What happened to Springfield? (Boston, Holyoke: hardwood floors, condos, month to)

[jxzz]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

The Hall of Fame complex, MGM casino complex and the Massmutual center are all within walking distance of each other and in safe area patrolled by police frequently.

Springfield as a whole has a ton of work to make itself right again, but it isn't any where near as awful as In_New England makes it out to be.

And how recent was this bus trip? If it was recently you must've been looking at the wrong city. The landscape of downtown has evolved in just a short year.

I spend quite a bit of time in both Spfld and Worcester and honestly they are not that far apart in the way they represent themselves. The Boston factor for Worcester in my opinion is minimal.

Location of Springfield is very unique. The closest New England city is Hartford. Springfield actually is very detached from other New England places you mentioned.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Tattoos?

I assume the OP was referring to face and neck tattoos - like often seen with MS-13 members.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by jxzz

Location of Springfield is very unique. The closest New England city is Hartford. Springfield actually is very detached from other New England places you mentioned.

Yes, Springfield relates to Hartford more than any other city. "The Hartford-Springfield area." We even get each other's tv channels. Not much relation to Worcester and very little to Boston for most people.

Springfield and Hartford were probably always connected because both share the Connecticut River (for trade purposes in the old days) but after I-91 was built, they became even closer.

[western mass and love it]

Boston to Worcester is 48 miles , Springfield to Worcester is 52 miles. Springfield to Hartford is 22 miles. Yes the Springfield area is geographically close to Hartford, They share suburbs and the workforce in both cities come from both states. But Springfield is most definitely attuned to Boston.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by Calvin72

This seems like a subject nobody wants to bring up. It's just not something that I've ever heard come up in the media (national or local).

When I passed through Springfield when I was taking a Peter Pan Bus out to Northampton (I'm in college), it was a bit of an alarming/eye-opening experience. It was really shocking how depressing things looked there: Graffiti, Litter, Derelict Buildings, Blight, no signs of industry/offices, people with tattoos etc.

So I was wondering if any people could share their general understanding of how things turned out the way they did? Were there any turning points, or was it basically just a slow decline/decay.

It's also interesting to compare Springfield with other mid-sized cities in New England: Pittsfield, Worcester, Manchester, Bangor, Portland, Providence. Was Springfield the place that fell the hardest?

I appreciate personal experiences, especially from old-timers. ;-)


Source:
2015-16 SAT Performance Report - Springfield (02810000)

I call BS. There's hardly any graffiti in Springfield. I'll take springfield over hartford any day on this. The City actually has a guy Mike Cass that did removal on a volunteer basis that the mayor desided to hire him full time for it. People report it and it gets removed.

Now if it was on a highway that's different as that's state or even federal government. You cannot tell local government employees do do work beyond local property.

Tattoos aren't that big of a deal anymore. There's plenty of industry and offices, just go to the downtown. The TD bank building, Monarch building, Masslive building.

Then again if you are in college in Northampton you are generally sheltered so any time you see someone that might be a slight bit different you might get triggered. I'm sorry but what you see around you there isn't real it's just imported. Try some real ethnic restaurants in springfield vs northampton as there is a clear difference.

Can you name specifically what areas you are referring to as there's different parts and neighborhoods.

[tovarisch]

I live in Northampton and there are probably more tattoos here than in Springfield; after all, there are a lot of young folks around. It's no longer a big deal. As for Springfield/Hartford: the shared airport (Bradley) is also a big factor.

[in_newengland]

Now that I live south of Hartford and have actually been to Hartford for the first time in many years, I would have to say I'd even take Springfield over Hartford. Hartford looks worse than it did twenty years ago, like someone dropped a bomb on it. And I don't know what happened to Hartford but it's always on the verge of bankruptcy.

With Springfield, there is probably some hope that it can come up in the world, but it will not be the Springfield that some of us remember. I can't quite imagine what it will be but it was always called The City of Homes and I would love to see people buying homes there and making it into a more civilized and safe place to live again. The schools used to be great and if decent, caring people move back in, the schools might become great again too. Maybe I'm just dreaming, lol.

[tovarisch]

Some renaissance is visible in the McKnight district of Springfield. Many Victorians have been rehabbed and are Painted Ladies again. It's a start, but it seems promising when I drive through there.

[GeoffD]

Springfield is 1950 white flight just like all the other failed cities. Once the public school system deteriorates, the middle class bails out for the suburbs. The rose colored glasses people here cherry pick the downtown area and cheerlead like crazy. The facts are that 87.5% of the children in the Springfield public school system are at or below poverty rate and the city as a whole is 30% poverty rate. Like a lot of failed cities, it has some OK places to live but the moment you have school-age children, you have no choice but to leave.

[Calvin72]

Dear mdovell,

Your point about the graffiti might actually be true (I wasn't paying that close attention). Either way, things did look pretty run-down. Also, on the bus there was a woman with a shiner (and other things like that).

But looking at the statistics seem to confirm my general impressions. For instance, childhood poverty in Springfield is 42%. For reference, Detroit (which is the worst city I could think of) had a childhood poverty rate of 48%. Boston was 28%, and Portland, ME was 21%. Also, the SAT scores in Springfield are remarkably low (which seems like a pretty bad sign for a city).

I didn't intend to turn this thread into a Springfield-hate-fest, I was just curious to compare Springfield with other cities, and figure out what lessons we can draw.