We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to [email protected].
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FROM COUNTY BOARD CHAIR
Dean Olsen's recent article on the nationally recognized consultant's analysis of an expansion to the BOS Center incisively covered a complex subject ("Making downtown Springfield more marketable," April 11). The subsequent public comments on your coverage elucidated several important considerations that deserve further explanation. The many comments fell into the following general categories:
• No new taxes on our citizens for any expansion. Absolutely correct. All of the financing programs under consideration would raise revenue from visitors to our community who would pay roughly the same fees charged by other communities with whom we compete for visitors. The expansion can only move forward if it pays for itself.
• We need more money for local roads, schools and infrastructure. Absolutely correct. Expanding the convention center would provide some 250 direct jobs and generate some $70 million of new economic activity every year in our community. This would, in turn, generate an estimated $1.5 million in new direct tax revenue. Economic growth is the only way to earn more revenue to improve local infrastructure without raising taxes on our hard-pressed citizens.
• Nobody wants to come to Springfield. Good news. The study interviewed 75 individual convention planners who direct where conventions go, and a strong majority said they would come to Springfield if our community had adequate facilities.
• Why build a new hotel when the hotels we have are struggling? Our existing downtown hotels are struggling because they are not new and have not been refurbished. This is, in part, because they need more business. But the convention planners told us they won't come without new hotel facilities. Combining a new hotel with an addition to the convention center is cheaper than remodeling an existing hotel because the two operations can share critical infrastructure.
• There's not enough parking near the convention center. Some might be surprised to learn that when the new transportation center is finished, there will be more than 2,300 parking spaces within one block of the convention center.
• All politicians are idiots. This is absolutely true. It's a tautology. You have to be a fool to run for public office. The harder question is: Can our local idiots work together to deliver $70 million of new annual economic activity to our community without raising taxes on residents?
Andy Van Meter, chairman
Sangamon County Board
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SAVE THE WYNDHAM
Please save the architecturally unique Wyndham hotel building from the wrecking ball to make room for another hotel and the expansion of the BOS Center. It's an iconic Springfield landmark of more than 50 years that can be seen for miles around and stands out on the capital city's skyline, along with the Capitol building, of course. Few cities the size of Springfield can boast of having such a tall, modern-looking structure.
Mike Shepherd
New Berlin
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WASTED POTENTIAL
I feel like Springfield could be such an awesome place, but its potential is left to waste. We have the only national park in the entire state at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The entire downtown area should be bustling with shops and eateries for locals and tourists. The history of the town should be highlighted; instead, it is slowly being torn down, which is a travesty. There are multiple neighborhoods near downtown that need restored and rejuvenated. We need more cultural events and leisure places for people to have fun. Instead, our population turns to drugs and alcohol for amusement. Springfield has a rich cultural heritage that could be embraced through Italian festivals, German festivals and so forth. Nature areas are few and far between – we are mostly surrounded by corporate GMO crops. At least a portion cold be restored to original prairie grass and laced with hiking trails, for instance. There's just a lot of challenges and so few people seem interested in bringing vibrancy to Springfield, which is a unique, historical place in the country.
Dylan Somogyi
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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MORE FLIGHTS
We need more than two flights a day in and out of town before we can attract any conventions.
Adrian Angel
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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REUSE BUILDINGS
We don't seem to recycle buildings well here. Why build a new hotel while an empty one sits nearby that will cost a fortune to demolish?
Tracie Dickinson-Taylor
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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WHY STAY?
It's so sad to see my hometown with very little left to keep people there. We were taxed to death to where it's hard just to live there. City government is a joke. DSI can't save downtown. I live outside Columbia, South Carolina, now, which is about the same size. It's growing here like crazy because people are relocating from the high-tax states – there are hardly any empty buildings at all.
Illinois will never dig out of the huge hole from state pension plans. There was a glimpse of hope with gambling and cannabis, but those funds can't even begin to absorb the deficit. Roads, neighborhoods and schools are all in disrepair. It's sad to see. And ideas like this are a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.
Perry Zubeck
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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NOT CITY FUNDS
The tax that will be used for this project is the hotel/motel tax, which is not part of the city's general fund. Therefore, it cannot be used to fix streets. And unless you are staying in a hotel room, your taxes are not contributing to this.
Events of the magnitude being discussed are also not secured using any city funds or taxes. The convention center is booked and busy with conventions and conferences. While I understand people wish to see more events for public consumption, these private events are huge economic drivers. Having more capacity to accommodate and attract more conventions, conferences and concerts is needed. If you want larger attractions to come to this area, a complex that can accommodate that is required.
Melissa Dunbar
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
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MORE THAN YOU KNOW
There is so much that goes on at the BOS Center that people who never come downtown aren't aware of.
Scott Troehler
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
