Who will bring Springfield together?

Leading a community means more than balancing the budget

POLITICS | Patrick Yeagle

Every day, the rusty steel rails of the 10th Street railroad tracks carry trainload after trainload of coal, manufactured items and raw materials through Springfield. But those tracks carry more than just freight trains. They carry the potential to unite or divide Springfield, depending on how the city adapts to a proposed plan to consolidate all rail traffic on the 10th Street tracks. The outcome of that project will undoubtedly affect the city’s future in terms of business and job growth, race relations, neighborhood development and infrastructure, and what happens on 10th Street, mostly paid for with federal rather than city funds, will depend largely on the leadership of Springfield’s next mayor.

The rail consolidation is just one of the many issues facing the city’s next leader.

While the primary role of the mayor is to oversee the city’s government, an engaged mayor also plays a major part in determining the direction of the city’s social fabric as well. That secondary role requires a profusion of plans for economic and community development, two ideas that are intertwined.

Harmonious and forward-looking communities attract business growth, while healthy schools, churches and arts organizations tend to sprout up wherever there are successful businesses. So supporting the betterment of neighborhoods is supporting economic development – and vice-versa.

There are four candidates in the race for mayor – Mike Coffey, Mike Houston, Frank Kunz and Sheila Stocks-Smith. With the general election approaching on April 5, Springfield voters will soon choose a leader for the next four years, a leader who will be expected to navigate the city through tough issues while bringing together neighborhoods, interest groups and cultural institutions for the betterment of all. Abandoned buildings One of the most nagging problems in Springfield is abandoned houses, especially on the city’s east and north sides. High concentrations of crumbling houses impede economic and community development by lowering surrounding property values and warding off both potential neighbors and business investors. Mike Houston, 67, former mayor who served from 1979 to 1987, was the first mayor candidate to announce a plan to combat blight. He proposes hiring two attorneys dedicated to collecting fines on abandoned houses and enforcing building codes, while also passing an ordinance allowing the city to foreclose on properties whose owners accumulate more than $2,000 in fines.

Mike Coffey, 40, chair of the Prairie Capital Convention Center board, says he doesn’t support hiring more attorneys, but he would look at new ways to handle abandoned properties. He says the city itself owns 40 abandoned buildings that it can’t afford to tear down, so he would consider ideas like using abandoned buildings as demolition training for labor groups.

“Before we start hiring lawyers and stacking up more bills, let’s take care of the buildings we already own,” Coffey says.

Frank Kunz, 58, now finishing his third term as Ward 3 alderman, says the city should continue what it currently does: buy abandoned houses at tax sales and tear them down.

Sheila Stocks-Smith, 49, former education liaison for the City of Springfield, says that while she hasn’t come out with a specific plan to deal with abandoned properties, the issue would be a priority for the department that would result from her proposed merger of the Office of Planning and Economic Development and the Office of Community Relations.

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