What an exciting time we are in, and what an optimism you and your promises of urban renewal bring to the Springfield National Historic District in Jacksonville, Florida, and areas like ours nationwide.

My name is Louise DeSpain, and I am the Executive Director of the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR) Council (www.sparcouncil.org). As indicated, Springfield is a National Historic District, and is located on the northern edge of the City of Jacksonville’s downtown Central Business District.

Like many urban neighborhoods, Springfield began declining in the 1950’s, endured racial conflict in the 1960s, and continued into physical, economic and educational deterioration, with increases in crime, drug usage/addiction, and teen birth/infant mortality rates well into the 1990s.

I believe you have familiarity with our neighborhood, as your Jacksonville campaign headquarters were located in one of our Klutho-designed historic structures at 1830 N. Main Street. Our community may not have been pretty when you visited, but SPAR’s hope is that soon, it will be pretty, safe and enriching for all its residents.

Through resident commitment, municipal, state and federal programs, and with recent support from our District 7 Councilmember, Dr. Johnny Gaffney, Springfield has made much progress doing all of the “right” things:

- In 1987, a one-mile square area founded in 1869 and containing a significant number of homes and commercial buildings constructed from the 1890s-1920s, was designated the Springfield National Historic District (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield,_Jacksonville,_Florida);

- In 1994, the Springfield area and many of its surrounding neighborhoods were designated a Federal Empowerment Zone;

- In 1995, the State of Florida passed similar legislation designating the area a Florida Enterprise Zone. SPAR now fundraises in three key areas, Residential Safety & Maintenance, Commercial Corridor Revitalization, and Hogan’s Creek Parks Revitalization, through the Enterprise Zone’s Community Contribution Tax Credit program (§220.183 F.S.);

- In 2001, the Springfield Historic District Zoning Overlay was enacted, protecting the community from new infiltration of inappropriate land uses;

- Since 2003, the City of Jacksonville has invested more than $20M on streetscape improvement, including new underground utility, sewer and stormwater infrastructure, on our two main commercial corridors, Main Street and 8th Street;

- Between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, SHARP grants and façade grants were available to support existing, and attract new, residents and businesses in the area;

- Springfield has been working closely with its primary “economic engines,” UF/Shands Jacksonville, Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) and Bethel Baptist.

o UF/Shands is the Northeast Florida region’s indigent-care facility and Level 1 Trauma Center. The University of Florida has its Medical, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry schools at this location, and has constructed a $150M proton-therapy cancer treatment center on the Historic District’s border. In conjunction with the County and State Boards of Health, the new federal Veterans Administration facility, and our own Darnell Cookman Middle School of the Medical Arts, Springfield is becoming a regional health and wellness cluster;

o FCCJ is the region’s community college focused on transitional jobs and career pathways, and has recently been designated a State College that will offer four-year workforce training and bachelor’s degrees;

- The community has attracted a couple of private developers who are affecting positive change – SRG Homes & Neighborhoods (srghomes.com) builds historically-appropriate, single- and multi-family infill homes, and utilizes Empowerment and FLEnterprise Zone credits. And Cesery Cos. is building the first new building on Main Street – a 47,000 square foot mixed-use project – in 40 years, that is expected to add 12 full-time jobs to the area;

- SPAR has been in close partnership with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) for the past three years. Springfield hosts a monthly Sheriff’s Advisory Committee (SHADCO) meeting, and SPAR, working with private partners, has funded in excess of $500,000 of community policing over that time period;

- Since 2006, SPAR has worked closely with the City of Jacksonville’s Code Compliance division to enforce municipal code violations in the community that continue to cause blight and deterioration. SPAR has a very successful Block Captains program and ,with the support of private partners, funded in excess of $500,000 of litter and trash removal;

- SPAR has expressed its interest in partnering with the City of Jacksonville’s Housing and Neighborhoods department to implement the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and specifically HERA 2008 §2301(c)(3)(D) and 24 CFR 570.201(d), within the portion of the 32206 ZIP targeted area that is overlapped by the Historic District;

- The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) submitted an operational grant application to the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to provide a more reliable and frequent trolley service from the residential areas of the community to/from its nearby economic and employment centers;

- SPAR has recently partnered with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to receive board training and a grant to employ a Commercial Corridor coordinator and Americorps assistant. LISC and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) named Springfield one of the top five emerging urban markets nationwide along with Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, and communities in Philadelphia, Detroit and Minneapolis;

- Springfield has a 27-acre string of parks that adjoin the Historic District and Jacksonville’s central business district. The park system contains Hogan’s Creek, which flows into the St. Johns River, one of 14 American Heritage Rivers, and contains remnants of a stormwater management systems engineered in 1928. In 2006, Springfield hosted the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for an outdoor concert and holds 4th of July “throwback” baseball games and other events on an annual basis;

- The City of Jacksonville has included a one-block area of this park system in its list of ash clean-up sites, as a result of an EPA lawsuit;

- SPAR has grown the organizational capacity of the neighborhood, which now has a merchants and business association (SAMBA), an animal rescue group (SACARC), a Mommies Group, a Garden Club, the first Girl Scouts of America troop in 50 years, and more;

- Springfield is the home of four excellent youth programs/centers including The Bridge (modeling its programs on the Harlem Children’s Zone), The Sanctuary (the subject of NPR spoken-word-artist Al Letson’s “Summer at Sanctuary” – stateofthereunion.com), The Boys’ and Girls’ Club, and the Robert F. Kennedy Community Center (municipal);

- Springfield, and more specifically the Klutho Building at 1830 N. Main St., is the home of Operation New Hope, which created the nationally-recognized Ready4Work program for ex-offenders; and,

- Is adjacent to, and has close relationships with, nearby successful urban Jacksonville CDCs, including Ron Pauline’s MetroNorth CDC (metronorthcdc.org) and Paul Tutwiler’s Northwest Jacksonville CDC (northwestjaxcdc.org).

As you can see, SPAR, in partnership with the public and private organizations at the local, state and national levels, has taken a very comprehensive approach to revitalization, because we know we must provide an environment where pride and economic success can be achieved by all of our residents. Despite our progress, we also face many hurdles ahead:

- Underfunded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) needs in Springfield; our neighborhood’s “gateway” is blighted by a 1960s hotel that makes our community look more like Beirut than an urban National Historic District. This hotel at 901 N. Main St. is privately-owned, and is a Superfund site (FLSFN0407139) for which “an eligible response site (ERS) exclusion decision has been made;”

- Environmental contamination throughout the 27-acre park system that has been known about, but considered too large/costly a problem to fix, since 1993; Hogan’s Creek contamination flowing into the St. Johns River; un-maintained park infrastructure - deteriorated or destroyed stormwater system results in regular flooding and sewer overflows in the community;

- FDOT rejected Springfield’s trolley grant. The JTA has been exploring streetcar, a transit option that is proven to result in economic development, but anticipates transportation funding will be directed toward suburban road development;

- In today’s banking climate, the re-development of Springfield’s commercial corridors is more severely handicapped – by lack of available credit and developer incentives – than it would have otherwise been by what much of the retailing industry considers “undesirable demographics;”

- Lack of municipal funding for CPTED-based crime prevention measures, trash and litter control, public space maintenance and youth programming in the urban core neighborhoods – Jacksonville has been unable to identify adequate funding for programs mandated by ordinance (Zero Tolerance on Litter), nor can our private partners sustain their investment in municipal services in today’s economy;

- The high concentration of social service organizations in and near our District does not adequately serve a city of Jacksonville’s size, resulting in an overflow of under-served homeless and mentally-challenged persons into the community; and

- Springfield’s greatest hurdle is the speed at which government, at any level, operates.

Again, Mr. Obama, we are buoyed by your attention to the plight of the urban community and its residents and proponents. I am aware you recently held a “summit” in the capital with 2,000 community organizers – I look forward to hearing how their input, as well as that from Adolfo Carrion of the Office of Urban Policy and Melody Barnes of the Domestic Policy Council, will benefit communities nationwide like the Springfield Historic District.

Springfield’s location makes it an optimal solution to Jacksonville’s economic and environmental sprawl, and the community supports the Obama-Biden Plan, and its focus on cities. We welcome you back to Springfield anytime you are in Northeast Florida.

Best regards,

Louise DeSpain, Executive Director
Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR) Council