The January newsletter of the Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association included a brief message from its newly-elected president, Springfield native Mike Tuckey, Sr., who wrote, "The city of Springfield has faced some very difficult times recently. It’s time to move forward. We need to be certain that our neighborhoods stand at the forefront of any plan to revitalize this city. Our neighborhoods are our strength."
Tuckey went on to say, "I have a vision for our neighborhood; but I will not detail it here. If you are interested, I will talk about it at our general meetings, a little at a time."
I invited Tuckey to outline his vision for the neighborhood in order to share it with Urban Compass readers. He responded with a several-pages-long memo, which appears below.
Ideas and Vision for 2007: the Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood
My vision of the Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood is a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood of tree-lined streets, with revitalized architectural character, in a community made up of appropriate concerned businesses in mutual cooperation with the residents, in pursuit of common goals.
I see a neighborhood that has been revitalized both economically and residentially, while maintaining the beauty and character that make the Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood a true “pearl” of Springfield.
Given the present circumstances, we are in an ideal position to accomplish this goal. It certainly won’t be fully accomplished within the next year. But it can be accomplished over time. We must set the goal and create priorities.
My priorities are relatively simple:
Work to enhance cooperation between residents and businesses in the neighborhood. My observation is that residents of our neighborhood embrace the need to co-exist with businesses. Many live in this neighborhood for its proximity to cultural venues with the hope that conveniences would increase over time. Most residents will accept almost any business willing to pay respect to the residential character of a neighborhood.
I would like to encourage businesses to strongly curb and discourage their exiting patrons from loitering outside their businesses. A reduction in loitering would serve to reduce the perception of threat in the neighborhood. It would also, hopefully, reduce panhandling, which inhibits business growth. It is my hope that residents and businesses can see mutual benefits of the goals of our civic association, and work together.
Increase police presence to reduce the perception of criminal activity. Especially during the warmer months, substantial groups of individuals congregate on corners and outside some businesses on Chestnut Street and Pearl Street. Some of the groups or individuals are engaged in criminal activity. Some simply pose a perceived threat by their numbers and periodic comments.
A highly visible police presence would serve to make activities such as prostitution and drug dealing more difficult to continue. The reduction of people loitering on street corners would serve to enhance the pedestrian friendly character of this neighborhood.
Encourage and develop a cooperative beautification program between businesses and residents. The Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association sponsors, with the assistance of local businesses and individuals, a beautification program that places flowers throughout the neighborhood to enhance its beauty and pedestrian-friendly character.
Members of our organization have worked to clean public areas, such as Apremont Triangle and local public green spaces. I would like to see these efforts assisted by businesses, for instance with in-kind donations of manpower and equipment.
I would like to expand beautification efforts to include programs instituted by local operators that enhance the eye appeal of their locations. If local businesses assume the daily responsibility of collecting litter around their locations and appropriately discarding it, the effect would be immeasurable. I would like to see businesses maintain their sidewalks by sweeping them regularly.
Residents would be grateful and the business climate would benefit by limiting window signs to professionally created signs that do not totally block large windows. If there is a large display window covered completely by paper signs, the appearance serves to distract from the local area. Signs professionally created and displayed so that visibility through the display window is not totally blocked would serve to create a more inviting appearance.
I would like this beautification program to include a regular window cleaning in good weather. Clean and attractive entrances show pride in the businesses and the neighborhood, and will assist in helping to attract future business to our area.
Implement a regular cleaning schedule with the city to support efforts of local business and residents. While recognizing the city’s financial problems, residents need their efforts to clean and revitalize their neighborhoods to be met with an equal commitment from the city. If the businesses and residents of the Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood work to spruce up their neighborhood appearance, it should be supported by a city program to sweep and clean the neighborhood streets regularly. In order to be successful, the revitalization of this neighborhood must be an effort among city government, neighborhood businesses, and the residents.
Work to attract new business to our neighborhood. In 2008, the new federal courthouse is scheduled to open. The federally-funded State Street corridor revitalization will be underway. There will be a new state data center at either the business development center on Federal Street or at the former Technical High School on Elliot Street. There are plans for the Springfield Museums to remodel the former Verizon building on the corner of Edwards Street and Chestnut Street to be utilized as a new museum.
The Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood is entering into a very exciting time. With the daytime influx of new income earners, we have attractive new opportunities to present to businesses.
It is a short, pleasant walk from either the potential data center or the new courthouse to Chestnut Street. The street is already tree-lined. If you walk down Elliot to Mattoon, there are beautiful homes there with great histories. If you choose to walk down Elliot to Edwards Street, you pass by the attractive buildings of the Roman Catholic diocese on Elliot, then by the historic home preserved by the Springfield Museums, to Chestnut Street.
Once on Chestnut Street, I would like to see a series of small shops and restaurants that would encourage people to take that walk at lunchtime. From Edwards to Pearl Streets, and up Pearl, our neighborhood has a series of small storefronts that would serve nicely as small, upscale restaurants and boutiques. If we could offer these amenities to daytime workers, they may come back to enjoy these comforts at night. But we need help.
I would like to see the creation of an economic development plan for Chestnut Street from Edwards Street to the end of the Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association’s boundaries. I would like this plan to include Pearl Street from Chestnut to Springfield Technical Community College. With the economic revitalization at our boundaries, it is an ideal time to work to attract attention to our neighborhood.
Pass supportive ordinances and pursue their aggressive enforcement with official Springfield support. If we are successful in maintaining the character and charm of the Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood while revitalizing its economy, we need more supportive and strongly-enforced zoning and licensing codes. We need zoning ordinances to mandate that the exterior of a new business have an architecturally consistent appearance with the buildings in the neighborhood. We need ordinances that require all new businesses be configured to be pedestrian accessible. Front parking requires pedestrian customers to negotiate through moving cars to access a building.
Whenever and wherever possible, a new site development plan should allow for landscaping buffers between the street and the sidewalk. All parking accommodations available should be lined with landscaping buffers to enhance the appearance of the property from the street.
Neighborhood residents should have stronger input into the approval process of newly-proposed business. This input should include site plan review by concerned neighborhood citizens. Because of recent financial problems facing the city, it appears some officials have taken the approach that any economic development is good development. I do not believe that this neighborhood has reached that point of throwing in the towel. The Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood still has too much to offer prospective businesses, as does every neighborhood in this city.
If our officials are going to choose to sell us out for new development, we must have a greater say in this process. As a member of the Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association, as new president of this organization, and as a lifelong citizen of Springfield, I recognize that nothing happens relative to economic development in one neighborhood that doesn’t affect all other neighborhoods, for better or for worse.
Adopt a citywide vision. In a study about to be released by the Urban Land Institute, I have been told that Springfield citizens identify ourselves as citizens of our individual neighborhoods, and not as citizens of Springfield.
I find it almost amazing that in a city where, for generations, neighborhoods were defined by ethnic and racial divisions, and city elections are at-large with no direct accountability back to the neighborhoods, that anyone would find this surprising.
Neighborhoods have been competing for attention from the city for as long as I have lived. It is my strong belief that the time has come to create a citywide identity. The neighborhoods of this city are among Springfield’s greatest assets. Each has its own cultural background and history. Each has its own character and rich heritage.
In most neighborhoods in Springfield, there are people living there who have lived in that same neighborhood for 50, 60 years and more. Elder people have married, baptized and raised their children in these neighborhoods. We need to work together to protect that heritage, that unique and rich history. We can only accomplish that through recognition of our common goals.
I would like to see the formulation of a citywide neighborhood council, made up of a representative from each of the neighborhood councils and civic organizations throughout the city. I envision an organization that would discuss the issues facing each of the individual neighborhoods and its potential impact on the city at large.
With this information, the citywide organization could develop an action plan to support the efforts of the other neighborhoods. These efforts may represent efforts from one neighborhood to save a historic landmark relevant only in that neighborhood. It may include working to ensure that a new business enters another neighborhood with a building plan that reflects appropriate concern for the architectural characteristics and the needs of the citizens of that neighborhood.
As neighborhood leaders, we must see the relevance to our own neighborhood of another neighborhood’s success in these endeavors.
When we bond together to work for each neighborhood’s individual success, we strengthen our arguments and represent a greater voting bloc and potential donation base. We start to make our elected officials more accountable to each neighborhood.
It is my belief that it is no coincidence that Pearl Street runs through our neighborhood. The Armoury-Quadrangle neighborhood is truly a pearl of Springfield. This Pearl has lost a touch of its luster through neglect and oversight. The times that now present themselves to this neighborhood are the best opportunity in decades to begin to bring back this Pearl’s luster.
