Woodland Heights Results

Residents in the Woodland Heights neighborhood voiced their concerns and shared positive thoughts about their neighborhood Thursday evening, May 14, at the sixth of nine “Community Listen” events organized by the City of Springfield.

City Council members in attendance included Phyllis Ferguson, Jan Fisk, Justin Burnett, Ken McClure, Craig Fishel and Mike Schilling. Numerous partners from community agencies listened in, including representatives from Ozarks Technical Community College and Missouri State University; Mercy; City Utilities and the Impacting Poverty Commission. Community Listen has a long list of partners committed to hearing citizen concerns. 

Most of the City’s departments were on hand to answer questions, including Director of Building Development Services Chris Straw, Police Chief Paul Williams and Assistant Fire Chief Andy Woody.

Zone 1 Councilwoman Ferguson handed out T-shirts boasting “North Side Pride” and encouraged participants to take part in a “renaissance” of the City’s historic neighborhoods.

City Manager Greg Burris led the group through a series of somewhat sobering “intensity maps” that illustrated some of the challenges in the Woodland Heights neighborhood and the rest of the City’s Zone 1. Zone 1 is the northwest quadrant of the City.

Woodland-1
Downloads & Links
• View the PowerPoint presentation.

• View Results. 

• MIss your neighborhood's meeting? Share your thoughts on the Community Voice section of our Web site.

• Contact your neighborhood association.

To start off the “listening” portion of the evening, Director of Public & Civic Engagement Cora Scott shared findings from the City’s most recent Citizen Survey, which outlined the priorities of survey respondents from Zone 1 and satisfaction ratings for various City services.
Participants offered suggestions about what things they would most like to see fixed in the Woodland Heights Neighborhood.

The top five issues will be incorporated into a plan to address issues in Zone 1. Burris said he expects a plan to come forward after partner agencies meet with City officials in late June. 

Woodland Heights Top 5 Issues 
  • Crime, drugs.
  • Efforts to improve property values
  • Chronic nuisance properties; need more resources to address. 
  • Speeding on Fort and through neighborhoods.
  • Road and alley repairs.
Woodland Heights Full Results
  • Crime, drugs (39 points) = 26%
  • Efforts to improve property values (25 points) = 16.4%
  • Chronic nuisance properties; need more resources to address (21 points) = 13.8%
  • Speeding on Fort and through neighborhoods (18 points) = 11.8%
  • Road and alley repairs (13 points) = 8.6%
  • Better system for nuisance reporting (9 points) = 5.9%
  • Better street lighting/safety (8 points) = 5.3%
  • Grocery store (8 points) = 5.3%
  • Sidewalk and walkability improvements (5 points) = 3.3%
  • Ditch at footbridge and other drainage issues: High Street-Jefferson to Campbell (3 points) = 2%
  • Better communication on positive changes in neighborhood (3 points) = 2%
  • Absence of sufficient bus stops (0 points) = 0%.