Opinion: City of Springfield seeks input to shape future
Rusty Worley
Posted online
Talk radio hosts bluster. Cable news celebrities pontificate. Bloggers anonymously rail, regardless of the facts.
The freedom of speech is trumpeted, guarded and exercised as America’s gift to the world. It is empowering to voice an opinion and act boldly.
However, among the “self-evident truths” referred to in the Constitution is the freedom to listen.
Walter Lippman, American political commentator and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, once said, “While the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes the right important.”
The temptation in uncertain and difficult times is to saddle up in John Wayne-style to fearlessly ride out to beat the odds. A new Springfield City Council and city manager could have taken that approach. Instead, they proactively decided to listen.
City Manager Greg Burris is scheduling several dozen sessions with civic and church groups, professional organizations, elementary school kids and others. The idea is simple: Ask four big-picture questions, sit back, listen to the answers, and record what people have to say.
The questions:
• What do you value most about Springfield?
• What would you like to change?
• What is your vision for the year 2030?
• How can you help the community reach its goals?
Those who aren’t able to participate in the Listening Tours can respond online at listen.questionpro.com or by e-mailing city@springfieldmo.gov.
According to a recent study of social capital in Springfield and Greene County, 35.4 percent of area residents surveyed feel alienated because they believe people running the community do not care about them. Comparatively, 29.5 percent of the national population hold that view about their communities. The same study found that 24.8 percent of area residents surveyed believe they can have a big impact in making their community better, compared to 36.6 percent nationwide feeling that they have that extent of community efficacy.
This is your chance. Tell the qualities that originally attracted you to Springfield. Share with city leaders the things that will help keep your children or grandchildren living here after they graduate. The door has been opened, and you have been invited to the 21st-century cracker barrel.
What can the city do to better support economic development and not inadvertently stifle it? How can Springfield become a community much less dependent on cars with more user-friendly mass transit? What can be done to stem sprawl and cultivate areas of “enjoyable density”? How can more good-paying jobs be created to reduce the alarmingly high poverty rates in Springfield and Greene County?
No one person will or should have the answers to complicated questions such as these. The city’s metropolitan plan, the ultimate outcome of the Listening Tours, will be most effective when it bears the fingerprints of as many citizens as possible.
The process will serve as a road map to determine future allocations of limited resources, requests for federal and state grants, and economic development incentives for attracting new private investments.
More than 4,500 additional Springfieldians spoke up at the ballot box in November for the Police/Fire pension vote compared to the first vote in February (an increase of more than 20 percent). The level of civic engagement must continue to increase if we are to meet the economic and societal challenges before us.
Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance, can be reached at rusty@itsalldowntown.com.
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