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Measured by the number of agencies involved, the
effort scheduled for Saturday, April 21, to beautify one neighborhood on
Springfield’s east side is massive.
The cleanup, involving an area bounded by South
Grand, South Pope, and McCreery avenues and East Laurel Street, is a
collaborative effort by several city agencies and local organizations,
including the C. Lee Carey Neighborhood Association, Habitat for Humanity,
Springfield Green, The Springfield Project, TSP-HOPE, and the Springfield
Chamber of Commerce. Ward 2 Ald. Frank McNeil says that he and city
planner Paul O’Shea have been discussing improvements that could be
made in the wake of last March’s tornado, which ravaged the
community. “It’s been a long time coming, and
I’ve been saying for years, South Grand is a corridor into the city,
and thankfully it’s beginning to be addressed,” McNeil says. O’Shea says that the city’s departments
of Public Works and Planning and Economic Development, along with the
Springfield Housing Authority and the Urban League, served as
“primary movers” on the endeavor. A flier distributed to residents and property owners
asks whether people need flowers planted, yards raked, debris hauled, or
trees cut down, trimmed, or planted. Arrangements will also be made to have
hazardous household chemicals and bulky items taken to the Illinois State
Fairgrounds for disposal. “I can’t imagine why it takes a
consortium like that for a little-bitty neighborhood cleanup,” says
local resident Cathy McKamey, who questions the timing of the cleanup,
which happens to coincide with Springfield’s municipal elections. McNeil says that although he’s working on a
comprehensive long-range plan to revitalize his neighborhood, basic cleanup
is needed before anything else can happen. O’Shea says that this is
the first phase of the effort, with an eventual tie-in to a broader
neighborhood-revitalization plan. That kind of talk makes McKamey nervous. She and her
husband, Al, were vocal opponents of another redevelopment plan, Raising
South Grand, proposed last summer by developer Mike Suhadolnik. McNeil assures residents that the plan he has in mind
does not include razing people’s homes. And O’Shea dismisses the notion that the timing
of the cleanup has anything to with next week’s election, adding that
the city makes public-works crews available for such events whenever neighborhood groups pull together
and request the services.
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2007.
