Springfield’s Bill Dusty, who maintains the New England Rogue Journal, expanded yesterday to host a brand new, regional blogger-welcoming forum.
Dusty also posted yesterday the first part of a series, "A Springfield Story." From the piece:
[B]ecause so few modern cities do perish, it is unlikely that Springfield should be one of those few. But much needs to be done to stave off disaster: Politicians must be held accountable by the voting populace. The flight of the middle class needs to be reversed, not just stopped. Property abandonment and abuse must be made rare, not commonplace. Businesses must be lured back to the area. And the citizens themselves must be made to believe in a city that has for so long offered them little reason to hope.
Dusty goes on to document a bit of Springfield city history, starting around its incorporation in 1641, the founding of its Armory in the late 18th century, and describing some of its major industry. Toward the end, he touches lightly on the city’s decades-long, post-WWII decline. To write the piece, Dusty drew from both Wikipedia as well as the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission‘s recent demographic and economic analysis (PDF) of Springfield.
