Is Springfield Regressing??

[uptowngirl]

What happened to the garden shop that was going to open at the old Zombie Bike Shop?

[fsujax]

As a result of these constant negative threads about my neighborhood I have decided to move out of Springfield!

[ChriswUfGator]

As a result of these constant negative threads about my neighborhood I have decided to move out of Springfield!

Can you take SPAR with you? We'll all chip in for the plane tickets...

[fsujax]

Hey Chris I will sell you my house! I might even give you a special deal!

[Kiva]

We recently moved to Springfield and love it! It is the most friendly 'hood we've lived in. We also joined SPAR in the hopes that the more members they have, the more they will reflect the majority view of those living in the area. I think most residents welcome any business coming into Main Street, or to any of the vacant commercial buildings scattered around Springfield. The more the merrier! We need a vibrant community with a variety of quirky stores.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

the problem with people joining SPAR as soon as they move in is that they really don't have the slightest idea what's goïng on.  how can newcomers say 'yes, this is good' or 'no, this is terrible' with the incredibly meager sense ov context that comes with beïng a newcomer?

i'm not saying i hate newcomers to springfield (i do by default, but we've been getting some pretty awesome people in the past couple years)--i just think new people should sit back and watch for a while before adding their voices to the chaos.

[iloveionia]

fsu, you are not moving.  You love Springfield like we all do.
Springfield's commercial corridor needs desperate attention and love.
Springfield is a GREAT neighborhood of friends and neighbors, is very social and offers a myriad of events and groups to get involved in. 
I love it's "rawness."  For me it was truly a serendipitious find. 

[avs]

As a Realtor who has specialized in the Springfield market for almost 7 years now, I will state emphatically that Springfield most certainly is NOT regressing.  In fact, over the past year, it has seen a slight increase in value.  The housing bust that hit the entire country has been good for Springfield and the residential market is seeing a ton of new home buyers move in. 

I have lived in Springfield for, wow, 8 years now (how the time goes by) and all I have seen is progression.  Yeah, businesses have come and gone, as they do in lots of neighborhoods - but new ones keep opening.  In my mind, Springfield would be regressing if home buyers stopped buying and investors were the only buyers we were seeing.  Or if businesses stopped opening.  If people stop trying.  That is regression in my mind.  The fact that so many people are still inspired by this little neighborhood is all good and points to a positive future.

[Kiva]

the problem with people joining SPAR as soon as they move in is that they really don't have the slightest idea what's goïng on.  how can newcomers say 'yes, this is good' or 'no, this is terrible' with the incredibly meager sense ov context that comes with beïng a newcomer?

i'm not saying i hate newcomers to springfield (i do by default, but we've been getting some pretty awesome people in the past couple years)--i just think new people should sit back and watch for a while before adding their voices to the chaos.

I recently moved to Springfield, but have lived in Jacksonville for almost 20 years. How long do you have to live here before you are allowed to do more than just "sit back and watch"?

[danno]

the problem with people joining SPAR as soon as they move in is that they really don't have the slightest idea what's goïng on.  how can newcomers say 'yes, this is good' or 'no, this is terrible' with the incredibly meager sense ov context that comes with beïng a newcomer?

i'm not saying i hate newcomers to springfield (i do by default, but we've been getting some pretty awesome people in the past couple years)--i just think new people should sit back and watch for a while before adding their voices to the chaos.

So how long have you lived in Springfield??

[ChriswUfGator]

the problem with people joining SPAR as soon as they move in is that they really don't have the slightest idea what's goïng on.  how can newcomers say 'yes, this is good' or 'no, this is terrible' with the incredibly meager sense ov context that comes with beïng a newcomer?

i'm not saying i hate newcomers to springfield (i do by default, but we've been getting some pretty awesome people in the past couple years)--i just think new people should sit back and watch for a while before adding their voices to the chaos.

I recently moved to Springfield, but have lived in Jacksonville for almost 20 years. How long do you have to live here before you are allowed to do more than just "sit back and watch"?

How long? Long enough to learn about SPAR before joining and then telling people how great they are. We know better.

And if you did your due diligence and knew everything and then joined anyway, then yikes!

[Springfield Chicken]

Springfielders are the most passionate people I've ever been around!  In less than a year I've watched this group take on and win against the city and EPA over the ash issue, made progress with the city on demolitions, run off a church activity for the homeless, and a bunch of other stuff.  I see new businesses opening, thriving and expanding.  I see buyers who want to live in Springfield, not just flip Springfield, buying homes.  I see everything from mommies' groups, to kickball groups, to pet rescue, to gardening, to Halloween, to beer and wine drinking.  How can any place compete with Springfield?  That ain't regressing in my book.

[iloveionia]

Regressing may have been the wrong word choice, though not mine.

Springfield rocks in my book.
Rocks in all the ways everyone has spoken of. 

BUT, is anyone out there denying that Main Street needs life? Though I did not start this thread, that is what I took from the original post, the "regressing" wasn't so much with residential, but with commercial development, particularly where it is visible, i.e. Main Street.  Do correct me if I interpreted wrong.

P.S.  I know Kuro can speak for himself, but he grew up in Springfield and went to school with Miss Maggie's granddaughter. ;-)

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

danno:  my whole life, though i wasn't quite tryïng to play that card--not everyöne's 'lucky' enough to've been here since the neighbourhood was as bad as people say it is now, and i'm not that sort ov elitist.

kiva:  i'm not tryïng to say there's some magical amount ov time before it's 'allowed', it just makes me a little jumpy seeïng people move into the neighbourhood and join SPAR before the paint's dry.

chrisWUFgator:  as much as i rail against SPAR, i still don't think it's quite that simple.  they have done some good things lately, and it probably is in part due to the new blood (well, it's damn sure not the old guard!)--hell, maybe we should all join SPAR, all hostile takeover like.

[Ernest Street]

Springfield is growing in many ways. But like my neighborhood of Riverside,we all are fast losing our tree canopies.
It's time to start planting.
A lot of the Five Points canopy is currently 80-100 years old (not counting native trees)and is dropping like fly's every time the wind blows past 30mph.
My only new years resolution this year was to perfect growing cuttings of the trees that are found all around us,and possibly compile a flyer or something? I'm still experimenting so don't hold me to anything. The working poor have to make time to do anything else.

BTW..this came to me after I had to cut the 6th Cypress branch from my face on a recent job..why not recycle? I took cuttings and seeds.