Springfield residents are speaking up after getting word yesterday that the mayor's office is considering putting what the mayor's office calls a "homeless day center" near their historic neighborhood, and not everyone is thrilled.

"I think a site in a residential neighborhood such as ours would be detrimental," says Springfield resident Abel Harding. "The homeless tend to spill over into surrounding neighborhoods and that's something we deal with on an ongoing basis."

Harding says he thinks a day center is an important service to have in the community, but says he doesn't think that a historic neighborhood like Springfield, where many residents have spent time, money, and effort cleaning up and turning it around, is the best place for it.  He suggested that the administration look at some of the vacant buildings in other, non-residential neighborhoods as a possible site.

Another Springfield resident, who only identified himself as Joseph, thinks using the armory for a homeless day center is a great idea because Jacksonville doesn't have one right now.

"We had one, Sulzbacher, when it first went up.  But they changed it to a recovery center so there's not a homeless shelter here.  That's what this place needs."

Joseph says since the armory is a few blocks from the historical and residential area of Springfield, he doesn't think it would really be bothering any of the people that live there.

The Springfield Improvement Association sent an email to residents informing them of the city's plans to use the old armory at the corner of State and Market Streets and calling on them to speak up to area councilmen Dr. Johnny Gaffney and Robin Lumb.

The email goes on to say that the area used to be a "dumping ground for social services and undesirables" and that a daily influx of homeless would just bring that feeling back to the area.  It calls residents to action, saying "The more hell raised on these fronts, the better, according to those with insight into this issue.  A coordinated effort will be needed as well."

The Mayor's Office has not chosen a location for the center yet and is still exploring options within the city.

"The armory is one of at least nine locations we have in some way at least looked at," says mayoral spokesman David DeCamp.  "And by that I mean we have assessed the basic characteristics to decide whether to do a full blown inspection of the site and then recommend it.  But none of that is complete."

Read the full email sent to Springfield residents below:

Springfield Residents,

An important quality-of-life issue impacting all residents has suddenly come to our attention, just today.

Mayor Alvin Brown will be proposing that a new homeless center (daycenter/shelter) be placed in our neighborhood, in the old Armory building on Market Street (next to our Springfield dog park).

It will attract many hundreds of homeless to the area on a daily basis. We already have a saturation of social services and homeless in our neighborhood, and this would mean a major increase, and all the various issues that come with it.

This will be made public soon, and the zoning is technically appropriate.

Obviously, this could set the Springfield (and Eastside) neighborhood back immeasurably, and be counter productive to all the hard fought progress we have earned over the last decades.

For those new Springfielders, the neighborhood was seen as a dumping ground for social services and "undesirables" of all types for many decades. Thus, the neighborhood deteriorated into a slum. Slowly but surely, we have fought to change that trend, and been mostly successful. Several years ago, a large rehab facility planned to set up shop in the neighborhood, and through our loud voices they eventually decided to move elsewhere. A new mass homeless feeding was also persuaded to go elsewhere just a couple years ago, because of our enthusiastic input.

You need to let our City representatives know how you feel about having a new homeless center in our neighborhood - ASAP:

Mayor Brown
mayorbrown@coj.net
(904) 630-1776

Councilman Gaffney
gaffney@coj.net
(904) 630-1384

Councilman Lumb
rlumb@coj.net
(904) 630-1387

The more hell raised on all fronts, the better, according to those with insight into this issue. A coordinated effort will be needed as well, stay tuned.

You can discuss this here, if you like: http://myspringfield.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2162

The SPAR Block Captains