To the editor:
In response to the article written by Bradley Parsons Sept. 29, I would like to make some clarifications.
SPAR Council has set up a committee to keep in contact with the mayor’s office to keep the Main Street reconstruction project a priority. We will continue to ask the necessary questions relating to funding sources. This group is called the Main Street Reconstruction Project group.
If, as the article states, the committee is called the Main Street Funding Committee, it sounds as though we might have money to contribute. SPAR Council in a non-profit organization and has no means of making any such contribution.
I also do not think that I gave Mr. Parsons any statement relating to a belief that the total project would not be completed in a timely manner. We have been told from the beginning that the project was funded, and we therefore believe that the funds need to be identified and the project pushed forward as initially planned. To delay this project in any way would not only have a negative impact for the citizens of this community, but will impact the many thousands of visitors who will come through Springfield on the way to the Super Bowl. It certainly has a great financial impact on the finances of the city because the improvements and broadening tax base is a great resource for Jacksonville.
The mayor made a commitment to the citizens of Springfield both before and after his election as to his belief in the Main Street project and the need to keep it going. We believe that he sincerely meant that commitment and that with the aid of his officials, it will continue as planned.
SPAR Council is very appreciative of the coverage by Mr. Parsons and is always aware of the need to present our community in the most positive light so that we may indeed change the perceptions of those who “Have not seen Springfield Lately.”
Louise DeSpain
President of SPAR Council