Editorial

Shedding Some Light on Downtown Plans

Just about every plan to revitalize downtown Springfield boils down to chicken-and-egg scenarios.

More and better retail, dining, and entertainment options will attract more market-rate housing … and vice versa. More feet on the street will bring about a stronger feeling of public safety … and vice versa. Keeping young talent in the region will cultivate more entrepreneurship and jobs … and vice versa.

That’s why plans to improve downtown are smartly focusing on all of the above, in the hope that each success generates another. The recent report outlining a potential ‘innovation district’ is a good example, calling on the city to improve infrastructure and create a more business- and tourist-friendly environment in the neighborhoods around the current club district.

It’s also why the Springfield Business Improvement District and DevelopSpringfield announced a plan last week to illuminate eight downtown buildings under a $400,000 architectural-lighting program. The project is intended to both highlight the area’s unique architecture and create a feeling of safety that will draw more people onto the streets, thus creating a demand for more shopping and dining options, which will draw even more people, which will further bolster that feeling of security. It all fits together as part of a targeted strategy to improve quality of life in the City of Homes.

Evan Plotkin is a believer in the feet-on-the-street approach to enhanced public safety. In this issue (see page 49), he talks about how art, music, and a bustling café have made 1350 Main Street a place people want to be, which has dramatically increased occupancy rates.

He believes this success represents a microcosm of what Springfield can achieve, and argues that any targeted effort to make downtown more appealing — with art, music, lighting, enhanced walkability, incentives for retailers and restaurants, etc. — will bring more people outside, which will catch the attention of more businesses, which will set up shop and draw more people downtown. After all, he told BusinessWest, people don’t feel afraid in a crowd, but most are reluctant to walk down a darkened city street alone.

Time will tell whether all Springfield’s improvement efforts will bear fruit, but city leaders have to be encouraged by the number of businesses and colleges (including UMass, Bay Path College, and Cambridge College) that have recently established a presence in the downtown towers, and other efforts — such as MassMutual’s $5 million commitment to the Springfield Venture Fund — to keep talent local and generate jobs. Each positive step is further evidence that the city doesn’t need a casino to spring fully to life, although it’s our position that a gaming resort will certainly help.

No, there’s no one solution that will boost the city’s fortunes, and, like we said, many of its current dilemmas are of the chicken-and-egg variety. But it’s equally true that each new downtown lease signed, each market-rate housing development in the works, and each new building façade improved is lighting the way, literally and figuratively, to a healthier Springfield.