Editor's note: Candidates for mayor of Springfield, City Council and school board were invited to submit a column in their own words explaining why they are seeking election April 4, or focusing on a topic of their choosing. All guest columns will be published by March 30.
OPINION |
About me. I have lived in Springfield since 1990, and in 1996 married my soulmate and Springfield native, Joyce Eiken. I love Springfield and all that Springfield and the Ozarks has to offer. My community service includes serving on the Traffic Advisory Board, Springbike Bicycle Club, Ozark Greenways, Downtown Springfield Association and the Downtown Springfield CID. I was recognized as 40 under 40 in 1999, and am a graduate of Leadership Springfield Class XI.
I am a licensed architect and spent 23 years practicing as a partner in local architecture firm BRP Architects (formerly Butler, Rosenbury & Partners), where I worked with Springfield-based clients who were expanding across the country — companies that have been the backbone of Springfield, including Bass Pro Shops, John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, and O’Reilly Auto Parts. My work over the last 10 years with The Vecino Group has been as a project manager doing historic renovation and adaptive reuse of buildings in downtown Springfield and many other low- to moderate-income housing projects in other communities across the U.S.
Why does all that matter? Architects have the skill of looking at projects holistically but also need to understand the nuts and bolts. Project managers, on the other hand, take the architect’s work to the next step, overseeing the painstaking progression from blueprint to reality. Through my work, I have also experienced how many other communities across the country are embracing the need for growth and development while preserving character and enhancing their sense of place. As the City of Springfield prepares to move the recently approved Forward SGF Comprehensive Plan from visionary design to successful application, I have the accumulated skills and am uniquely qualified to have a lead role in the process.
The Task. The number of issues our city leadership must monitor and act upon is daunting. Any city government is a very complicated organization which takes an immense amount of time to coordinate. And all its issues are all inter-related.
There are several initiatives already underway that will alter Springfield for decades to come. They include the adoption of a new zoning code to match up with the goals of the new comprehensive plan, a citywide housing study, Lake Springfield redevelopment, and a downtown parking study. . The information yielded in these reports will start us down the path to a new version of our city. City Council needs to be engaged at the citizen level during these activities. Then work with staff and the community to implement strategies that will transform our city for the better.
As part of that process, we need to find a way to clearly articulate the spirit embodied in Forward SGF, something that can be held up as the guiding light for future decisions and changing positions in leadership. We have started to put more focus on developing distinctive amenities that will bring a younger, more diverse workforce. I attended a work session hosted by Better Block SGF where 4 of the 7 teams — mostly young professionals — indicated the need for better transit that provides access to parks and open space. If we want to retain and attract younger, more diverse residents and workers, we need to continue listening to what they want.
We also need to rebuild trust. Whether it was the pandemic, or just the divided nature of our society — or a combination of both — there is a growing communication gap between our residents, developers, and the city government processes. No doubt, we need to generate revenue for our city’s growing operational needs and at the same time preserve AND enhance the quality of neighborhoods. These two responsibilities are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are symbiotic. Elected officials have a role in ensuring there is collaboration among the stakeholders and that the conversations are civil and productive. And that the solutions work to create places in our city that will serve the immediate area and the city.
In Summary. As Missourian William S. Burroughs once said, “When you stop growing, you start dying.” Our city has enjoyed a nice steady growth of roughly 1.4 percent to 1.7 percent a year. As of 2021, our city has a population of 169,724. Continuing that growth, we will add approximately 3,000 people a year to the city. How will we continue to attract these new residents? Where will those people live? And how will we continue to fund the growing need for operational funds? We have to find new ways to create housing, tax-producing businesses, and generate a unique sense of place all at the same time.
Leaders before us went through this exercise 20 years ago and made great strides for our city. To sustain that effort over election cycles and leadership changes over the next 20-year period, we need to have a shared vision, something to hold up to the world that portrays Springfield as a unique place to call home. Now it’s time to go back to doing this very difficult but necessary work to generate a plan to implement this new vision for our city.
RELATED COLUMN
In their own words: Council Seat D candidate Derek Lee
One of the goals of Forward SGF is a comprehensive city code update. I am in a unique position to have actually used the Springfield city code on a routine basis for a long time. ... I would like to work with the city and stakeholders to provide flexibility without pushing into our single-family neighborhoods.
