Letters to the Editor

GOOD MEMORIES

We lived a block over on David Street in the early 1970s and we would walk over to this location for groceries (“City awards next round of cannabis grants,” Oct. 7). I believe it was Bud’s IGA then. While Mom shopped, my brother and I would read as many comic books as we could cram into the time we were there. We were poor, so getting one to take home was a rarity. 

As an adult I shopped this location as the Sav-A-Lot, so I have memories of this store spanning back over 50 years. Glad it is going to reopen, and I wish Arriel Williams all the best in his success.

Leon Stone

Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes

NO TRANSPARENCY 

It seems the Sangamon County Board has been busy for years behind the backs of the people they supposedly represent (“Data center lawsuit could be tossed out,” Oct. 9). The setup for the much-opposed CyrusOne data center had been in the works long before the public was notified, and it very much included the approval of the Double Black Diamond solar farm. Trust is built with transparency, and it appears Sangamon County is lacking.

When people think of solar, it’s typically positive, a move forward into the future of clean, sustainable energy. But when all of that energy is being fed to a data center that uses so much energy that even people working in that field — like a family member of mine — are deeply concerned, we’re not coming out ahead. Not only are we losing some of the best farm ground in the country to a data center that no one wants, but we’re losing even more of it to power the thing. This doesn’t benefit the people of Sangamon County. It benefits tech companies and Black Rock, 1,000 miles away. 

Clean energy doesn’t prevent the pollution put out by said data center. Nor will it make things quieter for residents living in the area dealing with the noise pollution and eyesore that was once a field. And what happens when the AI bubble bursts or the technology changes? Who will be left picking up the pieces? 

I think we need to reevaluate the elected officials we’ve trusted to have our best interests as the guiding force in their decision-making. We need local and state officials who will pass enforceable regulations that protect constituents, not sell us out to the highest bidder.

Kristin Park

Rochester

DISRUPTING NATURE

These hyper-scale data centers pollute our air, water and soil (“Data centers are reshaping our electricity demand,” Oct. 23). They disrupt the peace of life for people and animals living near them. The earth is our life support. Everything is connected. What we do to the web of life we do to ourselves.

Sara Delaloye

Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes

TALE OF TWO SPRINGFIELDS

Regarding the article on Julius Rosenwald, I discovered during a talk out here (Greenspring Village senior community in Springfield, Virginia), that a Rosenwald school was built in Arlington, Virginia (“The giver of Springfield,” Oct. 11). We moved to Arlington and lived there for almost 50 years after we left Springfield in 1977 – I was a reporter for WICS-TV Channel 20 at the time of our departure.  

I had initially assumed the Rosenwald schools were built only in the deep South, but I have since learned that segregation in our own schools existed in what is today liberal Arlington. In 1925, when Arlington’s John M. Langston School was constructed (A Rosenwald school built to serve Black elementary students) this jurisdiction was very much aligned with the post-Reconstruction Gov. Harry Byrd, architect of Virginia’s massive scheme to resist Brown v. Board of Education.

Thanks for the continued excellent reporting on Springfield, Illinois.

Nick Penning

Springfield, Virginia

This article appears in November 5-11, 2026.