DON’T SETTLE
I hope the state and the city do not sell the Springfield taxpayers and the public short with their plan to turn over ownership of “the most developable block” in downtown Springfield (see “Mayor, state detail Y Block plans,” July 8).
According to the article the city would hand ownership over to the state, which pledged to do a $4 million development that includes a permanent limestone amphitheater, but no restroom amenities or water features that both a previous approved plan and denied plan included.
The more recent approved plan was designed by Massie and Massie, the same firm that helped with the Governor’s Mansion landscape design and Jackson Street corridor. Their plan included an amphitheater setting with restrooms, water fountains and ice skating in the winter. The ice feature was designed to have other activities like youth hockey. Doing so would help guarantee year-round festivities on the block and help reinvigorate downtown.
The state awarded the city a $500,000 grant to do the first phase, which would make the block accessible to all. The design and details regarding the $7.55 million Y-block/North Mansion Block initiative is on page 20-21 of the Mayor’s Transition Report.
As noted in the article, the Springfield City Council rejected the world-class design initiative that would have been privately funded at a cost of more than $8 million. This transformational initiative included important public amenities and a cafe that would generate tax revenues to maintain the block. The cafe would be located on Fifth Street and would not block the view of the natural landscaped amphitheater or the Governor’s Mansion. This would provide a spectacular view of the Capitol and guarantee year-round public use.
State Sen. Doris Turner was one of the City Council members back then, as were Chuck Redpath, Jim Donelan and Ralph Hanauer, and Misty Buscher was the city treasurer. Don Tracy, part of the North Mansion Block Group that submitted the selected proposal, is now running for U.S. Senate. One of the block design critics at the time was then-state Sen. Andy Manar, now deputy governor. He, like others, was pushing for a housing and/or business development that would generate tax revenue. Now they all have come full circle with the public community park plaza concept. They should commit to a world-class initiative similar or grander to the 2018 plan; otherwise, our city and the public will be short-changed.
Jim Langfelder
Springfield
TRY TO STOP IT
I salute the citizens of Waverly for filing a lawsuit to stop the data center (“Residents sue Sangamon County, CyrusOne,” July 16). The Sangamon County Board ignored citizens’ concerns and went ahead with approving it, which is not how government should work.
Data centers are horrible for any community. They eat up valuable farmland and contaminate the groundwater, along with causing noise and air pollution. Nor do they bring in that many actual jobs after construction is done. And all of this coupled with no real regulation or environmental impact studies.
Cathy Mosley
Springfield
PART OF LIFE
Presently there are 3,000 data centers in the U.S. and 1,500 more will be built in next five years. It’s not coming, it is here.
If you have a cellphone, a computer, a newer car or an Apple device, you need the internet and you need data centers. In fact, you cannot live without them.
You might as well learn to live with it; it is called the future and it is here.
Jerald Jacobs
Springfield
This article appears in July 30 – August 5, 2026.
