Springfield, Mass -- downtown has revitalized A LO
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3/28/2011
Growing up, I lived in the Springfield suburb of Longmeadow, (I moved there when I was 7 in 1990.)
The City of Springfield was at its depths during the 1990s and early 2000s with blight and crime. (At the time it had a nationally known rave scene--largely because it had numerous abandoned warehouses.)
I left the Springfield area for ten years to go to college and travel around the world. I lived in Chicago, San Francisco, Oxford, England, Boston, Cologne, Germany, and New Haven, Connecticut, among other places.
Ten years later, I come back to Springfield and find that the city's vibe has completely changed for the better!!
According to statistics--and it's also obvious just walking around--crime in Springfield is way down from when I left the area 10 years ago, (in fact, it's lower than where I live now--New Haven, CT;) the streets are much more alive and fun; and a lot of the downtown architecture has been nicely restored.
The city's biggest problem, right now, I think, is PR from being so bad 10 for a long time... When I told my friend how much nicer it had gotten, he didn't believe me!! Until he went back himself. :)
Bp | Springfield, MA