To borrow a phrase, all happy cities are alike; each unhappy city is unhappy in its own way. To learn a bit about what those unhappy ways are, three economists at Harvard and the University of British Columbia sifted through the responses by some 300,000 Americans to a national survey run by the Centers for […]
downtown
Posted inOpinion
Advice and dissent
Rendering from a 2007 project by U of I architecture students envisioned mixed-use development on the YWCA block. “Give it back to the Indians,” I thought when I read the State Journal-Register’s call for ideas about what to do with the YWCA block downtown. “Give it back to nature. Give it to anyone other than […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Curbside celebration
Springfield’s 30th Annual St. Patrick’s Day parade will “Rock the Blarney” through the streets of downtown Saturday at noon. Floats, bands and at host of local folks and organizations will once again wow and please the crowd. Look for numerous radio station personalities, Springfield Police and Fire Departments, Springfield Junior Blues hockey team, Springfield BMX club, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Exclusively Elvis
Elvis tribute artists from across the country will vie for $15,000 in cash and prizes at the Midwest Tribute to the King contest, Feb. 7-9, at the Hilton Springfield, downtown. All contestants are accompanied by the EAS Showband, the official band of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Graceland. Shawn Klush, grand champion of the $25,000 World Elvis […]
Posted inNews
Panhandlers appeal lawsuit setback
Don Norton panhandles in Springfield. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Two well-known panhandlers in Springfield are appealing an initial defeat in their lawsuit against the city. Even if they lose the appeal, however, they’ll likely have another chance to make their case. The panhandlers seek to have the City of Springfield’s ban on panhandling downtown struck […]
Posted inNews
Bringing people back downtown
When Jasper Madonia started working in downtown Springfield in 1939, the downtown was a different place from today. He describes a bustling place so busy that he had to push his way through the crowds of people during his lunch breaks. His favorite memory of working downtown is the Fannie May chocolate store that used […]
Posted inNews
State suspends doctor, finally
When Jasper Madonia started working in downtown Springfield in 1939, the downtown was a different place from today. He describes a bustling place so busy that he had to push his way through the crowds of people during his lunch breaks. His favorite memory of working downtown is the Fannie May chocolate store that used […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Holiday fireworks
Last year’s excellence continues this Fourth of July at the Capital City Celebration in downtown Springfield. The celebration begins at 3 p.m. Kids can get their faces painted and jump around in four inflatables. Thanks to MJ Kellner, free ice cream will be served starting at 5 p.m. and while supplies last. The Municipal Band […]
Posted inNews
Making downtown lovable
What started as a search for office space has turned into an investment adventure for Springfield architect Larry Quenette. He took a gamble when he decided to turn the three-story Dunn Building at 201 E. Adams St. into high-end loft apartments in Springfield’s downtown, but the gamble appears to be paying off. Six of the […]
Posted inOpinion
Anti-urban urban renewal
The downtown headquarters building of the Horace Mann Educators Corp. is getting its first major fix-up since it opened in 1972. Whatever its merits as a work of design, the building certainly was well built. In the years since it opened, Springfield’s city government has had to be remodeled after courts found it suffered from […]
Posted inOpinion
Stay with me
After 40 years, area tourism promoters still don’t have a compelling answer to the central question of their trade, which is, How ya gonnna bed ’em down in Springfield, after they’ve seen the Tomb? As I noted back in April (“The Presidential museum turns five,” April 29), attendance at the Presidential museum even in the […]
Posted inNews
State shuffling agency offices
State offices in Springfield are about to do the do-si-do as Illinois shuffles office spaces in an attempt to eliminate costly expired leases. The leases are negotiated by the state’s Central Management Services agency, which spent almost $41.3 million for real property rental in Fiscal Year 2010. Many of the new leases replace expired “holdover” […]
