Adib-Yazdi, Hardinger host Zone 4 town hall

Two members of Springfield City Council, Bruce Adib-Yazdi and Heather Hardinger, have different opinions on issues, but that’s the source of their strength, according to remarks by Hardinger during a town hall meeting last night at Cowden Elementary School.

It was the fourth and final installment in a series of town hall meetings that invited members of the public to hear presentations and ask questions or make comments afterwards.

Adib-Yazdi is the Zone 4 representative, while Hardinger occupies General Seat A but newly resides in Zone 4.

About 50 people attended the event, held in a school auditorium that was festively painted with a backdrop of medieval castles. Participants came from neighborhoods in and out of Zone 4, including Seminole-Holland, University Heights, Meador Park, Phelps Grove, Brentwood, Rountree and others.

Adib-Yazdi noted there are 24 registered neighborhoods, but many areas – like Sherwood, Ewing, Bingham, Southern Hills and Kickapoo – lack a neighborhood association.

“Maybe it’s time to start one,” he said.

The pair talked about council priorities, including operational excellence, economic vitality, housing strategy, development processes and public safety.

Public safety
On the issue of public safety, the council members encouraged the audience to think broadly.

“I feel like this is one of those where if I broke it down in the most basic terms, we want to work on the things that make people feel unsafe,” Adib-Yazdi said.

Crime is one, but so are red-light runners, troublemakers, loud motorcycles and even one-ounce liquor bottles dropped on the ground from cars.

“There’s all kinds of things that make you feel unsafe, and I feel like that’s kind of the direction of this public safety initiative,” he said.

Hardinger agreed, adding that public safety is part of everything we see and experience.

Hardinger also outlined some economic vitality issues.

“How are the spaces where we live? Beautification and tourism and those sorts of things are all part of what makes our Springfield economy strong,” she said.

Economic vitality
Adib-Yazdi said when he sees the economic vitality priority, he sees the opportunity to capitalize on underutilized properties, just as a farmer tries to get the maximum yield from farmland. In the city, the desired yield is sales tax and property tax.

“Some properties generate more per acre than others, and so the way to do that is to utilize underutilized properties such as parking lots that are currently no longer used anymore because our shopping habits have changed,” he said, referring to online shopping and home delivery. “The old parking requirements probably don’t apply anymore, so we can maybe open up some vacant land or some vacant areas for development opportunity.”

Hardinger said she and Adib-Yazdi have differing perspectives or even disagreements from time to time.

“I find that to be very refreshing, and I learn a lot from every single member of council that I serve with,” she said. “We probably have the most diverse City Council that we’ve ever had in Springfield’s history in many different ways, and I think that that’s a true asset.”

The diverse perspectives provide more representation of what people think in the community, she said.

“Sometimes we do disagree or have different opinions on what’s best for Springfield, but I think all of us care a lot about the future of our community,” she said.

Q&A
A lively Q&A followed the presentation, as was true in previous town halls by Brandon Jenson, the duo of Abe McGull and Craig Hosmer, and Monica Horton.

“I believe that through the town hall conversations, we affirmed that the council priorities we have agreed to focus on are the things that seem to be top of mind for most people,” Adib-Yazdi said.

A primary concern is housing affordability, he noted, followed closely by concerns about how to assist the unhoused population, improve public safety and prioritize quality of life.

Flock cameras were also on the minds of many, he said, and that’s a theme that was brought up during the public comment period of the Feb. 23 City Council meeting, where Mayor Jeff Schrag requested that city staff prepare a report on the issues raised.

“I was glad to see many young faces in the room, looking toward the future of Springfield,” he said. “I would encourage them to continue their engagement by reaching out to other community leaders and council members directly to provide their input and understand how our city works.”

Convention center
Participants expressed a variety of opinions about the proposed downtown convention and events center.

Hardinger said during the presentation that one of the reasons she voted in favor of the convention center, and particularly the $30 million allocation from Spring Forward SGF tax funds, is that she moved to Springfield in 2005, just after the downtown had received some significant investment. Hardinger said she enjoyed living, working and hanging out there at the time.

“Now we need to give downtown a push – it needs some revitalization,” she said. “It’s been over 20 years, and there’s a lot of aging infrastructure and small business development that needs to be fostered.”

She said an investment in the convention center can lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of future investment, not just downtown, but for the entire community.