Some of you may have noticed that Southtown has once again made the paper, this time we are in an article on the front page of the Sunday edition of the State-Journal Register! The article is called “Business Owners Working Together To Improve Southtown Neighborhood” and it is about the completion of Project Southtown’s Kickstarter campaign earlier this week. From the article:

A quiet renaissance has been underway at 11th Street and South Grand Avenue, and those who are behind it are forecasting even better days ahead for Springfield’s South Town.

A coalition of connected businesses that includes Skank Skates, the Black Sheep Cafe and Dumb Records, all located at that corner, are in the process of creating a nonprofit organization with an aim to better the neighborhood.

Also from the article:

Mike Farmer, the city’s planning and economic development director, emphasized the grant funds that have been spent on South Town projects but said that grant funding has been trending down over time.

“That’s certainly an area we want to continue to try to redevelop,” Farmer said. “There are some long-running businesses over there, and the idea is to put some energy into that area.”

Sinclair is optimistic about the city’s new leadership. He’s met with Mayor Jim Langfelder, who said he’d look into ways to resolve some of the parking issues for the businesses there.

Check out the full article on SJ-R.com right here, or by picking up today’s copy of the State-Journal Register. For those of you closely following Project Southtown, we will be having our next roundtable meeting on Sunday, July 5th at 7:00 pm inside Black Sheep and will be focusing a lot on the project. We will also be making our first big update on the project on this site at the beginning of the month, so be on the lookout for that.