SPRINGFIELD BRANCH NAACP

P.O. Box 3002, Springfield, IL 62708

217/789-2721
naacp1908@aol.com www.springfieldnaacp.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 26, 2019

TERESA HALEY, President

Mayor Calls Meeting with City Black Leaders They Demand a Veto of Zoning Change of property at 521 South
11th; Docket 2019-39

City Black leaders were called to the mayor's office on Monday, September 23, 2019. During this meeting the
City's Legal Counsel indicated that the Mayor could Veto the zoning change for docket 2019-039.

We are asking the Mayor to exercise his veto authority and support the Eastside community. It is with
solemnness that the NAACP and Black community must announce that once again we find ourselves in conflict
and controversy with City of Springfield regarding the injustices and inequality far too often promoted by this
municipality. Like countless other instances, this City has intentionally and deliberately relegated the east side
of Springfield to second-class citizen status while purporting to be working in the best interest of all. As before,
this is an untruth and public distortion that is not accepted, despite insistence from both the Mayor and City
Council.

The vote in favor of the relocation of Helping Hands to 521 South 11st Street has been inaccurately cast as an
issue of the homeless of Springfield versus the east side. This would be laughable if it were not such a
derogatorily impactful allegation on the lives of so many. For decades the NAACP, the Springfield Urban League,
the Pioneer Park Homeowners Association and residents of Ward 2 have actively served the homeless,
disenfranchised and those who struggle. Through direct and emergency assistance, job development and
placement, childcare services, technology services and utilization of facilities as warming and cooling centers,
these and other community- and faith-based organizations and individuals have addressed the needs of those
most vulnerable. Anyone asserting otherwise is speaking from ignorance or deliberately attempting to distort
the truth. And as the billboard so succinctly articulates, “shame on” them.

While the philosophy of the Center and certainly those in need of safe shelter have the support of these entities
and individuals, it is important to note that the proposal for the Center has markedly deemphasized critical
characteristics of its operations, which will have a detrimental impact on the surrounding neighborhood and
pre-schools located not more than one block away. This is a Center for those in crisis and that is simply
incompatible with the work of educating small children and the well-being of neighborhood children.

In an environment in which we all seek to understand the relationship between mental instability and some who
choose violence, this City’s governmental body seeks to place a risk laden population within intimate proximity
to children. The optic is real! It is that THESE vulnerable children do not matter. It is that their job as community
trustees is not to protect THESE children. To the aldermen and alderwomen of the City Council, the Mayor,
Helping Hands, Memorial Medical Center, I say to you, YOU’RE WRONG! Our children DO matter.

But the City’s actions remain. At the August meeting of the City’s Zoning and Planning Commission, this proposal,
despite being met with strong, clear opposition, was passed strictly along racial lines by a vote of 6-3. Sadly, the
same result occurred at the City Council’s meeting on September 17 whereby after hours of testimony by many
in opposition to this proposal, including individuals who actually reside and entities that actually conduct
business in the actual neighborhood, the City Council passed this proposal 8-2 again along racial lines.

Furthermore, the Mayor has failed to show any leadership on resolving this matter in a way that does not deepen
the racial divide under which the City of Springfield has suffered for more than one hundred years. This will be
remembered as yet another infamous example of a white community manipulating zoning laws in order to
subjugate a minority black population.

As a result of this City’s failure to properly address this matter and represent ALL the citizens of Springfield, the
NAACP and others will be pursuing all available legal remedies to oppose this Center’s operation. Further, this
community intends to make our voices heard at all available opportunities.

So, to the Mayor, the City Council, Memorial Medical Center, and all others who seek to diminish this community,
we say to you that NO we will not just get past this. NO, we will not simply go away and HOW DARE YOU attempt
to continuously devalue the lives and communities of black people in the City of Springfield.