COP CRIB 

The Enos Park neighborhood has some real momentum going these days. On the heels of a beautiful new duplex on Fifth Street, built by Habitat for Humanity of Sangamon County to look like it was built a century ago, the Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association announced the renovation of a house on Eighth Street that will become a home to a Springfi eld police offi cer. It’s part of their ongoing Resident Police Offi cer Program, and it’s one of 69 properties the neighborhood association has acquired for renovation or demolition. Volunteers from UIS, the Lanphier girls’ softball team, and the neighborhood will help with cleanup on the project, with construction help from the Springfi eld Urban League, South Town Construction Training Program and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Once the renovation is complete, the police offi cer will live in the neighborhood rent-free, in exchange for putting in service hours for the neighborhood. The program complements the off-duty police patrols already in place there. The volunteerism that’s growing in Enos Park and other areas of Springfi eld gives us hope for this city’s transformation. Keep it up, Springfi eld. Other neighborhoods: take notes.