Sorry Son, The Mayor’s Vision of Downtown Springfield Doesn’t Include Us
By Andrew Keaton
In June of 2016 Springfield’s Mayor, Domenic Sarno joined Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito for a tour of Springfield’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) District. The TDI District is a MassDevelopment program designation, which targets redevelopment efforts in the historic commercial center of downtown, Stearns Square.
During the tour the mayor spoke about making downtown Springfield a walking city as he outlined a series of planned city improvements to the district to complement the efforts of MassDevelopment, the Springfield Business Improvement District, Develop Springfield, and the many local property owners and businesses that are participating in the effort.
Fast forward to May 2021, five years later, and still the whispers about the Springfield Exodus, which happens daily between 4 and 5:30pm. Still the barren streets after 5:00pm.
Non-residents who fill a strong percentage of Springfield jobs – people who work downtown but leave Springfield daily, jumping on the highway heading straight to their destination aka home. The same people we run into from time to time, who often go on jaded tangents about how dangerous Springfield is and why they can’t wait to leave this horrid city. Many of these same people work for the municipality or a city related agency, but that’s another story.
If you build it, they will come, wrote MassLive writer Douglas Hook from an article written in December of 2019 where he quotes the mayor stating, “I always wanted to bring more of an eclectic mix to downtown Springfield. I don’t care what type of establishment you run what creed, color, background, as long as you want a reputable and good establishment, I’m [running a] very business-friendly administration.”
It’s May 2021 and the presence of diverse Black owned businesses are still very rare in Sarno’s business-friendly administration. Yet, the horror stories of being Black and owning a business downtown still exist. The post antebellum obstacles established in this country pre-sixties is still omni-present in a city with a Mayor who claims to not care about creed, color, background etc etc.
Try being Black for a day and attempt and to, a.) find a realtor willing to lease to a Black business owner, b.) finding a financial institution willing to work with said business, c.) being held to much higher and rigid standards by Sarno’s business-friendly administration. Not to mention the code enforcement terror squad used heavily by the Mayor to prevent businesses from settling in and getting comfortable.
Many find it interesting that when the fight for MGM was in progress, the CEO at that time, Mike Mathis, and the Mayor pledged heavily that Springfield would be a walking City, everything will be in sight, the visibility and diversity will propel Springfield into the Small City that never sleeps. Fast forward a few years later only to discover that Springfield is now the small City with a hangover.
Most residents understand and acknowledge that the elephant in the Room is the Covid-19 that has been ravaging lives and economies across the globe, they get that, however, this city’s downtown has been historically stale, pale, and status quo. It’s doubtful that even a world without Covid could have changed that.
Black business owners question daily the limitations placed on their ability to establish themselves and enjoy the opportunities their White colleagues were given.
Worthington Street was supposed to be the Bourbon Street of Western Mass; now it looks like a ghost town reminiscent of an old Western town. One would think Jesse James and the gang swooped through and said not on my watch. As insane as it sounds, one would have to ask themselves, well, who would Jesse James be in this day and age?
Could it be a Mayor and his “business-friendly” administration swooping in and stealing the dreams and aspirations of the Black business community? After all the rhetoric used to garner the support of the Black community to lure MGM one would think there would have been opportunities for that community to build their potential downtown, but again, there is a history of falling for the smoking and mirrors.
As writer Melissa De White once wrote: A summer of protest following the tragic death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans; white supremacy on full display during the riots on Capitol Hill; a raging pandemic disproportionately affecting communities of color – events over the past year have only underscored how prevalent systemic racism and bias is in America today. Last year’s protests exposed more than questions about police brutality and systemic racism, it exposed a city government and a mayor that have very limited understanding of the term systemic equity.
Systemic equity is the complex combination of interrelated elements consciously designed to create, support and sustain social justice. It is a dynamic process that reinforces and replicates equitable ideas, power, resources, strategies, conditions, habits and outcomes.
Downtown Springfield is not reflective in any capacity of Black life. The products, services, dining, nightlife, etc. Business development is critical on a number of levels. When a mayor speaks of a vibrant walking downtown, the question “for who” has to be asked at some point. As Black residents ask themselves, why must we always have to patronize businesses run by people that don’t look like us? How does one explain the connection or representation to what goes on downtown or where our dollars are spent to Black youth, Mr. Mayor?
It is time to remove the barriers and give Black business owners an opportunity to thrive and access the opportunities and funding like everyone else.
It is time to re-assess a Mayor, who has built his mayoral career off the backs of Black votes every time he uses the often repeated quote: “I don’t care what type of establishment you run what creed, color, background, as long as you want a reputable and good establishment, I’m [running a] very business-friendly administration.”
This is America, where target voting is far more effective than begging and showing blind allegiance to those who fail to open doors to possibility. Black residents sadly drive by empty storefronts, a city hall that has repeatedly failed to include Blacks in economic development plans, procurement contracts, along with very limited access to community development block grants. Combine that with active redlining by real estate developers and banking institutions and no entities to provide the oversight and accountability to ensure opportunity and real equity.
We’ve been taught in our nation’s schools that change comes with voting. To finally get the safe spaces and walking city that residents have been promised, perhaps it’s time reassess and change who the city has been voting for to ensure that the city is for all of us!
