Dear Mayor Sarno and Springfield City Councilman, 

My name is Tiffany Allecia and I am a community organizer in Springfield. The purpose of this petition is to humbly request that the Sarno Administration and the Springfield City Council purchase The Springfield Plaza Shopping Center property for the establishment of a Black and Brown commercial business district in Springfield, MA. 

Liberty Street Plaza (The Springfield Plaza) - 1225 Liberty Street is being auctioned on October 14, 2021 at 12:00 PM for $250,000. I believe this is a cost efficient opportunity to invest in the creative economy of Springfield, specifically for the advancement of Black and Brown businesses. We are requesting that the City purchase this property at the upcoming auction in 9 days. Once purchased, we as the community will build a strategic plan to complete an ARPA RFP for the refurbishment of the Liberty Street Plaza commercial business district from the Department of Recovery and Business Continuity. 

Springfield currently has $127,000,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to allocate towards COVID-19 relief for individuals and businesses. One of the major limitations of the global pandemic was its impediment of capacity building and expansion opportunities for local economies. The purchase and revitalization of this property has desirable quantitative and qualitative outcomes for the Greater community of Springfield, MA.

This purchase would align with the Sarno Administration's belief that investing in commercial properties is a meaningful use of ARPA funding from our local fiscal recovery fund. Just two months ago, Mayor Sarno and Chief Development Officer Sheehan spent $2,750,000 on acquiring various commercial properties, "out of concerns that potential investors would not invest in the properties." (Rosenthal, 22 News). This concern should be maximized in regards to the Liberty Plaza Shopping Center. This property was most recently purchased in 2014 for $35,000,000 under the management of highly reputable development companies. These companies have now defaulted on a $30,000,000 loan and the property is going into foreclosure. Their collective failure to revitalize this business district and its consequences to the quality of life to our community should foster the same if not greater concerns.  

Furthermore, Liberty Street Plaza is historically significant to the City of Springfield and should be owned and supported by its community. Before Liberty Plaza became a shopping center, it was the Springfield Airport from 1929-1955. Following the airport's closure, Liberty Plaza was established as the first shopping center in Springfield in the late 1950s. This business district used to be an economic  center and essential resource to the neighboring communities. It's deterioration has been detrimental to the local economy and communal identity for its surrounding neighborhoods.

Lastly, there is already cross-departmental support for the investment in the Liberty Plaza shopping center. City Councilman Sean Curran is currently advocating for investment in the Liberty Street business district explaining, "The Springfield Plaza, [at] Liberty and St. James is a vital center for thousands [of] Springfield residents...The city needs to do more to support business in this district. Let’s turn this around.” (Gonnan, MassL​ive).  Councilman Curran believes that investments should be made in repaving roadways, lighting improvements, and small business grants for businesses leasing space within the plaza for cosmetic improvements. Chief Development Officer Sheehan welcomes the potential Liberty Street Project and explains, "Large scale infrastructure improvements on major arterials as Councilor Curran understandably wants to see advanced requires coordinated planning through the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the utilities involved as well as the allocation of resources to do the work,” (Goonan, MassLive). This investment idea is already supported by major stakeholders who will play an integral part in its execution. 

Conclusively, the Sarno Administration and the Springfield City Council should purchase this property through the utilization of ARPA funding. These unprecedented funds should be strategically used to solve issues that have hindered our community for decades and were expanded during the global pandemic. Finally, with this initial purchase, the project has the potential to gain funding from a variety of other sources like our local fiscal recovery fund, the state's allocation of ARPA funding, as well as funding coming down the pike from pending federal legislation like the Infrastructure bill. Purchasing a property for $250,000 that was last sold for $30,000,000 is a steal and I believe our community will establish a culturally competent and financially profitable business district if given the opportunity. 

Thank you for your consideration.