When the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library was in the design stage, a visiting team from the American Institute of Architects completed a rapid-paced downtown urban design profile called a Regional/Urban Design Assessment Team, or R/UDAT. The R/UDAT program was sought out by the city to create a framework for downtown to coincide with […]
Mike Jackson
Posted inOpinion
Do better sidewalks make a better downtown?
Gov. JB Pritzker recently announced the recipients of grants for the Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Street Capital Program. More than $106 million in grants will fund 45 projects across the state. The original program announcement in 2021 allocated $50 million. The subsequent allocation of $106 million shows the generous spending available to states because […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we don’t need another replica historic place
The recent announcement that the Abraham Lincoln Association (ALA) wants to reconstruct the original one-story version of the Lincoln home needs a more thorough vetting than the publicity coming from the ALA. It’s time to put some perspective to the need for another replica building to tell the Lincoln story. Springfield already has the most […]
Posted inOpinion
Springfield, home of wasted opportunities
The pending demolition of the old downtown YMCA to create yet another vacant lot will be the latest in a string of similar failures. The YWCA block, immediately north of the Governor’s Mansion, was the worst. The state of Illinois failed in a 40-year plan and Springfield cajoles the state into a city takeover to […]
Posted inOpinion
YWCA block: Are we looking for an answer?
Once again, the city of Springfield is planning to demolish the old YWCA building to get the site ready for some potential new development. I questioned the validity of the city’s previous efforts on this topic in a citizen editorial in the State Journal-Register last January. Since then, the city has received a development proposal […]
