The picture is the Springfield municipal building.
Tuesday's Springfield News Leader had an article on the city being declared the eighth worst city to live in the nation. I was astounded because 30 years ago it was rated one of the best cities in the nation. The study considered things like crime, poverty, and housing. According to the article violent crime is three times the national average and property crime is the third highest in the nation and one in four people in Springfield live in poverty.
30 years ago Springfield had a General Electric factory, an AT&T factory, a Litton factory, a Solo Cup factory and others I cannot recall at this moment. They are gone now.
Until reading this article, I had not thought about that. There are more people here than 30 years ago, but the wages those factories paid are not here anymore. Most of the jobs I know of are connected with restaurants or retail or medical, as far as I understand the medical jobs are probably the only ones that pay well. I am out of the loop, so I may be incorrect on that.
I never considered the Springfield area to be like the rust belt states where the main employers were factories that paid well until they all shut down and left the towns around them with nothing but poor people who once had nice homes that no one would want to buy once the jobs were gone, leaving them stuck until foreclosure forced them to lose their homes and then left them out on the streets. I do not know how people in the workforce are surviving in Springfield today. Once again I am out of the loop, so they must be doing something, there are still apartment buildings going up all over. Maybe the local colleges provide some work and lots of people to require rentals. I do not have all the answers, but I do have empathy for those in need here; I have been in that situation before. There must be something good going on because there are a lot of nice homes and expensive cars around town.
30 years ago Springfield had a General Electric factory, an AT&T factory, a Litton factory, a Solo Cup factory and others I cannot recall at this moment. They are gone now.
Until reading this article, I had not thought about that. There are more people here than 30 years ago, but the wages those factories paid are not here anymore. Most of the jobs I know of are connected with restaurants or retail or medical, as far as I understand the medical jobs are probably the only ones that pay well. I am out of the loop, so I may be incorrect on that.
I never considered the Springfield area to be like the rust belt states where the main employers were factories that paid well until they all shut down and left the towns around them with nothing but poor people who once had nice homes that no one would want to buy once the jobs were gone, leaving them stuck until foreclosure forced them to lose their homes and then left them out on the streets. I do not know how people in the workforce are surviving in Springfield today. Once again I am out of the loop, so they must be doing something, there are still apartment buildings going up all over. Maybe the local colleges provide some work and lots of people to require rentals. I do not have all the answers, but I do have empathy for those in need here; I have been in that situation before. There must be something good going on because there are a lot of nice homes and expensive cars around town.
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