Urban Compass
Fire station gaffe
An article in today’s Republican reports that the Springfield Department of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management has submitted to city officials a capital improvements plan for firehouse and library upgrades. Promising news, but rather perplexing as well...Intersection safety
State representatives Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and Sean Curran recently took a look at the intersection of Parker Street and Wilbraham Road, along with members of the Sixteen Acres Civic Association, according to today’s Republican article by Azell Murphy Cavaan....Springfield Mayor receives Leadership Award
At last night’s HAP, Inc. annual dinner at the Mass Mutual Center in downtown Springfield, Charles Rucks introduced one of the evening’s recipients of the organization’s Leadership Award, Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan. Rucks, who is Executive...The “Bing in the wings”
This week’s issue of Business West has an article by Springfield-based writer Jaclyn C. Stevenson focusing on the revitalization of theaters in western Massachusetts, including mention of Springfield’s Bing Theater. From the article:The Bing project is...The neighborhood mix: trash and hope
Bill Dusty of The New England Rogue Journal posted yesterday part two of his three-part series, "A Springfield Story." This one focuses on neighborhoods, and includes a number of Dusty’s photos from a few different parts of the city. At the very...Saving our cities
WGBY’s "The State We’re In" aired a one-hour special last Friday titled "Saving Our Cities," hosted as always by Jim Madigan. The description, from the station: Saving Our Cities is the first in a series of special programs WGBY is...Past and future
Over the weekend, Mark Alamed at Steel Sings Cold wrote a post about Springfield’s past; Matt S. at WMass Politics and Insight wrote a post about its future.New development on Tiffany Street
Starbucks vandalized
Springfield’s first and only Starbucks shop, on East Columbus Avenue, was vandalized in recent days. The protruding drive-through window is gone, having been smashed, peeled off the wall, and now boarded up. Over the weekend, the cafe’s quaint little...Cities: non-profit central
Civic Strategies consultant Otis White speculated on reasons why non-profit jobs seem to cluster in city centers in a November 15 piece, "Who Works in Big Cities?" White’s speculation stemmed from a piece by Christopher Briem and Sabina Deitrick in the...Downtown loft preview, up for bid
Downtown dweller Anna Brandenburg has posted updates about the available condominium units in the McIntosh Building at Springfield’s Worthington and Chestnut Streets. She says the deadline for proposals for the units is now December 13 at 2:00 pm. If...Trash fee halted; Sweeney tells FCB to send letters
News broke via the Republican late today that Judge Constance Sweeney ruled the Springfield trash fee ($90 annual per bin) "improperly imposed." According to the ruling, the Finance Control Board must now send letters to residents, saying "not to make...Trash fee pile-on: at the city's mercy
News of Springfield’s halted trash fee made the news last night and this morning. Today’s Republican includes an article by Marla Goldberg, and last night CBS3 aired a story by John Rupolo. Stories on the subject also aired on WWLP and ABC 40. (Update:...Timothy Brennan, part 1 of 3
Timothy Brennan is Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, based in West Springfield. I sat down with him to learn about the agency’s role in the follow-up to the September Urban Land Institute panel visit to Springfield, as well as to...Mayor Ryan and Philip Puccia on trash fee injunction
Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan: Clearly [Judge Sweeney’s] is a very serious decision (PDF), and one that bothers us deeply. The trash fee was not anything that was done on a whim; it was done with significant forethought. As a matter of fact, it was recommended...Down memory lane: trash fee history
Following is a excerpted transcript, edited for brevity, of a Finance Control Board meeting on June 27, 2006, regarding a proposed trash fee charged to Springfield residents. Transcript in its entirety provided courtesy of resident Sheila McElwaine and hosted by the...Resolving the trash fee with better communication
Folks in Springfield seem generally poised to pay a trash fee, some grudgingly, some quite willing. The major frustration this week, spurred by the lawsuit brought by ten residents against the city, the mayor, and the Finance Control Board, is this notion that we...A tree suckles on Sumner
Accolade elm trees were planted along Sumner Avenue this week as part of a massive, partly grant-funded effort to put new trees in the ground. An August article in Forest Park News reported that this fall’s 54 tree plantings—52 along Sumner Avenue in Forest...FCB meeting notes 10/20/06
Following is a transcript of the Springfield Finance Control Board’s last meeting, on Friday, October 20, 2006, provided by resident Sheila McElwaine. The FCB’s next meeting is this coming Monday at 11:00 am, room 220 in City Hall.FCB Chairman Alan...Illuminating Main Street
A $3.5 million design plan assembled by Springfield officials and Boston-based The Cecil Group, to light up Main Street from the train trestle near Lyman Street southward to Union Street, will go before the Finance Control Board on Monday morning, and then before the...Timothy Brennan, part 2 of 3
Timothy Brennan is Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, based in West Springfield. In part one of this interview last week, Brennan began to describe his agency’s efforts to "break down the political border" and "build a...Main Street renewal plans chug forward
In his presentation of the Main Street and Court Square renewal plans before the Springfield City Council last night, Chief Development Officer David Panagore explained the source of the funding. Earlier in the day, the matter arose at the Finance Control Board...Is the library open? Ambassadors to the city
One morning recently, I stood on the corner of Sumner Avenue and Randolph Street talking with the city’s head forester, Ed Casey, about the new trees being planted along the thoroughfare. As we talked, a man drove up and shouted, "Is there a library around...Killing the pedestrians
At last night’s Springfield City Council meeting, plans for a new Peoples Bank on Sumner Avenue near Allen Street were presented by Frank Colaccino, president of Windsor, Connecticut-based Colvest Group. Two neighbors of the property showed up to speak more or...ULI report: Ellen McLean on guiding principles
At last September’s Urban Land Institute presentation, panelist Ellen McLean opened to discuss the panel’s recommended guiding principles for Springfield, just after Maureen McAvey’s introduction to the entire panel and its process."Strong...Tomorrow's goodbye to a garden
This just in from Gardening the Community:A Goodbye Ceremony for the Central Street GardenSpringfield, Mass., November 28, 2006 – Over eleven years ago, the Central Street Community Gardens were begun by neighborhood residents seeking to improve their community....Questions about FCB's future
At Monday’s Finance Control Board meeting, members of the media waited patiently until the board dismissed to go into executive session to discuss trash fee litigation and labor matters. Then, their time of patience ended, and they descended upon chairman Alan...Echoes of the trash fee lawsuit
Today’s mail includes a letter dated November 27 from the Springfield treasurer’s office. It reads: Pursuant to the Preliminary Injunction Order issued by the Court, the City is prohibited from collecting or attempting to collect from any individual or...Static on the line for Springfield's public access
After this week’s Finance Control Board meeting at City Hall, I asked the audio and video technicians in the room how folks at home might be able to view the proceedings. There were three Comcast cameras mounted high on tripods on the far side of the room, as...City settles for less with CVS
At Monday night’s Springfield City Council meeting, developer Frank Colaccino of Colvest Group, based in Windsor, Connecticut, presented plans for a new CVS on State Street, in a roughly triangular-shaped lot that backs on Bay Street. Colaccino’s...FCB meeting notes 11/27/06: Police changes
Following is an excerpted, edited transcript of the Springfield Finance Control Board’s last meeting, on Monday, November 27, 2006, provided by resident Sheila McElwaine. The full transcript is also available hosted by the Forest Park Civic Association....Spooky times in the 'hood
Several police cruisers, include state police, descended this morning onto a couple of homes on Oakland Street between Kensington Avenue and Bloomfield Street. That area is often very crowded during rush hours, and is easily gridlocked just after school lets out. The...Gov-elect's transition teams at work
Governor-elect Deval Patrick, through his transition-oriented working groups, has scheduled a series of issues-focused "community meetings" across the state. The first took place last Friday, including one focused on higher education at the UMass-Amherst...Art retrospective at STCC gallery
Downstairs in STCC’s Building 28, also known as the art department building, a show open now through December 15 highlights works of fine art and photography, from the school’s permanent collection, exhibited over the last 20 years. Over a dozen artists...Sex offender ban considered
At last night’s Springfield City Council meeting, a proposed ban on where level two and three sex offenders can live brought up some heated debate, which has continued into today’s post-game wrap-up of the matter. From Mike Plaisance’s article in...Technical difficulties
Nine or ten months ago, the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) office, in conjunction with the architecture firm Jung|Brannen—which had been promised contract work once plans were underway—along with the Massachusetts Information...Commissioner Flynn addresses the neighbors
Early this week, Springfield Police Commissioner Edward Flynn addressed a group of city-wide neighborhood leaders, people affiliated with beat management teams, civic associations, neighborhood councils, and community development corporations. Flynn had called the...Apremont Triangle to Spring at Salem
Best practices: improving the state of the city
The Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, together with the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations, is sponsoring a one-day conference today in Worcester called "The State of the Cities: Revitalization Strategies for Smaller...Out-migrants and opt-outers
MassINC and Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies have released a report, "The Labor Supply and Our Economic Future" (PDF), about the Massachusetts workforce. News about the report’s release reached the pages of the...Timothy Brennan, part 3 of 3
Timothy Brennan is Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, based in West Springfield. In part one of this interview, Brennan spoke of his agency’s efforts to "build a cross-border partnership" between Massachusetts and...Confessions of a walker
Weekly e-magazine Pop City, based in Pittsburgh, recently published an article by writer Sherrie Flick, "Confessions of a Walker," describing her discovery of the benefits of city walking. She offers up "Urban Walk #1," from the Strip District to...Deval Patrick at the Hoop Hall
Last night, governor-elect Deval Patrick paid a visit to Springfield’s Basketball Hall of Fame to sit in on a combined workforce development, technology, and economic development transition working group (PDF) meeting, part of a series to invite the...APA-MA offers up awards
The Massachusetts chapter of the American Planning Association hosts its annual holiday luncheon on Friday, December 15, in Parris (via Ned Devine’s) at Faneuil Hall. Awards will be offered for distinguished leadership or service to a professional planner; to a...Homelessness symposium set for Jan. 22
A recent article in the Reminder, by G. Michael Dobbs, announces the date for a multi-city symposium to examine the root causes of homelessness. Set for January 22 at HCC’s Kittredge Center, the event is sponsored by the cities of Springfield, Holyoke and...Citizens for a Clean Springfield urges beauty, pride; plans for April
Citizens for a Clean Springfield is hosting a public meeting Saturday, December 16, 9:30 am at AIC’s Cultural Arts Center on State Street. The organization, which is in the process of becoming formally affiliated with Keep America Beautiful, has arranged for Sue...New lease on library
Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan announced last Friday, as signaled in a fall article by G. Michael Dobbs in the Reminder, that a settlement was reached in a lengthy legal dispute over the city’s library assets, specifically the Mason Square branch. From Azell...Boston in red, white and green
A lofty view
Joe, of eastern Pennsylvania, over at QueerJoe’s Knitting Blog, posted yesterday about his long-term stint consulting in Springfield, and shared a photo of the view from his hotel room. He writes, "There are some very beautiful areas of Springfield, and...Elders, graffiti and a party
In today’s Springfield Republican, an article and photos appear regarding graffiti at a recently-renovated, cement-block former pool house at 310 Plainfield Street, near the Brightwood Health Center. Reporter Mary Ellen Lowney notes that the vandalism there is...State control, cooperation, or indulgence?
All eyes are turning to Governor-elect Deval Patrick in the coming weeks as he not only prepares to host a number of inaugural events across the state—Springfield’s is set for a 6:30 pm speech at Symphony Hall on Saturday, January 6, followed by an 8:00 pm...Ten trends for cities in 2006
The Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program has released its "ten noteworthy trends" of 2006. Do any of these apply to the Springfield region?1. For the first time in 2005 there are more poor residents of suburbs than central cities.2. Six...Urban Compass wins media award
Last week the Massachusetts chapter of the American Planning Association awarded Urban Compass its 2006 Outstanding Planning Media Award. In the photo at left, I am receiving a framed certificate from chapter president Peter Lowitt. The certificate charmingly cites my...Smashed last night
Someone broke into my husband’s car last night. From the looks of it, the window break was hasty and furtive. (Is there any other way to break into a car?) Glass shards cover the driver’s seat as well as the ground next to the driver’s side. In their...Kappy's Liquors making season bright
According to a story just out, by Associated Press reporter Adam Gorlick, the owner of Kappy’s Liquors in Springfield was in the habit of gifting license commissioners with $200 certificates in December every year between 1999 and 2003. From the...Syked
At last month’s annual dinner hosted by HAP, Inc., Urban Strategy America Fund President Kirk Sykes gave a keynote address focused on his organization’s significant efforts in Boston. USA Fund is a development and redevelopment fund that targets areas of...Leaving the legacies: school boundary plan
A letter last week from the Springfield public schools Parent Information Center reached parents of the city’s "legacy students." As the first paragraph explains: In March of 2005, the School Committee adopted Springfield’s Boundary schools...New leaf for city council?
Yesterday morning, the Springfield City Council saw its newest member sworn in: James Ferrera, 25, of East Forest Park. Ferrera was the next-highest vote-getter in the council’s 2005 election, and replaces outgoing Councilor Angelo Puppolo, who is now a state...Make way for capital projects
At the most recent Springfield Finance Control Board meeting, on Monday, December 18, a host of capital projects funding was approved in the form of a bond totaling nearly $38.5 million. The largest chunk of money in the package is $12 million for the renovation of...E-Edition
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