Dear Community Partner,

Over the past few decades, Springfield has grown and developed.  Some of our historic areas such as Downtown, Commercial Street and Galloway have led impressive revitalization efforts. Many older buildings in these areas have been renovated and modernized. New construction has been added to the mix, adding new living options and businesses.
 
Unfortunately during this same timeframe, many of our heritage neighborhoods have deteriorated. Much of our older housing stock has fallen into disrepair with many homes converted into rentals. Nuisance properties and dangerous buildings have been a constant issue, gaining much needed attention with new enforcement actions. If we want to continue to grow and prosper as a community, we must do more than enforce codes in our heritage neighborhoods.
 
Community leaders have begun an effort to provide much needed focus to this important area. Springfield Public Schools and our community passed “Proposition S” providing $170M of much-needed capital to improve the quality, safety and accessibility of our schools, many in our heritage neighborhoods.  This past fall, City Utilities began an ambitious project, dedicating $120M in capital to connect homes and businesses to high speed fiber, again, much of this in our older neighborhoods.
 
With this building momentum, we have recently formed “Restore SGF,” a collaborative effort to enhance, restore and rehabilitate homes in these heritage neighborhoods. This collaborative effort is in its infancy – and we need your involvement and input. 

Our initial meetings were well received. We plan to continue gathering input from neighborhoods, investors, non-profits, realtors, financial institutions and others and have scheduled our community kickoff for:

6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020
at The Fairbanks, 1126 N. Broadway 
and online at restoresgf.com and CityofSGF Facebook page.

Space is limited for those who would like to attend in person. Please register online. 

 
We request your attendance and input. Please forward this message to anyone else who may be interested in attending. 

We look forward to seeing you! 
 

Sincerely,

Richard Ollis
Springfield City Council and CEO, Ollis Akers Arney