Author: joeward7

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

Folks love brick streets in Springfield.

“There’s a keen interest in preserving the brick streets in the neighborhoods,” says Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin. “The brick work is so highly unique and rare that there’s an interest in preserving the past. We’re not talking about engineers saying this, we’re talking about homeowners.”

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

As indecision about how to boost the capital city’s drinking water supply dragged on for decades, another community 520 miles southeast of Springfield was also awaiting a reservoir. While it took 30 years to plan and build Lake McIntosh near Peachtree City, Georgia, that lake came into use in 2013.

In Springfield, meanwhile, the proposed backup water supply, dubbed Hunter Lake, just last month got a fresh endorsement from the city council and, after 50 years of discussion and debate, is still awaiting permits

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Some Springfield aldermen are concerned that a loophole or gray area in video gambling restrictions passed last year could allow businesses to skirt the rules. City leaders have floated adding new language to the rules

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed Hunter Lake as its choice for a supplemental water source, uniting behind the proposal that has been the subject of a decades-spanning debate.

Nine of the 10 aldermen, along with Mayor Jim Langfelder, co-sponsored the ordinance in support of building Hunter Lake. Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin was the only alderman who wasn’t listed as a sponsor, and he was the only dissenting vote.

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

All but one of Springfield’s aldermen are sponsoring an ordinance endorsing Hunter Lake, but they got an earful Tuesday night from several opponents who questioned the necessity and cost.

Seven people spoke out at a committee of the whole meeting against the proposal to build a backup water supply to Lake Springfield, contending that building lakes “is a thing of the past,” that the city faces more pressing needs

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Springfield aldermen will vote next week on eliminating an expensive employee perk that allows workers to cash out their vacation time early for a lump-sum payment. But a majority of the city council on Tuesday rejected axing the perk immediately.

As of June 1, 2016, city employees will no longer be able to cash in their unused vacation time up to a year before their retirement date

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Eight of Springfield’s 10 aldermen are sponsoring a measure that would authorize building Hunter Lake, the long-debated backup water supply for the city. Aldermen will consider the proposed ordinance at a July 14 committee of the whole meeting, and it could come up for a full city council vote as soon as July 21.

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

The former Esquire Theatre building in Springfield joins two former hotels, an old flour mill, an apartment complex and an office building in what has turned out to be a busy summer for demolition work. Demolition and cleanup at the theater site at MacArthur Boulevard and South Grand Avenue is expected to take about 60 days.

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Before Springfield city leaders begin creating the next city budget, Mayor Jim Langfelder plans to convene a summit to begin the address the city’s formidable police and fire pension debt.

As of fiscal year 2013, the city’s firefighter pension fund was only 43.6 percent funded, and the police pension fund was 51.6 percent funded. Langfelder said he intends to come

Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register

A Springfield City Council chamber packed with union members, an out-of-state developer who could bring an apartment complex to downtown, and an hourslong debate ending in a 9-0 vote against the project — for now.

Is there something wrong with this picture, or is this democracy at work?

Obviously, that might depend on whom you ask. But it is interesting that not long after the spring elections in which new Mayor JIM LANGFELDER thanked the local Laborers’ union for its help after both his primary and general election wins