In the past year, downtown Springfield has witnessed an exodus of state workers. Whether due to retirement, layoffs, or transfers, the reduced number of state employees has worried some business leaders. Mike Boer, president of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, says if the exodus keeps up downtown Springfield will resemble what he heard it was like in the 1970s: empty.
But downtown hardly resembles the 1970s. About ten new businesses have opened up there in the past year alone, says Susan Mogerman, director of Downtown Springfield, Inc. And, of course, there are large capital projects in the works, such as the Center for the Arts and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Yet the fact remains: downtown merchants rely on state employees, always have, and always will.
Rumors put the number of state employees who’ve left downtown in the last two years as high as 4,000.
“Four thousand seems ludicrous,” says Jodi Schrage, spokesperson for Central Management Services, the state agency responsible for keeping tabs of state office leases. Schrage says the number is probably under 1,000. “Even 1,000 seems a little high to me.” CMS records show 10 downtown leases from June 2001 are no longer active, but since then the state has signed 17 new leases on downtown office space. These records don’t reveal the number of affected workers.
But in the absence of facts, rumors will prevail. “The state is the 800-pound
gorilla,” Mogerman says. “It’s either your best friend or your worst enemy.
Right now, it’s certainly not our worst enemy, but our members are concerned
that this isn’t the end, that there might be further cutbacks.”
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2003.
