Untitled Document
Springfield’s affordable housing crew —
Pastor Jerry Doss of Abundant Faith Christian Center, Mike Pittman of
Pittman Enterprises, the Rev. Silas Johnson of the Nehemiah Expansion, and
Ron Fafoglia of TSP-Hope Inc. — all showed up at last week’s
City Council meeting to protest an ordinance requiring new guidelines for
city building projects. But Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson says their words fell on
deaf ears, because most of her fellow aldermen had already made up their
minds. “When they got to the council meeting,”
Simpson says, “they weren’t really listening to what citizens
were saying — and a lot of it depends on what citizens are
talking.”
In a 7-2 vote, with Ward 3 Ald. Frank Kunz and Simpson
voting no, the council approved the ordinance, which requires any housing
project funded by the city, state, or federal government to submit final
plans — including chosen bidders — before receiving any monies
and to hire only workers who have completed an apprenticeship program. Dissenters blasted the ordinance, saying it could
drive out family-owned businesses, especially on Springfield’s east
side, by requiring mostly union labor and by making the building process
more difficult. Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, who sponsored the
ordinance, says he didn’t intend for it to become a black-and-white
issue or to stop individual homeowners from development projects. Instead,
Edwards says, he introduced the new guidelines after aldermen caught flak
in December for not correctly overseeing a contract for a city-funded
housing project. “After we did all the finger-pointing at each
other and claimed that we didn’t monitor anything,” Edwards
says, “I felt embarrassed when these are taxpayers’ dollars and
we don’t know how they’re being spent.”
In an attempt to compromise, the council approved an
amendment stating that the new ordinance is only applicable for building
projects using $500,000 or more in city-handled money. But, Edwards says,
there was a lot of confusion on the floor and aldermen didn’t realize
that they rarely give as much as $500,000 to a single project. Aldermen will revisit the issue in the next few weeks,
he says; they plan to either lower the $500,000 ceiling to a more realistic
dollar amount or to alter the amendment completely to include a total
project cost requirement.
Contact Amanda Robert at
arobert@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 22-28, 2008.
