloomington created the blueprint, but Springfield refuses to follow it. Springield only hope is more government jobs while Champaign and Bloomington transformed their economy to make it more diverse. The Springield Chamber of Commerce wants more government jobs, in this day and age that is not happening.

I would argue to find a way to connect the two hospitals to the Capital and downtown area. By connecting these three you tear down parking garages and old buildings for new housing, restaurants and bars for young people to stay in downtown. I would also advocate to build the new Springield high school in downtown Springield not on the west side. The bigger problem is to create incentives for builders to rebuild downtown Springield not just keep building on the west side. Because Springield is investing only on one side of town while ignoring everything and everyone else.

Fifteen years ago Champaign looked just as bad as downtown Springield did. A strong plan and commitment to invest resources can change that, but I don’t think it will happen.

Comment by Almost the Weekend Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:01 pm
Make downtown more walkable and bikeable. Bring more residential development to downtown. Create a true urban environment.

Comment by Pothole Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:01 pm
What should Springfield do to keep and/or attract young people?

“Champaign has a great neighborhood of quality restaurants and night life *** how about setting up a similar district here for younger people?”

I agree 100% (Of course, cold beer and live music are my default solution to most of life’s problems.)

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:03 pm
===Not just Springfield, but all of Illinois: major property tax reform. It eats the disposable income like the Ebola virus.===

Feel better? Ugh.

To the Post,

More residential downtown would then encourage more businesses and entertainment to consider investing when more and customers live within walking distance.

I see Springfield as a hybrid between Madison and Champaign, just not as organized to maximize the General Assembly and UIS givens so close to downtown.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:04 pm
I like the ball park idea….North Mansion Block is key to a good plan.

Comment by Gordon Gecko Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:06 pm
===find a way to connect the two hospitals to the Capital and downtown area===

Agreed. It could be something like the Central West End in STL. There’s a vast wasteland between downtown and the hospitals that ought to be utilized much better. Also, plenty of good housing stock in that area.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:07 pm
Springfield’s downtown will never fit a millennial’s idea of urban. Although a bit older, I’m a transplant and I still dislike it. Even though I was a suburban kid, I liked being able to head downtown in less than an hour to do something fun. Springfield just doesn’t have the variety of larger cities. The only thing I see bringing millennials here is good job prospects. Sadly I don’t think we’ll see those for a good while.

Comment by Me too Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:09 pm
Does Springfield have a decent Uber or taxi service?

Comment by blue dog dem Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:09 pm
I don’t live in Springfield, but I agree that the restaurant scene could use some sprucing. There are some notable exceptions, but it’s easier to find chain restaurants than it is to locate good quality, locally-owned places. As a visitor, I’d much rather patronize a local spot.

Comment by Dome Gnome Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:10 pm
Smarter growth would help. The city keeps expanding geographically leaving behind hollowed out neighborhoods. Limiting new development provides an incentive to redevelop old neighborhoods, which many who are younger like. It’s also time to think about mixed use zoning, where stores, bars and restaurants are walkable from residential neighborhoods, where it isn’t necessary to drive everywhere all the time. I’ve seen beautiful new neighborhoods where the design was driven by “new urbanism” and they were much more attractive and livable than the unimaginative cookie cutter suburban style development that dominates the Springfield area. Also, consider adding “suburban” bus service, increased use of public transportation would change the parking situation downtown, it’s liberating to not always be car dependent, but more importantly it can change the dynamics of a city.

Comment by AC Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:11 pm
I just blew over the Hospitals and that end of town…

Would be nice to unify all that business/jobs/people and that area could be s great location to bring the “Capitol” and “Hospitals” to anchor perspective people looking for thibgs after work to stay downtown.

Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:12 pm
I was super impressed with the Art Fair this weekend. Honeybear took the whole family and we had a wonderful time. I think establishing a combo open air/enclosed market (Like Soulard in St. Louis) would be good to get young folk involved in commerce and earn a bit of money. Nightlife is not happening if they have nothing to spend. I also think funding artist loft/studios is a great thing.

But really the people MUST FEEL from Rauner that EVERY JOB IS SACRED. Until they feel that and he acts like it, nothing will change and the state is in free fall.

Comment by Honeybear Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:17 pm
It’s the attitude. Build an amazing new local restaurant and it struggles for years. Open a new chain and you can’t get a seat for months(and that’s not just a reference to Chik Fil A, this town loves chains).
Live music bars have a hard time as well. A Highdive or Canopy Club would be an absolute flop in Springfield. Boondocks has somehow made a bit of a go, but I don’t think they actually make any money.

Comment by m Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:18 pm
-Not just Springfield, but all of Illinois: major property tax reform. It eats the disposable income like the Ebola virus. -

Let me ask you. Do the struggling millennials own property? Nope, they rent. Property tax reform…please. s/

Comment by Honeybear Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:19 pm
No more surface parking lots/parking garages. Way more apartments. In order to get people (all ages) to live, work, be entertained in your town you need to stop prioritizing planning for cars and plan for… wait for it… people

Comment by Jimmy CrackCorn Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:20 pm
And what jobs will the millenials get in Springfield? C-U has Research park with everything from Cat to Google, you have the hobby/RC hq of the world, companies like Wolfram and Volition, in addition to all the white collar jobs at an absolutely massive university, and even blue collar with Supervalue and Kraft.
I don’t think a couple hospitals and the state’s smallest university can compete with that.

Comment by m Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:22 pm
m, so… you got nothing. Thanks. Move along.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:23 pm
==stop prioritizing planning for cars and plan for… wait for it… people==

I have wondered if urban planning in Sangamon county isn’t guided by “of the car, by the car and for the car” because everything else seems secondary.

Comment by AC Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:26 pm
Springfield used to provide a lot of jobs for people in various aspects of state government. We need the war on labor to stop and a budget to come into effect. You cannot starve the state and abuse workers without tremendous cascading effects. Look at all. Look at all. Look at all the vacant shops and office buildings in Springfield.

Comment by Honeybear Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:26 pm
Move UIS to downtown Springfield. That would inject a little over 1,500 young people - assuming half of their current enrollment goes there - downtown, prop up the local businesses, and attract young people who might want to live within a quarter mile of coffee shops, bars, and a grocery store. It’s probably a much easier sell to prospective students when your campus is a downtown area that has much more going on.

Comment by The Muse Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:30 pm
A new baseball facility? And who’s going to play there?

Springfield once had the St. Louis Triple A affiliate but they moved. And for years we had the Class A Cardinals, heavily subsidized by the parent club in St. Louis. But no one went to the games (free tickets notwithstanding).

Then we had some desperate Midwest League teams like the Sultans. Then came the Independent League attempts. And now collegiate wooden bat.

You can lay blame on antiquated Lanphier Park, but it hasn’t always been rickety. On any given night Springfield gets three (sometimes as many as four or five) televised major league games. Free.

Good luck with that baseball park idea. You’d have better luck playing high school football on Sixth and Monroe.

Comment by Wallinger Dickus Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:31 pm
What I’m saying is the climb is a whole lot bigger than what downtown Champaign faced a few years ago. Springfield doesn’t have the same resources to work from. What’s the difference between Decatur and Springfield? Springfield’s biggest employer is still employing.
You have to change the attitude of the city and the residents who live in Springfield first. It can’t just be about state jobs. How about a research park? Hospitals and government spending aren’t the only source of revenue. What is Springfield doing to gain white collar jobs? Nothing outside of the medical district.
And you have to do something about the school district, because as soon as the millenials start having babies they go to Chatham or Rochester or they leave the area.

Comment by m Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:33 pm
I’ve always felt there are two Springfields.

The one many know from being there on session days and session nights and the one that is made up of large groups of state employees who in the last 30 years have fled to Chatham, Rochester, Pleasant Plains and other areas.

The “session Springfield” can be a great place on a session night in the downtown area but when session is over, the downtown area is almost a ghost town unless something like the Art Fair brings people downtown.

Not sure what the answer is, but at least to me, there are two Springfields.

Comment by Give Me A Break Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:34 pm
Young professional millennial here.

Nothing being said here about the need for a nice restaurant/bar neighborhood is wrong, but a lot of this misses the point that there is already a great food/bar/music scene here, it just isn’t as geographically consolidated as elsewhere, but it’s still all walkable.

Let’s start with the bars downtown. Gin Mill is good for a quieter cocktail. Floyd’s new owners are young guys who have brought a great selection of beers on tap that rotate and quality cocktails back to the bar. Driftwood has a nice bar and unique cocktails, not to mention great food. Want a Bloody Mary after you visit the farmers’ market, head to JP Kellys. Obed and Issacs is a 5 minute walk from all of those, has the best beer garden in town and good food to boot. Speaking of good bar food, let’s not forget about Arlington’s. If you want a higher end meal we’ve got Augies and Maldaner’s.

Want to check out bands? Bar None has a pretty eclectic selection of live music. Oh, you like music? Check out the record shop downtown.

But back to food and drink! There are two independent coffee shops downtown — Wm. Vans and Custom Cup (which is expanding). If you want a pastry with your coffee there’s Incredibly Delicious, a legit French bakery.

Did I mention everything above is within a 5 minute walk, at most, of each other?

There is a ton of stuff to do, all easily walkable. The ONLY gripe I would have is hours. The downtown still operates a bit like the downtown square of a smaller town from 50 years ago. A lot of the above mentioned establishments close shop on Sunday, and the restaurant selection is limited on Monday.

And ALL of that is downtown. There’s so much else around town.

/end rant/

But to answer the original question. I think more affordable housing downtown for young professionals would probably help attract more young professionals.

Comment by Drew Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:35 pm
AC- “of the car, by the car and for the car”

****
When your city is built around the Mother Road (66), that is what can happen.

Comment by Anon221 Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:37 pm
Please don’t affiliate the plight of downtown Springfield with Rauner kind of ruins this thread.

I would build a satellite uis branch in downtown Springfield to connect the hospital and capital. Great way for internships in government and health care. Incentivizes students to stay in downtown, which would create a demand for housing. This would increase demand for local food and restaurants and bars. To create the demand faster I would also create a fast food tax on all fast food shops in Springfield and create a tax cut for local businesses and bars. People should be spending money at obeds, Browns, Floyd’s, etc instead of pizza ranch, McDonald’s and chick fil a. Shop local eat local as they say.

Comment by Almost the Weekend Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:39 pm
Actually the medical center district has creep to downtown already. Maybe local promoters can dream up ideas. Usually one learns SPI millenials are a little tight so good ideas crash

Comment by Annonin' Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:40 pm
Young professional millennial that lives in Springfield. We have a great bar, restaurant, cafe, music, entertainment scene downtown. Anyone who thinks differently hasn’t spent much time there. Yes, most of it is closed on Sunday (a major gripe of mine) and Monday evening. Whatever.

What I think we need to attract more of me is a better stock of affordable, rentable housing downtown. Someplace where the youngsters can be with there own. Doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of that around, heavily concentrated, around the downtown area. That’s what places like C-U and B-N have that we’re kind of lacking.

Comment by Drew Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:42 pm
=== On any given night Springfield gets three (sometimes as many as four or five) televised major league games. Free. ===

Some folks would rather go out than sit in front of their teevees.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:44 pm
The Agricola Foundation is pleased to present its inaugural Most Bestest Hyperbole Ever Award to Westward:

==major property tax reform. It eats the disposable income like the Ebola virus.==

Please accept our humble recognition of true genius that deserves so much more.

Comment by Agricola Monday, May 23, 16 @ 2:47 pm
“Champaign and Bloomington created the blueprint, but Springfield refuses to follow it. Springield only hope is more government jobs while Champaign and Bloomington transformed their economy to make it more diverse. The Springield Chamber of Commerce wants more government jobs, in this day and age that is not happening.”
————–
There’s the 2 downstate communities which look to be going places. Look at some of the ’structural’ aspects that both have in common:

01 Universities. U-C has the University of IL at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a large community college.

Bloomington-Normal has both ISU, as well as IL Wesleyan, and a large community college.

02 Two directly neighboring municipalities, which do in many ways, both directly and indirectly, compete with each other.

03 Major road access. Both Urbana-Champaign and bloomington-Normal are pretty much ’surrounded’ by Interstate arteries.

That’s not the case with Springfield. The West side has limited Interstate access (I-72 on the SW). Most Interstate access is on the other three sides. But your more development is substantially on the West side, and some on the North. Springfield really needs an outer Interstate ‘ring’ on the West side (Say from the North Sangamon County line all the way to I-72/US36).

Once you get the community better balanced, you can implement the next steps.

03 Municipal-wide Broadband Internet. That’s going to be a tough slog, because if the cable and phone companies lose exclusive servicing of Springfield (because of the overly expensive substandard garbage quality service they currently provide), the impacts could sweep through the entire state like a wildfire. The phone and cable companies will fight it to the death, but that’s one of the things Springfield needs to do to turn things around.
04 Medical Centers. Already covered by others.
05 Technology Transfer. UIS needs to hook up as a Junior Partner with the UI-UC and ISU Technology Transfer program.

As a junior partner. But they really need to get to the front of the line to join up. Like RIGHT NOW.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-05-11/updated-ui-isu-partners-technology-transfer.html

You want to be a player, you got to get onto the practice field. Now’s the time.

Btw, As a University President Larry Dietz is showing himself to be a rock star. I just hope ISU can keep him.

Comment by Judgment Day Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:12 pm
For those advocating moving UIS downtown, or adding additional bike lanes…may I point out that even at high noon, one could shoot a shotgun down virtually any downtown street and hit absolutely nothing! People come downtown to work, specifically to eat, or for the occasional event like the Art Fair. That alone doesn’t do us any good. There needs to be a far better mix of retail, and retail that isn’t focused on the state worker during the hours of 8 AM - 6 PM.

Tell me that once I get home, why should I go back downtown?

Comment by Commonsense in Illinois Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:15 pm
I have to echo most of you all, but I’d like to emphasize that the rental property market has to change before anything else.

As a millennial who grew up in the Springfield metro area and contemplated moving back after grad school, I can say it was mostly the lack of reasonable rental properties. My friends that still live in Springfield rent apartments far from downtown in old, broken-down homes that have been hastily converted and they pay almost as much as me for a pretty decent setup in Chicago. And St. Louis’ rental market is even better and even closer than Chicago’s. Fix the rental market in Springfield and we’ll see what happens.

Comment by Chicago_Downstater Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:20 pm
I’d love to see state government be a better, more active neighbor.
One small example: In Carbondale you have the sunset concert series to bring the community to campus over the summer.
I love the 4th of July in Springfield because it’s the one time a year that the Capitol grounds are packed and people are happy.
But that’s it. We have these grand buildings that essentially serve no purpose after 4:30 M-F.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:43 pm
I think a downtown movie theater would be pretty cool. Combined with the restaurant and bar scene mentioned by others, you would have a nice little one-two punch.

Comment by SAP Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:47 pm
Agreed with Judgment Day’s Assessment, but with this proviso: instead of building a new western outer rim interstate, why not use Veteran’s Parkway for that purpose? Veteran’s is already limited access, changing the main cross roads from lights into exits would probably work. Use the exit at 72 as the western interstate’s southern terminus (but allow the four-lane south of 72 to continue as it presently does). The hard part, however, would be connecting it to 55 somewhere south of Sherman.

Comment by Anti-m Monday, May 23, 16 @ 3:59 pm
Muse: Where do you get your UIS information? There are over 5,000 students at UIS these days.

Comment by Anon Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:01 pm
Manufacturing and the blue collar jobs it brings. The city hasn’t been the same since Fiat Allis-Chalmers closed shop and to a lesser extent Sangamo Electric Company. Bring back something back to Springfield and the rest of the community improvements will follow..

Comment by Mouthy Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:02 pm
Face it, Springfield goes up and down based on the state budget. Since the 60s we have rebuilt downtown (old State Capitol), built a convention center, increased traffic flow, gained a university, added a museum, built a shopping district. The cost of living is low. The arts community is pretty strong.

What more do you want?

Comment by Liberty Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:04 pm
==What more do you want?==

More art fairs and music festivals plus better alfresco dining opportunities at restaurants.

Comment by Enviro Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:25 pm
More well known bands at the PCCC.

Comment by Mama Monday, May 23, 16 @ 5:00 pm
Research how other cities, the size of Springfield, get people to dine and shop downtown.

Comment by Mama Monday, May 23, 16 @ 5:08 pm
See what government is doing or not doing in Texas and its capitol, Austin. Copy as needed. I haven’t been there in a while, but I hear its thriving.

Comment by Cook County Commoner Monday, May 23, 16 @ 5:18 pm
Make our legislators full time and keep them there year round.

Comment by Union Leader Monday, May 23, 16 @ 5:58 pm
Get rid of the damn one way streets throughout downtown. No one is seeing Springfield when they are blowing down the street trying to make the next light. Bring back the human element. There are dozens of downtown buildings in Springfield that can’t be seen anymore because they were built facing traffic, that the one-ways have detoured.

The only one way worth keeping in Springfield is Jefferson.

When one way streets were put into place, traffic downtown was a real problem. It isn’t anymore. No one is going downtown anymore. So it is time to bring back two way streets.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 23, 16 @ 6:40 pm
That was me.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, May 23, 16 @ 6:41 pm
Anon: LOL The big secret at UIS is the growth is on line not on campus…

Anon - Monday, May 23, 16 @ 4:01 pm:

Muse: Where do you get your UIS information? There are over 5,000 students at UIS these days.

Comment by Liberty Monday, May 23, 16 @ 8:21 pm