Is Springfield Regressing??

[uptowngirl]

We were just talking about that this weekend Ernest! Our street here in Springfield has wonderful HUGE oaks, they overhang the streets (I am on a corner), and these stupid semi's come down the residential street all day hitting the branches over hanging the street. Also the Springfield developer bought some houses, knocked them down, and then took all the huge old trees down too. When the neighbors complained, his response was-the new owners may not want them...well those totally vacant treeless lots have been sitting for years. There should be some protection for what we have, and some plan for new growth. We are discussing gorilla tree planting this year :-)

[danno]

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.

We we have something in common.  I grew up here as well, Went to Andrew Jackson and Kirby Smith.  Lived in Europe for several years, came back and rennovated my current home in 98. 

[Kay]

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.

Ernest Street:

Where have you been?  RAP has gotten the City to do at least three (maybe four) major tree plantings in the last couple of years.  We've probably planted 1,000 trees in the rights-of-way - canopy where no power lines exist and others under power lines.  The first project planted trees from Post to the highway and up to Acosta and up to Willowbranch along College and Post.  The City is finishing up another project of planting canopy trees wherever a RAP volunteer found a space for one (he went all over the district identifying spots).  Not to say we don't need to keep doing it but wanted to make sure you are aware of RAP's work in this area.

[Ernest Street]

Thanks Kay.I LOVE the two Live Oaks the city planted on my tree lawn and they love all that black cow dirt that was mixed in there a year earlier
I plan on planting two cypress on the upper lawn to compliment them.
uptowngirl: I like the idea of Guerrilla planting.We have to figure out how to keep exposed saplings from being mowed... maybe a chicken wire tube?

[Kiva]

Thanks Kay.I LOVE the two Live Oaks the city planted on my tree lawn and they love all that black cow dirt that was mixed in there a year earlier
I plan on planting two cypress on the upper lawn to compliment them.
uptowngirl: I like the idea of Guerrilla planting.We have to figure out how to keep exposed saplings from being mowed... maybe a chicken wire tube?

If the "saplings" are big enough (maybe 6ft tall) mowing should not be a problem. We planted 5 trees next to the road in the summer and they are fine. A bigger problem may be getting them watered in the critical few weeks before their roots get established. Lack of water kills many of the trees that the city plants.

[letters and numbers]

I had a great conversation with the S.P.A.R. council office. They are very encouraging and I think they get a bad rap. But you should just decided for yourself I guess!

[uptowngirl]

Chicken wire tube should work real well. I am also looking at some fruit tree saplings to plant, as these are pretty and edible, of course they do not really add to the canopy, but they can grow in some of the smaller areas a full grown live oak would not :-)

[finehoe]

I like the idea of Guerrilla planting.

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

[Springfielder]

I had a great conversation with the S.P.A.R. council office. They are very encouraging and I think they get a bad rap. But you should just decided for yourself I guess!

I'm thrilled you had a positive interaction with spar...and it's my hope that will continue. You're coming in as a newcomer and haven't a clue as to what's been like with spar and the negative impact they've had upon our neighborhood. The former ED pushed for demolitions and we lost a large stock of these historic structures as a result. So this "spar got a bad rap" quite simply, isn't true. They earned that "bad rap" and distrust by what they did, what they failed to do and how they hurt the neighborhood as a whole.

There are still board members who were part of the former ED's regime, who were instrumental in damaging the neighborhood, or at the very least, allowed it to happen. What's promising, is, the board members who have seen the light and are making positive changes. However, until those who continue trying to hurt instead of help are gone from the board, then I for one, cannot truly trust spar. There's issues that remain with what is taking place, and although I'm thrilled with the positive, I'm also aware of the ongoing negative.

[peestandingup]

Well, I'm with a lot of other posters here who think the thing that will TRULY set Springfield apart & be attractive is to get her Streetcar back (a REAL one, not those fake bus ones). Why in God's name they didn't do it when they recently tore up Main Street & didn't put the line in where the median went I'll never know.

To me, Main is even more of a deterrent for walkability than it was before. The 2 lanes each way & that median separating them give it more of a "highway feel" instead of a pleasant "main street feel" that one would want to take a stroll down.

Ugh, can the city throw us a bone every once in a while?? 

[ChriswUfGator]

Well, I'm with a lot of other posters here who think the thing that will TRULY set Springfield apart & be attractive is to get her Streetcar back (a REAL one, not those fake bus ones). Why in God's name they didn't do it when they recently tore up Main Street & didn't put the line in where the median went I'll never know.

To me, Main is even more of a deterrent for walkability than it was before. The 2 lanes each way & that median separating them give it more of a "highway feel" instead of a pleasant "main street feel" that one would want to take a stroll down.

Ugh, can the city throw us a bone every once in a while??  

I really don't mean to jump on this bandwagon again, but you can thank SPAR for the current design of Main street. They pushed for those awful medians that force you to drive 4 blocks out of your way and then cut a dangerous u turn across two lanes of oncoming traffic to get to any destination. They removed all the bus stops, etc. SPAR's intent was to get rid of undesirables, which is how they viewed pedestrians.

The flaw in their plan is that, when you manage to make a street hostile to people on foot who ride the bus, then its also hostile to everyone else too! There is no way to ONLY inconvenience low income people when it comes to street design, we are all human and it serves as just as much of a barrier to the rest of us as to the targeted group. SPAR's actions regarding the street design are also a large part of why Main street is now almost completely vacant until after the MLK expressway. As soon as you cross under that bridge (out of SPAR's reach) you'll immediately notice it is again filled with businesses and activity.

[uptowngirl]

It is my understanding (and post on the old SPAR forum board somewhere that this design was pushed because of the "crime" in the neighborhood when the original funding and planning came through. Of course by the time it was getting ready to implement and the residents were complaining about what it was doing to the neighborhood it was too late. This is most likely a common issue when non professionals get involved in this kid of stuff. It was an immediate reaction to a current issue (which by the way did nothing to fix that situation, residents did though!). There was no thought to the future put into this design. What is really awful (besides walkability issues) is businesses cannot count both sides as traffic due to the median. This is going to impact business plans!   

[ChriswUfGator]

I had a great conversation with the S.P.A.R. council office. They are very encouraging and I think they get a bad rap. But you should just decided for yourself I guess!

I'm thrilled you had a positive interaction with spar...and it's my hope that will continue. You're coming in as a newcomer and haven't a clue as to what's been like with spar and the negative impact they've had upon our neighborhood. The former ED pushed for demolitions and we lost a large stock of these historic structures as a result. So this "spar got a bad rap" quite simply, isn't true. They earned that "bad rap" and distrust by what they did, what they failed to do and how they hurt the neighborhood as a whole.

There are still board members who were part of the former ED's regime, who were instrumental in damaging the neighborhood, or at the very least, allowed it to happen. What's promising, is, the board members who have seen the light and are making positive changes. However, until those who continue trying to hurt instead of help are gone from the board, then I for one, cannot truly trust spar. There's issues that remain with what is taking place, and although I'm thrilled with the positive, I'm also aware of the ongoing negative.

+1

I bought my first property in Springfield a decade ago this month. I'ts nice that someone can just move in here a few weeks ago, spend 10 minutes with SPAR, and then immediately start to lecture the rest of us on how how they've gotten a bad rap. That is seriously asinine.

Unlike the newbie, I've been around long enough to remember when Main street was full of businesses, when all the vacant lots all over the place weren't vacant, and the neighborhood was full of activity and people as diverse as any neighborhood you'd find. It wasn't always a good diverse, but anything is better than what is there now...NOTHING. All of this was caused, directly, by SPAR. I even remember when the code complaint barrages started in 2003/2004 right after DeSpain took over. I just never connected the dots until sheclown got ahold of their emails that proved it was them all along.

Claude Moulton was the force benind most of this mess, and he's still in de facto control of SPAR, as head of the board. Until he's gone, along with Lisa Simon and our dear beloved FSU813 (all of whom caused this mess and all are still at SPAR) then I'm sorry, but this snake is still a snake it just grew another tail when it appointed a new ED.

[peestandingup]

Well, I'm with a lot of other posters here who think the thing that will TRULY set Springfield apart & be attractive is to get her Streetcar back (a REAL one, not those fake bus ones). Why in God's name they didn't do it when they recently tore up Main Street & didn't put the line in where the median went I'll never know.

To me, Main is even more of a deterrent for walkability than it was before. The 2 lanes each way & that median separating them give it more of a "highway feel" instead of a pleasant "main street feel" that one would want to take a stroll down.

Ugh, can the city throw us a bone every once in a while??  

I really don't mean to jump on this bandwagon again, but you can thank SPAR for the current design of Main street. They pushed for those awful medians that force you to drive 4 blocks out of your way and then cut a dangerous u turn across two lanes of oncoming traffic to get to any destination. They removed all the bus stops, etc. SPAR's intent was to get rid of undesirables, which is how they viewed pedestrians.

The flaw in their plan is that, when you manage to make a street hostile to people on foot who ride the bus, then its also hostile to everyone else too! There is no way to ONLY inconvenience low income people when it comes to street design, we are all human and it serves as just as much of a barrier to the rest of us as to the targeted group. SPAR's actions regarding the street design are also a large part of why Main street is now almost completely vacant until after the MLK expressway. As soon as you cross under that bridge (out of SPAR's reach) you'll immediately notice it is again filled with businesses and activity.

Good Lord. So basically, walkability & public transportation = vagrants to these people?? What the hell. Have any of these guys ever visited a real, vibrant urban area in another city??

Well, if they really did come up with that design for the reasons you say & it's now finished, then I'm afraid they've doomed Main street since the damage has already been done & it'll likely be a LONG time before it's redesigned. Who would want to put a business there in the middle of that awful mess that discourages foot traffic?? It's the most asinine thing I've ever heard.

Main was born & bred to be walkable. Not only did they take that away, they made it a pain to drive too. Whatta plan! 

[letters and numbers]

You know I spent hours and hours talking and researching because I don't buy a house and open a business lightly. I'll just say this about this topic. Don't believe everything you read on the internet and some of these posters have crazy personal histories that are the reason for this "beef" I think. A lot of this talk on here is just crazy.  I could say more but I don't like flame wars you know. But everyone can just form their own opinion. let's drink to that!!