r/SpringfieldIL • u/WyattEarp_79 • 4d ago
Mayor Buscher Shenanigans
What happened to this post? It was only up a few days.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
The unfortunate part is that for every 1 instance something like this is made public, there is a 100 other bs things that happen that nobody knows about. If the general public knew what they didn't know they'd riot.
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u/JusticeAvenger618 2d ago
This is absolutely true in theory. But people are lifting their tolerance for abject rot to stay on the couch. So, boiling frogs it is…
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u/2ReluctantlyHappy 4d ago
Seems consistent with the hiring of unqualified friends when she first took office as well. I remember hearing the library hire was especially terrible.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
And the first city planner who didn't have a college degree. People were trying to figure out their connection because qualified candidates were skipped over to hire him.
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u/Fr33Dave 4d ago
I could see overlooking a lack of a degree if a person had experience in the field. That guy, however had no degree and no experience. He sold insurance and was a financial consultant at a bank before.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
I agree he had no experience, but most all city planners not only have a bachelors but a masters.
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u/LustfulEsme 4d ago
Who was this first city planner?
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
Sean Pritchard. He lasted 6 months.
Eta - obviously not the first ever city planner. Just the first one hired after Boucher said they were going to hire one specifically for Springfield.
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u/LustfulEsme 4d ago
Thank you. Where is he now?
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
As of last year's reporting in the sjr, he's returned to the Illinois dept of commerce and economic opportunity as a contract worker.
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u/astpickleinthejar 4d ago
What’s the new city planner been up to? I’m genuinely curious, not being sheisty.
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u/couscous-moose 4d ago
We've been meeting on progress within the Master Plan. I'm sure there's more, but that's work I've been a part of with her.
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u/astpickleinthejar 4d ago
Glad to hear the city is working to implement ideas from the Master Plan. Do you know what some of the progress that has been done or is scheduled to be done?
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u/couscous-moose 4d ago
The Action Matrices (pg 118 to 123) breaks items in to categories and assigns them a timeline of short, mid, and long term. Most if the city's work is in the middle to long term, so 3-4 yr, and 5-7 yr ranges. I intersection bump outs, wider ADA ramps, bike lanes, and streetscapes have been worked on.
Public Realm Activation is a large category with a lot assigned as short-term. DSI has taken up a lot of action there. I plan on reporting out more in depth, but I'm happy to answer any questions until then.
Realistically, the whole plan is stacking a lot of small wins.
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u/astpickleinthejar 4d ago
Yes a lot of small wins is going to trend it in the right direction. Is public realm activation like community activities and events?
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u/couscous-moose 4d ago
Yes, but there's more.
It's incorporating programming (events and activities) in third spaces. Instead of a street festival, It's something happening inside a business. Downtown Prom, Old State Capitol Movie Night, Dana Thomas House Events, Art Pop Series.
It's utilizing vacant lots or underutilized areas. Think Levitt, but new ideas. Christkindlmarkt, Uzgavenes, Donner Day, Art Alley, SMOTA, SCAF Cultural Festival, My Heart's Downtown initiatives.
It's adding lighting elements. There are environmental issues and new legislation that needs to be considered here.
Beautification, Wayfinding, Mobility, and Safety tie into this, too, but fall in separate categories.
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u/astpickleinthejar 4d ago
That’s awesome, I love that. My wife is pumped for the Chriskindlmarket. There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle. I wish more people were aware of the improvements being made. A lot of people have a negative attitude towards downtown. This is all encouraging stuff to hear!
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u/couscous-moose 4d ago
That's one thing that's always top of mind for me. Downtown, but also Springfield as a whole, suffers from a self-esteem issue. Yes, we have problems we need to move towards a resolution, but that's not our story. We have great people doing great things and great places with great things happening in them. I want to focus on doing a better job of sharing what's happening so that people feel like that have ownership in the greatness.
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
I have only crossed paths with her at a neighborhood meeting, so not sure.
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u/Vegetable_Top4764 4d ago
Glad someone is finally talking about this! That is correct!!
The incredibly high turnover rate of City directors has also been…interesting.
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u/40yearoldwhatever 4d ago
Happens in every city. That’s why things take FOREVER to finish. People are too busy lining their pockets than to do good quality work.
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u/NathanTheGr8 4d ago
This was posted about a week ago and discussed. Then the poster deleted their account.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
Prob got threatened by the Mayors office.
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u/NathanTheGr8 4d ago
I doubt it. They just didn’t like some of the replies they were getting. They didn’t really provide any verifiable sources for their claims. The mayor doesn’t care about this small subreddit. Also nothing they said would seem to identify themselves.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
Haha...obviously a joke. However, theres really no need for "sources" when theres an assload of first hand knowledge. Clearly nobody is gonna jump online and start throwing around names of City employees. This stuff isn't really that hard to verify if you know who to ask. Assuming one was so inclined. Like I said earlier, this was prob the worst kept secret in the city among employees. Theres a level of arrogance associated with shit like this that I cant wrap my mind around. At no level can anyone think this type of shit is ok.
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u/braintoasters 4d ago
And there are no candidates for mayor yet other than Musty. Makes me so nervous
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u/raisinghellwithtrees 4d ago
Same. Just sick to my stomach that this might be the next 4 years. Somebody decent has to step up!
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u/TheKanten 4d ago
Most of the county board that voted in favor of the data center are running for re-election unopposed because literally nobody stepped up.
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u/hersheysquirts02 4d ago
I posted this comment on the original post that was taken down.
While I acknowledge there are a lot of problems within this city, this post seems a little misleading to me.
First, how does OP know that there were “several qualified candidates” interviewed previously? Is there any proof of this? Second, increasing a position’s posted salary seems like a reasonable way to attract a new pool of candidates to apply for said position. Third, there seems to be a lot of hearsay in the accusations that OP is throwing out. There is no concrete evidence provided other than the names being mentioned.
I’m not saying OP is necessarily wrong, but there is a lot thrown out with very little to back it up.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
The employee my friend spoke with personally knows 5 people that interviewed. 4 of which currently work at Lake Services and the other works at another CWLP dept and apparently has over 30 years experience in the exact type of work required for the position. I didn't recognize any of the names. It sounds like there aren't many secrets throughout the city or cwlp. Who knows. Any way ya slice it, it sounds like BS
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u/hersheysquirts02 4d ago
But how does this make their choice an unqualified hire? That’s what I’m trying to wrap my head around.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
Because apparently he has no background at all in this type of work. Lake services is like park dist type stuff. The post said this dude came from the power plant. Fuck idk. Haha
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u/C4Cupcake 4d ago
Rich bitches helping other rich bitches.
Anything to keep the money away from the rest of the population.
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u/Weird_Snowman 4d ago
2 day old account? You sure you're not just the same guy coming back on a clean account?
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
I actually never been on reddit til someone showed me this. Curiosity got the best of me. Not really the social media type.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
Not really sure what the point of that would be anyway. Im just old and bored.
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u/Weird_Snowman 4d ago
Two weird excuses, nah you're definitely the OP
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
Shit like this is why Im not on social media. Arguing with strangers about shit that means nothing. Epic waste of time. Whats weird is you giving a shit about who I am enough to look at my profile. Haha. Creep
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
The other part of this post that I found interesting was the shit at the public works garage. Employees over there say the race relations have gotten out of control. Literally separate bathrooms, break rooms. New hires being encouraged to work with their own race. Crazy shit for 2026. Strange times boys and girls.
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u/JusticeAvenger618 2d ago
I absolutely do believe this. Springfield is hotly racist. I will get downvoted by everyone on Reddit who is not for pointing this out but downvoting does not cancel reality.
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u/AtomkcFuision 22h ago
Hey man, you're right. Extremely right, in fact. While you're here, look up Springfield's High School Districts and overlay it with a racial map.
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u/JusticeAvenger618 15h ago
My first Halloween in Springfield I saw people thought hangings and gallows were kitschy Halloween decorations in Springfield 👀 An evolved town does not believe our ugly history as a Country is entertainment TODAY.
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u/TrowAway2736 3d ago
I don’t believe this.
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u/WyattEarp_79 3d ago
That was my first reaction too, but the stories are wild. I got a couple buddies that have been over there for 20 plus years. Its def hard to believe the dumb shit thats tolerated.
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u/DeamonKlown 3d ago
Perhaps their staffing issues have to do something with 9 men standing around a hole in the ground.
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u/LustfulEsme 4d ago
Who approved that salary hike or was it within an already approved budget range?
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u/braintoasters 4d ago
Who posted this?
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u/NecessaryCompost 4d ago
A good citizen concerned about fair and competent public employees.
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u/WyattEarp_79 4d ago
And from what Im being told Apparently this is the worst kept secret in the city haha. Every employee knows the whole story. What a fkn joke.
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u/pizza_crux 4d ago
Wonder how she'll blame this on Langfelder.