BSO: Court Square Today

This morning I caught the bus and soon arrived at Springfield's Union Station.

There are transportation centers in cities all over the Northeast called "Union Station." It was a fad after the Civil War. Heading down Main Street, the old bar by the railroad arch is out of business, but the obnoxious mural on its side remains.

Hopefully a new owner will paint over it. What would help revive that bar, and that whole end of Main Street, would be the revival of the Hippodrome/Sanderson/Paramount Theater across the street. Alas, it has never looked more deserted.

In fact, the entire block, street level and above, is utterly empty.

There is a ray of hope nearby however. The building housing the legendary Fort Restaurant is due to have its upper floors, formerly business offices and also completely vacant, converted into apartments.

That will help with the desperate need for more foot traffic on Main Street. It's time to finally admit the obvious - that the casino has failed to revitalize Main Street.

Across the street the Democrats have opened their regional campaign headquarters for 2024 in an abandoned lawyer's office.

Meanwhile the White Lion is promoting their burgers.

They are located across the street in Tower Square (known as Baystate West in better days).

I'll have to stop by and buy a burger there sometime and let you know how I like it. Meanwhile, back in June I showed you how Court Square was fenced off for "renovations."

This picture I took this morning suggests there has been very little progress over the last three months.

The whole area is still completely fenced off, with blue plastic hung on the fence to prevent people from observing the work site. It makes the whole area look ugly and it is dangerous to walk on that side of the street because the fence blocks the sidewalk, thereby forcing the public to walk in the road.

What is that blue plastic supposed to hide? It is primarily a landscaping job, so why is it taking all summer and into the fall? Are they polishing the statues with a toothbrush? A cynical friend of mine who works for the city suggested to me that it may be a manifestation of the old government contractor's creed of "Don't Kill the Job."

The longer the job lasts, the more paychecks they get.

Who knows? But I suspect my cynical friend is on to something.

Anyway, far from the big city my friend Jeff Ziff took this picture in the hinterlands of Conway in 2020.