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Question of the day

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Illinois

Now that you’ve spent almost your entire summer in Springfield, and therefore have probably had an opportunity to experience it more than most years, what would you do to improve the town?

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:41 am

Comments

I guess this post isn’t directed at me–I haven’t spent almost my entire summer in Springfield.

Comment by Squideshi Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:43 am
Timing of traffic lights. They may not be perfect in other cities, but they really stink here.

Comment by Jaded Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:44 am
Mandate open government. No more backroom deals. This would create a seriously needed bridge between the people and the administration.

People would be happier to live here, and happiness begets happiness.

Comment by This Guy Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:48 am
live music. much, much more of it.

Comment by skater Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:50 am
add lots more parking for downtown. To go along with the lincoln sites and the new library, I would convert a large section of downtown into historic recreations of the city during lincolns time. The mueseum is a good start, but our historic and visitor sites come across as second rate, sometimes grundgy. The city has a good basis for creating a good tourist experience, but right now most of whats available looks cheap and shoddy. oh, and Bring back the square!

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:55 am
Valet parking at Sebastians

Comment by ChiCountryGuy Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:02 am
Shed some of this damn fur, because this Springfield summer is just too hot for a winter-loving cryptid.

Comment by 6'2" Yeti Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:06 am
-More kitchy Rt. 66 stuff
-More focus on Abe Lincoln
-Discount coupons for things to do in Springfield during Overtime in Hell, like Knights Action Park and Cozy Dogs (downloadable from The Capital Fax Blog of course)

;)

Comment by Anonymundo Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:07 am
A fresh new coat of paint.

Comment by Mr. Ethics Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:07 am
Revitalize the downtown area. A strong city must have a strong city core. Kudos to those developers converting the unused and forgotten second stories into new apartments and condos. Hopefully, with more people moving downtown, businesses(example: convenience stores or grocers) to accomodate those persons will follow.

Other idears:
1. Zone out/Destroy crummy apartments next to the Dana Thomas House!
2. Rehab the Amtrak Station to create a transportation depot, i.e..combined grey hound station, taxi station, etc. (Model:City of Champagne’s)
3. Widen Capitol Avenue
4. Make the downtown more green! Plant more trees!
5. Offer more incentives to do business downtown.
6. Add a second small park
7. Block all new surface parking. Build up.

And there is more….

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:11 am
A downtown Kinko’s. Am I the only one who finds it astonishing that with all the people coming in and out of Springfield to do work during the session that you have to schlep out to Southwest Kishnev to get work done at a Kinko’s.

And on a related note, more economic development for the core city and less promotion of the ridiculous sprawl of all that development out by White Oaks mall. Springfield’s approach is so bad for the environment it’s almost inconceivable.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:14 am
Eliminate about one-half of the one way streets.

Comment by Larry McKeon Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:14 am
light rail

Comment by Brian Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:15 am
More free 10th Cav Regiment band concerts at different Lincoln sites and the APLM

Comment by Siyotanka Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:18 am
A Simpsons premiere.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:19 am
Chicago Cynic hit the nail on the head. Expanding further away only creates a city and on a lrgr scale a society, that has to drive more and more. It is also highly expensive to keep running sewage and water pipes, fiber optic cables, and power to these newly constructed tiny boroughs. Who foots that bill?

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:19 am
Get rid of the pidgeons in he parking garages. The city aught to make more than enough money off of their parking meter enforcement to pay for ssome ” pidgeon relief”. Give me a break Davlin, either get rid of the pidgeons or wash my car.

Comment by downhereforyears Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:20 am
It’s definitely bizarre. I mean you have urban blight then you drive through cornfields and suddenly hit all these malls. There are restaurants literally surrounded by cornfields on all sides.

What were they thinking?

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:25 am
Who wants to live downtown when you have to worry about bums harrassing you, trash all over and a coating of bird dung on the side walks.
Also, get more shops and a grocery store with decent hours and maybe people would be more likely to visit downtown or live there.

Comment by MILFof 2 Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:25 am
Get rid of the scattered state office buildings and develop a more tight knit campus of buildings, linking downtown to the capital.

Landscape the surface parking lots, particularly those by the capital. Trees would cool down things a lot.

The stretch to the east of Springfield High looks like a devasted inner city neighborhood. It needs buildings or landscaping. One idea is to close off Lewis and put the track and field in this area. Sell off the existing track and field for single family.

Plant trees.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:26 am
Move the Capitol to Chicago so that you all would get out.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:27 am
continue beautification of downtown, including Capital Avenue and the State campus. start beautifcation from ramps off I55.

Comment by A Springfield Local Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:31 am
Jaded,

Your not driving fast enough. LOL

Comment by Economist Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:35 am
Move Springfield into the Chicagoland area and make it into a Chicago suburb, it would be a Cicero #2.

Comment by Mr. V Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:35 am
First the setup (As Rich Miller would say)…Imagine dining or enjoying a bottle of your favorite vino at your favorite eatery, then strolling down the block to catch a movie at a newly remodeled movie theatre? In my eyes, it would sure beat eating at Chotchkie’s and then driving ten more minutes to the superplex.

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:38 am
Have a restaurant downtown that served reasonably-priced meals with any sort of fresh vegetable content. You can get sandwiches with tired lettuce and tomato, or if you’re willing to splurge and have a lot of time go to Cafe Brio, but there’s nowhere within easy walking distance of the Capitol that you can pick up lunch at, and then, when you’re back in the building wolfing it down, say, “I feel good about eating this.” Even a half-decent chain like a Corner Bakery within a block or two of the Capitol (heaven forbid as the concessionaire in the Stratton basement) would be an enormous improvement.

The dinner options are better, especially if you have a car and are willing to get out a little, but the lunch options are thoroughly demoralizing.

Comment by Gus Frerotte's Clipboard Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:38 am
“More Abe Linclon”? you’ve got to be kidding me. It’s all Abe all the time now! The best improvement would be to get rid of Davlin.

Comment by Milorad Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:41 am
Gus, try that little gourmet grocery store on Monroe. Excellent lunch sandwiches, great soups.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:42 am
The Welshman has a good point regarding a movie theater. I doubt the economics of it, but a downtown multi-plex theater could help bring people downtown in the evenings and make use of the state’s parking lots in off hours.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:43 am
Welshman,

With your oblique reference to “Office Space”, you’ve just given me a great idea to solve the current impasse. HYPNOSIS! Now, who to hypnotize, that’s the question…

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:45 am
Economist, nice reference to last week on Jaded! Though she is right on this.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:47 am
Put all capitol functions into the new Trump Tower. It would save a lot of driving time and less fumes are better for the environment.

Comment by BLAH Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:51 am
Rich, you mean The Food Mart? I second that very heartily. My favorite downtown lunch spot. Anyone who needs a serious caffeine boost can try their dark-chocolate covered coffee beans.. but be warned, they are addictive
My Springfield improvement suggestions include: 1) lunch pushcarts around the Old Capitol square (similar to those around the Peoria courthouse) 2) an arts/entertainment district in or near downtown 3) a festival to replace Lincolnfest… it doesn’t have to be in the summer nor does it have to have a Lincoln theme 4)make more serious effort to deal with homeless problem around the public library… find out what’s worked in other cities and do it 5)work in concert with other central Illinois cities (Decatur, Peoria, B-N, C-U) on economic development and infrastructure issues 6) start thinking of ourselves as a world class city… after all, we’re “just” the capital of a state bigger (economically) than many nations along with being the hometown of one of the most revered figures in U.S. and world history. We don’t have to be big or sprawling but we CAN be great.

Comment by Lainer Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:56 am
One word: monorail.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:56 am
Woah! “MILFof2″!?!? I need to pay more attention to screen names and didn’t realize that CapFax had gotten so racy.

I’m not in Springfield as much anymore but I agree more attention paid to downtown. One of my most frustrating experiences was going to the old Osco drug across from the Old State Capital building at 6:00 PM and finding that it closed at 5:30 PM. I literally stared inside the store for 2 minutes in disbelief.

Comment by wndycty Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:56 am
Bring back Lincolnfest since Decatur Celebration is running out of money and resources. Lincolnfest was somuch of a drunken party when the sessions well into July under the old system.
Turn the air conditioning off for the Governor and general assembly lock them in a room and I will hope then they may come to conclusion.
Finally, move the Capitol to Chicago and us downstaters who not state workers won’t carry anymore since it will be all up north in the Land of Blagos,Joneses, adn Iron Mike.

Comment by keep up with the jones Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 10:57 am
I agree with A Springfield Local, beautification projects are badly needed. When exiting I-55, you are bombarded with ramshackle, dingy, and dilapadated buildings and billboards. A lasting first impression. Where is the charm?

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:00 am
“wndycty,” I’m sure MILFof2 refers to Gov. Blagojevich’s now defunct Move IL Forward campaign committee. lol

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:00 am
I think the city should set up a business incubator in one of the downtown storefronts. I would put an emphasis on stores catering to younger people or tourists, who are more likely to come downtown.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:03 am
Rich, thanks. I agree that place has the best and freshest food in the Capitol lunch-shed. It’d be nice if there were a few more places to give it a run for its money.

Comment by Gus Frerotte's Clipboard Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:04 am
I think the city needs downtown condos. I also like the greening of downtown.

Comment by Tom Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:05 am
Lainer, yes. The Food Mart is what I meant.

My suggestion, which I’ve advocated for years, is moving the UIS campus near downtown.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:05 am
Start off by improving the avenues into Springfield. We have a really bad first impression from just about any point into the City. Looks like one is coming into a depressed area. Remove 80% of the sign that tell us what “not” to do and put up more sign that welcome you into town. Fountains, flowers, trees. Parking buildings that blend into the Cityscape and no more flat dull lots. Noontime musicians on the square, and clowns on the steps of the Capitol. Oh, wait, that’s already covered by our gov.

Comment by Justice Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:07 am
To Chicago Cynic 10:25:

Go to a lot of restaurants in Chicago and you have squalor on all sides. I’ll take the cornfields every time.

Comment by Suburban Commuter Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:08 am
Gus, Bread Stretchers is another fave of mine. And Maldaner’s has very good lunches.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:08 am
Springfield is one-dimensional in its support of Lincoln as a tourist attraction. There is a lot of history that is ignored. For instance, the national HQ for the Stevenson for president campaign, John L. Lewis home, the Post (cereal company) family home, the Donnor party, and Vachel Lindsay home. The goal should be to attract more tourists and get those coming to stay longer.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:10 am
I need a Kinko’s, better resturants and a 2.5 hour train trip from Chicago, with departures every two hours.

Comment by Give me a Kinko's Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:11 am
Rich,

I agree in concept with the idea of UIS being close to downtown, but what would happen to the existing campus?

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:12 am
John L. Lewis point is well made. There’s a lot of labor history that’s completely ignored.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:13 am
Outdoor air conditioning.

Seriously I agree with the comments about Springfield’s sprawl. It’s the same here in Peoria. The core is falling apart while all the new shopping, theaters, residential, etc. are going up in cornfields. We have only just begun to pay the costs of suburban sprawl and urban decay.

Comment by Central Illinoisan Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:13 am
Development around the areas of Brewhaus and Celtic Mist (Great bar) would be awesome. It is wholly unused space. Storefronts in that area remain vacant. Also, why is it that so many places on the Historic Square (specifically the North side) are also vacant? Can someone explain? Is the rent too demanding?

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:14 am
Just throwing this out there for those deprived of a good lunch and a noon time coffee, Cafe Moxo on Adams has really impressed me.

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:17 am
OD, it could be gifted to Lincoln Land CC or returned to corn fields. I care not.

It was deliberately located in the hinterlands because the locals were scared witless about massive numbers of hippies descending on Spfld when the school was created in the early 1970s. The surrounding area is zoned specifically to bar businesses near campus.

By the way, I was once student president out there and thought the location and the zoning was totally goofy.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:18 am
Move UIS downtown? Rich, as a proud alum, that is blasphemy! Just kidding, although I wonder where it would go?! An annex downtown wouldn’t be too bad, especially for the journalism, public administration and political studies classes.

I agree that some beautification is needed. There is too large of a swath that needs cleaned up and, in some regards, redone. A nice cleanup intiative on the East Side would help the city and the East Side residents. I think some of the East Side leaders would welcome that plan.

We also don’t need any more subdivisions. I think we are up to 4,000 subvisions.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:19 am
Rich, don’t forget about Head West and South Grand Avenue Deli. Yum! El Presidente ain’t bad, either, especially at 2 a.m. on a Friday night!

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:22 am
Splfd needs to push downtown redevelopment along with a BIG cleanup campaign; draw a line from the Linclon Museum down to the Great Western station, over to the Linclon home site, over to the state museum and do everything inside and for a min 4 blocks outside that line. It is putting it kindly to say that ALL the entrances into town look “a little tired and rundown.”

Comment by Distant Observer Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:24 am
UIS really, really needs a small “campustown” business district nearby with coffeeshops, convienience stores, used bookstores, a laundromat, etc.
Most of the nation’s most affordable, economically stable and generally high-rated cities tend to be state capitals and/or university towns. Let’s not forget the other half of the equation!

Comment by Lainer Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:28 am
How could I forget…you can also vote for your favorites of Springfield at the Illinois Times wbsite. Rich, don’t worry, I think your blog will most likely take the local blog category handily.

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:30 am
As a local, I can agree many of these are good suggestions. As a former state and city employee, I can say we’d LOVE to do many of them. However, while the average Joe pays almost no attention to the federal budget and only some to the state budget, everybody scrutinizes every nickel in the Spfld. city budget. Freeing money for these niceties is very difficult.

Comment by Mr. Wizard Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:33 am
Welshman, I asked that the blog be taken out of the running for this year. Not sure if they’ll do it.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:38 am
This concept is related to tourism vs. downtown revitalization, but since tourists will visit/stay downtown the concepts are tied together.

One of the most popular exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry is the coal mine. I’ve visited a lead mine/tourist attraction in Southern Wisconsin. A quick web search showed one of the top ten tourist attractions in Pennyslvania is a coal mine. My understanding is there are a bunch of mines running under the city. How about a real coal mine attraction close to downtown Springfield? The coal mine industry or unions should think about sponsoring it.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:45 am
Lainer, they are working on it. They almost have the fitness center and arena built. Once they have that done and all of their new housing completed, they will add a “campus town” area on their campus.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:45 am
The SJR has an article about train service. It reminded me that the real permanent solution is to get high speed train service from Chicago to St. Louis with a stop downtown.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:49 am
Doh…I already voted for it!

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:52 am
The Vachel Lindsay Home (adjacent to the governor’s mansion) is preserved for a reason: he was one of Illinois’ true literary greats.

Anyone for Lindsay’s view on how to “improve the town”?

Check out his long-forgotten “The Golden Book of Springfield” for a Utopian vision of our fair capitol in the year 2018.

Synopsis: http://www.alibris.com/search/
search.cfm?chunk=25&mtype=&
qwork=2649201&page=1&matches
=18&qsort=r&browse=0&full=1

Comment by Dooley Dudright Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:53 am
Muldaner’s seems like a hike. Bread Stretchers sandwiches are okay, but actually it’s the bread that doesn’t seem very good. I often get a salad there for dinner if I’m in one of the downtown hotels, but it’s definitely not a good enough place to eat at twice in one day.

Okay, now I’m hungry.

Comment by Gus Frerotte's Clipboard Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:54 am
Maldaner’s is a hike?

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:57 am
Instead of putting another high priced Casino in the Chicago area, build a Casino in Springfield. Use the money for the City beautification and traffic light timing. Oh and for lesser needs~schools~!!

Comment by nutty 2 Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:01 pm
Get the Westin hotel chain to take over the Abraham Lincoln Hotel and finally give those of us who spend half our lives in Springfield (and thus away from home) a decent hotel to stay in when were there.

Comment by Frustrated Voter Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:02 pm
Another potential tourist draw, the state museum, needs some beefing up. There are a number of large corporations in Illinois that could sponsor exhibits based on their industry or company. I also bet some of the museums in Chicago or the Smithsonian could lend some artwork/artifacts.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:06 pm
No, not a monorail - a trolley.
Springfield should return it’s street trolleys to the downtown area, connecting the tourist sites.

Springfield would be just another Jacksonville without the State of Illinois. If the State of Illinois would have kept state government offices and officials in Springfield, there would have been a continued boom for this city. Instead you have the largest employer in town splitting it’s workforce and administrative budget with Chicago. As a result, Springfield loses business, state workers paid less than their Chicago counterparts, and less money to build Springfield businesses and events.

So, two things - Bring back the trolleys, and pass legislation that returns state government to Springfield from Chicago.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:16 pm
A summary of suggestions thus far. All have their merits…
1. Elimnate further surface parking
2. Beautification projects geared toward city fringes/downtown areas
3. Develop alternative tourism concepts (Lewis,Donnor party, mining activities, St. Nic Hotel?, Vachel Lindsay, etc.)
4.Lincolnfest
5. Attract more push cart operators to square
6. Attreact businesses with more flexible hours of operation
7. Downtown theatre?
8. A downtown UIS annex
9. Greening initiatives
10. More living units
11. Eliminate several one wy streets
12. Add a fresh coat of paint
13. Pidgeon poop relief
14. Better traffic light timing
15. Commision wall murals?
16. Address panhandling/homelesness

Interesting..

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:17 pm
Springfield needs an amusement park - something like a Six Flags would be nice.

Comment by Herself Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:23 pm
===Springfield needs an amusement park - something like a Six Flags would be nice.====

We already have one. It’s called “The Statehouse.”

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:37 pm
Create a state office district around the capitol and prohibit any new state office buildings outside the district. Gradually move all existing offices to within the District. Imagine how nice downtown would have been if the agencies - with their foot traffice - were all centrally located (with the attendant shops, restaurants, etc.) and buildings were restored rather than razed for surface parking. Building “pretty” parking garages, with ground level retail, for all the workers.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:42 pm
Rich, that was friggin’ hilarious.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:46 pm
:)

By the way, I called Mayor Davlin’s office today and asked that they urge him to read these comments.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:48 pm
Anon~
Bomke and Brauer’s House Bill 1355 establishes a preference for locating state facilities in historic central business districts(downtown).
The bill passed both houses and was sent to the Gov. He hasn’t signed it yet.

Comment by MILFof 2 Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 12:53 pm
VM says “Springfield would be just another Jacksonville without the State of Illinois.”

Actually I’ve grown to like Jacksonville; the presence of two private colleges (Illinois and MacMurray) gives it more culture than one might expect.
Seriously, though, perhaps Springfield ought to work on diversifying its economy enough that even if every state agency moved to Chicago, and the Capitol itself packed up and left, we could survive. We have UIS, Lincoln Land, Springfield College, SIU Medical School, the under-construction Medical District, two highly regarded hospitals, and a third on the way (a psychiatric hospital for youth in the old Doctors Hospital facility). We can build on these sectors of the economy and add more.

Comment by Lainer Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:06 pm
The leadership of Springfield needs to grasp a vision and nurture it. See it through! As a downtown resident, I have heard much rhetoric with little action. It is entirely possible to mold your city to your vision through perserverance and determination. Our city core is in dire distress. Will people wait until our shared historical and cultural heritage fades into yesteryear, or better yet is bulldozed for surface parking, at the expense of a cheaply constructed strip mall built further and further away?

Okay…I’m off my soapbox. Hope everyone has a nice day!

Comment by The Welshman Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:09 pm
Re: the Kinko’s suggestion, Capitol Blueprint on S. First can do many of the same jobs and is considerably cheaper.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:12 pm
Bring in Sufjan Stevens for a concert to perform his “Come on feel the Illinoise” album.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:18 pm
Our educational opportunities and our medical community is top-notch here in Springfield. Plus, an hour to the north is ISU; an hour and half to the east is Chambana; and an hour to the northwest is Peoria. Central Illinois is doing something right!

Lainer, I agree that Springfield needs a “contingency plan”, but we would be at a disadvantage with St. Louis less than two hours away and Indy less than four hours away. Plus, Peoria has a rejuvinated downtown and B-N is a nice college city.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:46 pm
In regards to landscaping and planting trees, how about something interesting. There are several places known as Rhododendrum capitals. DC is known for cherry blossoms. People go to New England for the fall colors of the sugar maples. I’m sure the local horticultural experts could come up with something that is appropriate for Springfield (besides corn and soybeans).

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:56 pm
Rich, I’m not saying Muldaner’s is too far to walk for a good meal given the time — but on crazy session days, getting over to Sixth Street seems prohibitive purely from a time standpoint.

Comment by Gus Frerotte's Clipboard Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 1:58 pm
Put a really good book store and office supply store on South Dirksen or Stevenson Drive.

Comment by spfldsouthender Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 2:00 pm
Maybe so. But notice how close the other Central Illinois cities are that you mention. That’s why I suggest they all work together to attract industry and on major infrastructure projects like highways, high-speed rail, air service, etc.

Maybe all these cities (plus Decatur) could think of themselves as part of one big metro area that happens to have a lot of green space : )

I think the total population of this area is over 500,000… if they worked together they could become an economic and political powerhouse that might even give Chicago and the Metro East a run for its money.

But I digress a little. And it’s time to get off my soapbox too.

Comment by Lainer Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 2:04 pm
Lanier,

The concept you are talking about was successfully done in the Research Triangle in North Carolina.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 2:10 pm
Need to throw in a pitch for Andiamo’s, Indigo, Auggies, and Sebastian’s. Other than that get more varied radio. Wish someone would rebroadcast WNCW from North Carolina (fabulous blue grass mixed with Frank Zappa), KEXP from Seattle, and KPIG from San Francisco. All on internet, but not my car. More live music of all kinds. Lincolnfest could be run better if the drunks are controlled.

Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 2:24 pm
Good point, ObDem. It would work well if we combined forces with Chambana, B-N, Decatur and Peoria. Kind of like Voltron, only different. Sorry if no one gets the mid-80s reference.

Some guy called into Molson and Lee last month and said that, in order to make Springfield fun, we need a Dave and Busters. I about peed my pants laughing so hard at that.

Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 2:32 pm
Rich:
what a brilliant question
You are the brightest bulb in the lamp.

Asking the city to look this over is a very good idea.

I would suggest a late nite tobacco store near 5th and Adams nite lige district. A nice place where one could lite up a cigar and pouring
a little booze down. One of those empty store fronts ought to be available.

Comment by Reddbyrd Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 3:08 pm
The tough part regarding the regional approach is it will be very hard to make the tradeoffs necessary to make it work. For instance, a true regional airport in BN makes a lot of sense. The reality is BN is only about an hour from the other cities, which is about the same travel time for getting to O’Hare from the city or most of the burbs. But the only way that works is for the other cities to give up or limit their commercial service and I don’t see that happening. Likewise a high speed train from Chicago to St. Louis would be great, but it can’t make stops in all the central illinois cities. Who wins and who loses?

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 3:10 pm
This just in………..Gov. Balgojevich has requested all state department heads and liaisons to walk with him in the State Fair parade tomorrow evening as a buffer. All are reportedly planning to wear “I’m with Stupid” T-shirts….

Comment by Smack-o-cratic Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 4:22 pm
To vanilla man: Restored trolleys, such as used in San Francisco and Kenosha, have been suggested to the City by the R/UDAT follow-up team. They would ostensibly serve as a downtown circulator system. Two over-lapping routes were suggested that would connect the downtown area with the nearby hotels, government offices, and hospitals. Anyone interested in promoting such a system should contact city hall.

Comment by Keyser Soze Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 5:29 pm
I’m not a fan of the trolley idea. The overhead wires are ugly and the tracks are something else that has to be maintained. Overall it would be a very expensive undertaking. If there is a need to get the tourists from one site to another, I perfer Trolley like busses.

Comment by Objective Dem Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 5:39 pm
Springfield transportation planners should create a network of bike lanes to help people safely get out of their cars and commute to work. I’ve also noticed that there are no bicycle parking racks downtown to lock a bike. What gives?

Another idea: how about creating a marked trail or route to help people interested in biking to/from the various Lincoln sites? It could start at the downtown museum/library complex.

Come on Springfield government leaders; it’s time to make the city more bike-friendly!

Comment by pedal pusher Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 6:00 pm
There’s a Kinkos on the West side, has been for a long time now. Yes, a branch downtown seems like a no-brainer. When the downtown core comes alive with more apartment dwellers, it may sustain one again.

I want to see someone reopen On Broadway as a restaurant/nitespot.

I want that vacant church near Capitol Ave. to be turned into a satellite campus for UIS.

They HAVE to keep a night bus service going thru downtown connecting the East and West sides. Right now, only car owners can travel town after six. That measn no Eastsider can work a Westside or downtown night job or go to night school to better themselves without a car or cab fare that’s too expensive to use every day. No other city our size is so backwards. There is a smart way to do it: smaller night service busses, dynamically scheduled using a web site and phone hookups. If you know a day ahead you want to use a night bus, or you want to use it for daily commuting, you click or text a web site with a request for a stop nearest your home, and the computer plans the next day’s optimal route and size and number of busses based on known number of riders, time of day and where they are, along a general set of major arterial routes. If you just this minute decided you want a ride to a downtown party, a call or text message to another site calls a much smaller bus or even a large airport type van, keeping the expenses lower, yet being flexible. This could start out as a van pool service piloted by a large religious organization and maybe a rich car dealership to supply the vans. It is worth a try.

I want to see the city use some of the TIF money to subsidize rents downtown, to stimulate more residential rental and small retail. Much of the boarded-up and closed property downtown is owned by out of town or out of state trusts that use them as a tax deduction and don’t care if they are occupied and kept up, or abandoned and deteriorating, so they never drop the rents to a reasonable level. If you discounted/subsidized the first two year’s rent for a small shop or residential apartment rental, you build a self-sustaining critical mass of professionals and tourists after-five downtown, and that’s going to make everybody a lot more money. At least charge the trusts more upkeep fees on the property they are supposed to be stewarding, maybe they’ll sell it off to a local developer like Oxtoby, and it will get cleaned up and put to tasteful use.

Don’t move the Amtrak station to the outskirts of town, as the tentative plans for the multimodal station are suggesting. Keep it handy to the city core, and reroute just the freight lines to the outskirts: add a warehouse/distribution center to that freight re-route, and generate more tax revenue and jobs. The old Pillsbury area would maybe work for that, and generate Eastside jobs.

To me, Springfield’s biggest sin is they loved for years to tear down old buildings to make surface parking lots for the cars of people who come…to see the old buildings that are now gone. We are making some progress on preservation and renovation, but it is hard to overcome the laziness and greed of the locals who’d just as soon see another Walgreens pop up as preserve old homes.

Finally, keep the beach open thru August. The open season is too short.

Comment by Techboy Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 8:15 pm
How about Incredibly Delicious (corner of Clay and 7th - just north of Springfield Clinic). Authentic croissants, vegetarian fare for lunch and all bread made on site. Great lattes and espresso - better than Starbucks.

Comment by Peaches Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 9:26 pm
Springfield needs a Fulgenzi’s Downtown. There is no better double cheeseburger after a long night out.

I agree the city need to clean up entrance corridors. Not a pretty picture, yet not unlike most older towns I have visted.

Need more inter connected bike/jogging paths

Comment by Larry Wednesday, Aug 8, 07 @ 11:04 pm
Not sure why people are complaining about downtown restaurants…it’s the only place where there are no chains and you should be happy. Where I live, we would love a quaint street with a Sammy’s bar or a Cafe Moxo. Great food and even better service. Throw in a Bento’s and you have heaven - rice, chicken, beer from Sammy’s and a little breakfast at Moxo to wash it all down. Get real peeps, have fun with your city.

Comment by Beatred Peppa Tuesday, Aug 14, 07 @ 5:21 pm