I have been reading a little about this city. It seems like the economy there has been suffering over the past few decades. I have a few quick questions.

What is the city like?
Is it a good place to live?
What is the crime rate?
Is it beginning to revitalize?
What does the future hold?

Could someone post a few pictures of the skyline or city neighborhoods? :)

I have been reading a little about this city. It seems like the economy there has been suffering over the past few decades. I have a few quick questions.

What is the city like?
Is it a good place to live?
What is the crime rate?
Is it beginning to revitalize?
What does the future hold?

Could someone post a few pictures of the skyline or city neighborhoods? :)

Crime is HIGH- Very high.
The metro area around it can be nicer, Northhampton and Amherst. Holyoke isnt too great.


http://www.rbgilbert.com/images/springfield.jpg

http://www.singlesourcephoto.com/massachusetts/images/ma/mab0021bg.jpg



There is a really cool picture I have on my computer at home that I will post after work today, It is a shot from Mt.Tom and the Springfield skyline is in the foreground, and you can see the Hartford skyline in the background. They are essentially one metro, onlye 25 miles apart.

http://www.hartfordspringfield.com/images/locationinfo1_400.gif

It is being termed "the knowledge corridor" due to all the schools in the metro

http://www.hartfordspringfield.com/index.asp

Basketball Hall of Fame is worth a visit.

Basketball Hall of Fame is worth a visit.

Absolutely, and Six Flags New England is 5 minutes outside of the city.

Springfield reminds me of Hartford, but is less sprawled out, and poorer...

While the city is bigger, Hartford's metro is twice the size.

Springfield and Hartford are basically twin cities these days, it has more in common with CT than with Boston...

But if the metros did merge, it would help them more than us...they have a weaker economy...

Springfield and Hartford are basically twin cities these days, it has more in common with CT than with Boston...

But if the metros did merge, it would help them more than us...they have a weaker economy...

How are the metros not merged now? other than an imaginary state line?
They share an airport, they share suburbs...What else would you like to see done to "merge" them and help springfields economy?

I am all for it.

The commuter rail is the only step I cant think of, and that is in the works, apparently set to open in 2011
http://www.courant.com/hc-aptrains.artjul30,0,1619850.story

Oh, I'm all for it as well...but the Hartford-Springfield metro are still not OFFICIALLY one yet...

The commuter rail is a start, but probably more of a general advocation of there being one merged metro would be better. Media, politicans, and generally most people think of this place as Greater Hartford. The Hartford city government barely acknowledges Springfield at all. I think that we should start thinking of ourselves as one, and not two metros...

Oh, I'm all for it as well...but the Hartford-Springfield metro are still not OFFICIALLY one yet...

The commuter rail is a start, but probably more of a general advocation of there being one merged metro would be better. Media, politicans, and generally most people think of this place as Greater Hartford. The Hartford city government barely acknowledges Springfield at all. I think that we should start thinking of ourselves as one, and not two metros...

Well of course the hartford city governnemtn doesnt acknowledge Springfield! Its not their fiscal responsibility! The imaginary line makes it Beacon Hill's responsibility, and they hardly look beyond Worcester. What type of "official" thing are you looking for? A name change? The only exclusion I can think of is the media marketing, as New Haven/Hartford is one TV region

springfield has some wonderful old architecture. springfield also has an incredibly large number of meth-heads and crack addicts. it's really a shame, but it's the reality.

Well of course the hartford city governnemtn doesnt acknowledge Springfield! Its not their fiscal responsibility! The imaginary line makes it Beacon Hill's responsibility, and they hardly look beyond Worcester. What type of "official" thing are you looking for? A name change? The only exclusion I can think of is the media marketing, as New Haven/Hartford is one TV region

That's what I meant....

A more of an acknowledgement that we are one metro than goes past state lines. That Hartford's metro does not end at Mass, and that Springfield does not end at CT. A notice of being one, like the Twin cities or Washington-Baltimore...

Ok, give a break...I am not an expert on the issue, quit heckling me... :)

blink- i would love to see that picture from Mt Tom, will you be posting it? :)

I think connectivity will help Springfield a lot. If CT goes through with its commuter rail plans and the MBTA all of a sudden decides to do the right thing and serve Springfield (maybe even Hartford), it would be a big step in the right direction.

Here’s interesting article on better connecting Springfield & Hartford

MAKING THE MOST OF THE SPRINGFIELD CONNECTION; [STATEWIDE Edition] WILLIAM HOSLEY. Hartford Courant. Hartford, Conn.: Jul 2, 2006. pg. C.1
Springfield is not on the tip of every tongue in Hartford, I grant you. But now that the two river cities will be connected by commuter rail, it's time to take another look at the neighbor to the north, with which Hartford has a long, deep tradition of interplay and mutuality.
Why? Because we share a region, a history, an economy, an airport, a highway and a sometimes perplexing array of challenges about which we can learn from one another. More important, we share an opportunity to capitalize on collective assets and scale that not only make the region bigger than the sum of its parts, but more marketable and compelling.
The four original River Towns defined the western settlement that became Connecticut: Hartford, Windsor, Wethersfield and Springfield. Like Hartford, Springfield was founded in the 17th century by a strong leader, William Pynchon, whose children and grandchildren intermarried with Hartford's elite to such a degree that the two settlements were almost a family business. During the century that followed, the founders' descendants developed new settlements to the north, in Hadley, Hatfield, Northampton and elsewhere. Families continued to intermarry and eventually created a strong regional economy of settlements that depended on one another for defense and trade, and shared a vigorous cultural identity.
Ties grew stronger during the industrial age, with both cities manufacturing firearms, railroad cars, automobiles, machine tools and other goods involving machine-based precision technology.
Sam Colt first embarked on his quest to mass-produce firearms by studying the state of the art of precision manufacturing as it was then practiced at the U.S. Springfield Armory. He later acquired machine tools from the Ames Manufacturing Co. in nearby Chicopee. Smith & Wesson established itself permanently in Springfield in the 1850s. Hartford-based Pope Manufacturing Co. and Springfield's Duryea Motor Co. were among the first American manufacturers of automobiles. During the 1920s, Rolls Royce operated its only American manufacturing plant in Springfield.
Today the two cities are almost equidistant from Bradley International Airport. With downtowns 26 miles apart, Hartford is closer to Springfield than to Waterbury or New Haven. Located at the intersection of I-90 and I-91, Springfield is also a rail freight hub where CSX Intermodal will soon invest $25 million in improvements to the freight yard in West Springfield.
The two cities and the larger surrounding region, described as the "Knowledge Corridor" by an alliance of business interests known as the Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership, may not be the "economic powerhouse" described on its website (www.HartfordSpringfield.com). But the combined region claims big numbers (1.8 million residents, 32 colleges and universities) and faces an array of strategic opportunities better faced together.
As Neal Peirce has argued in "Citistates," the metro regions that collaborate most effectively in areas such as land use, transportation, workforce training and economic development typically do better than Balkanized areas that go it alone. As the Knowledge Corridor project is demonstrating, we have a realistic prospect of forging a regional image and economy along the lines of Dallas-Fort Worth and Minneapolis-St. Paul, particularly as air, rail and interstate highway connections, which strongly reinforce the partnership, continue to shape growth opportunities.
Cultural tourism and the arts, although not a major economy, are substantial, growing and an important factor in attracting energetic, intelligent, "creative class" knowledge workers. The Connecticut Valley is rich in performing arts and art collections and richer still in historic attractions and epic stories that could put this region on the map. Regional tourism would benefit from co- marketing and a master plan that identifies core themes and makes recommendations for investment.
If the National Park Service's Coltsville Special Resource Study (www.coltsvillestudy.org) culminates in the creation of a Coltsville National Historic Site, it will be co-managed and co-marketed in conjunction with the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, a museum that focuses on military and industrial history and features a major collection of machinery and military firearms, just the tip of the iceberg of the larger industrial story this region has to tell.
Widening the view to include Colt, Smith & Wesson, Winchester and the arms industry's role in the development of the West, as a magnet for immigration and as the "arsenal of democracy" would make this region the go-to place for important aspects of our national heritage.
Although Springfield's art, science and history museums are not as opulent as Hartford's, nor is Springfield's most famous literary giant as famous as Mark Twain, they complement Hartford in marketable ways.
And they have something Hartford lacks -- a fabulous edge-of- downtown campus with abundant on-site parking where all the museums are clustered around the new Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden -- a family-friendly sculpture park inhabited by bronze figures based on some of the Springfield native's most famous literary characters.
Springfield, the birthplace of basketball, is also the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, an international shrine honoring the game, its players and its coaches (including two recent inductees, UConn coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma.
For the past 11 years Forest Park, an enormous Olmsted-designed landscape, has been the setting for "Bright Nights," a Seuss, Santa and Victorian village-themed holiday light show that attracts about 150,000 visitors annually. The park also contains the region's only zoo, together with paddleboats and hiking trails so seemingly remote it's hard to believe you're still inside city limits.
Springfield has long been known as the "City of Homes." Although it has endured the ill effects of urban renewal, loss of industry and population decline, it retains substantial middle-class residential neighborhoods -- notably around Forest Park and especially the Matoon Street and Maple Street historic districts. Victorian and early 20th-century mansions, together with two churches and a courthouse designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, give Springfield architectural distinction.
Springfield's Memorial Bridge is an auspicious landmark that complements the Springfield Municipal Group, an iconic civic sphere consisting of City Hall, Symphony Hall, a monumental clock tower with carillon bells, Old First Church (1819) and Richardson's Hamden County Courthouse (1874).
Like Hartford, Springfield lost its home-based department store, Steigers. The once-famous Johnson Bookstore also closed a few years ago. But the Student Prince, where German-American cuisine is served in a historic environment layered from floor to ceiling with art pottery and Springfield memorabilia is flourishing, and is as beloved a civic treasure as Honiss Oyster House and the Marble Pillar (both long gone) once were in downtown Hartford.
Like most post-industrial cities, Springfield is a work in progress plagued by some obvious and not so obvious problems. In 2004, the Massachusetts General Court created a state-run control board to oversee city finances. A continuing probe into influence- peddling, fraud, tax evasion and other possible wrongdoing by current and former public officials is underway. Wage freezes, cuts in city services, fee increases and layoffs resulted in substantial litigation with employee unions that claim the wage freeze violated their contracts.
Although the destination areas and neighborhoods where the homes are predominately owner-occupied are safe and relatively clean, crime is a problem and there are the usual symptoms of disinvestment and blight.
Springfield has not experienced the rash of downtown condo construction and adaptive reuse that is such a hopeful part of Hartford's current revitalization. It is too early to tell whether the multimillion-dollar investment in the MassMutual Convention Center will pay off big. The heart of downtown is still pretty quiet and the river, separated from downtown by I-91, is unused and practically invisible.
Nonetheless, a river connects us all and it is easy to imagine a brilliant future for the region with strongly revitalized urban settings. As our two cities and the region that surrounds them define and strengthen their common interests and attributes, we begin a journey in the direction of not just a stronger regional economy, but a regional culture that knows and nurtures the qualities that make it enticing, competitive and strong.

blink- i would love to see that picture from Mt Tom, will you be posting it? :)


:cucumber: :rock: :applause:



ENJOY!!--- Springfield in the foreground, Hartford chillin out back



http://i4.tinypic.com/23mmx04.jpg

^That picture is friggin awesome. :) Springfield has a nice skyline too.

that is cool...I woulda never thought the two skylines are that close

That's awesome. How many other places in the US can you see something like that?

I know from the top of Pack Monadnock in Miller State Park in NH, you can see both Manchester (25 mi) and Boston (55 mi, on a clear day) and it might stand to reason you'd be able to see Springfield (65 mi) and/or Worcester (40 mi), unless it's obstructed by a mountain or something. But even then, you can't get them lined up like that.

Ain't this city where The Simpsons is supposevely from?

Ain't this city where The Simpsons is supposevely from?

No.

I wrote a paper on this in college.

Best bet, other than fiction, is that the Simpsons are from Springfield Missouri. I put good evidence forward too(nuclear plant, similar looking school, and a newspaper with the same name that is referenced in the episodes.)


Def. a good pic tho, i love it.

that is cool...I woulda never thought the two skylines are that close


wicked cool tho right?.....24 miles between cities..

No.

I wrote a paper on this in college.

Best bet, other than fiction, is that the Simpsons are from Springfield Missouri. I put good evidence forward too(nuclear plant, similar looking school, and a newspaper with the same name that is referenced in the episodes.)


Def. a good pic tho, i love it.

That's so weird! Then how come they in one episode had a Boston Red Sox hat and went to a game? That's funny! From Mississippi! Thank you so much for the information!

That's so weird! Then how come they in one episode had a Boston Red Sox hat and went to a game? That's funny! From Mississippi! Thank you so much for the information!
I think the Simpsons creators play up all the different cities and states.

Especially when you think of other episodes where there are canyons and deserts like the southwest....