Author: joeward7

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

A major renovation of MacArthur Park Apartments in Springfield should begin in the next few weeks.

Kansas-based Cohen-Esrey Affordable Partners completed the purchase last week of the 184-unit complex at 2715 S. MacArthur Blvd. The national developer of low- and middle-income housing has filed for dozens of city construction permits in preparation for a project now estimated to cost a little more than $19 million.

Bishop is joined in studio by Springfield Ward 7 Alderman Joe McMenamin to talk about pensions and the city’s ethics committee.

http://www.wmay.com

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council will consider a new proposal to speed up the investigation of 15 complaints of wrongdoing in city government. The resolution, which will be up for discussion at a committee meeting later this month, recommends that Mayor Jim Langfelder’s administration review the complaints and take action, which could mean discipline or referral to an outside agency.

Redpath and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin are co-sponsoring the resolution

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

Seven years ago, the city of Springfield faced a fiscal crisis so serious that then Mayor Tim Davlin formed a blue-ribbon committee to define the problem and recommend solutions.

The housing bubble had burst and the stock market had crashed. Springfield and other governments were laying off employees and instituting furloughs while the federal government propped up banks. Nearly 12 percent of the city’s corporate fund was going toward police and fire pensions, and the city was dipping into reserves, inviting cash flow problems and increased borrowing costs from lowered credit ratings.

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

With tens of millions of public dollars at stake, unions representing city of Springfield employees have sued the city seeking to overturn a city council decision ending a pension-fattening perk that municipal officials say is unique to the capital city.

Since 2003, city workers have been allowed to accumulate, then cash out, two years’ worth of vacation in the year prior to retirement, inflating the salary for that year, which is used to calculate pension benefits.

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

A state housing board has approved up to $15 million in financing and a little more than $1.3 million in tax credits toward the purchase and renovation of the MacArthur Park Apartments in Springfield.

The approval by the Illinois House Development Authority on Friday had been expected by local project supporters. Board spokeswoman Cami Freeman confirmed the approval in an email. Freeman wrote that there was no opposition to the project.

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

A Kansas developer has drawn up detailed plans for restoring the MacArthur Park Apartments in Springfield in preparation for a state ruling this week on up to $15 million in federal assistance for the project.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin told a meeting of the MacArthur Boulevard Association last week that plans include significant upgrades of 184 apartments; a raised, 3,000-square-foot garden bed; secured bicycle parking; new landscaping; new picnic tables, enclosures and benches; repair of fences, sidewalks and roads; and new lighting.

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

With more than 30 percent Springfield city workers not having Springfield addresses, and some municipal employees commuting as far as 80 miles, Mayor Jim Langfelder is seeking to reinstitute a requirement that new hires live in the city.

A residency ordinance was still being drafted at city hall last week, but Langfelder said he favors an approach with a “grandfather clause” that would allow current employees who reside outside the city to stay where they are and require people hired after a certain date to move inside the corporate limits within six months.

The State Journal-Register

Given last week’s vote by the Springfield City Council to restructure municipal electric rates with pitifully little debate by aldermen or input from ratepayers, it’s little wonder there is a renewed push for citizens to play a larger role in oversight of City Water, Light and Power.

And why shouldn’t CWLP customers have some kind of representation at the table? After all, it’s a public utility, and they have a stake in its future.