Springfield Rolls Out Consolidated Plan While City Still Burning
BY JEFF SKINNER
SPRINGFIELD - The Springfield City Commissioners met on July 1 and heard an update on the city’s consolidated plan, an effort to try and strategize how to utilize nearly $11 million in federal grants and subsidies. However with the recent changes to the federal budget bill, it is unlikely the city will have the majority of those funds to play with. Even if the dollars were to flow, residents question whether this administration is best suited for using them.
According to the report from the cities administrators, city government has been asking residents through a variety of methods, from QR code surveys to town hall meetings, what they would do with $11 million. The results of the surveys and meetings have been surprising. Thus far, many residents have mentioned the need for mental health services in the city, park renovations and one member of the commissioners requesting the park recreate the old 'Rocket Slide" that many residents may remember.
The grants in question are provided through Community Development Block Grants, Home Investment Partnerships and Emergency Solutions Partnerships grants. These funds can be utilized for various types of projects from community improvement and construction projects to emergency shelters for the homeless. It was noted during the meeting that Community Development Block Grants and Home Investment Partnership grants were not included in the latest federal budget bill, leaving only the possibility of the city receiving Emergency Solutions Partnerships grants for homeless shelters. Despite this, the city is moving forward with a consolidated plan on the assumption they will get all previous funds. Despite the city administration’s positive attitude towards the initiative to plan out spending that is not yet in their possession, residents at the meeting spoke up about the ongoing crisis of safety still surrounding the city. Resident Beth Donahue spoke out during the public comment section to discuss troubling statistics of domestic violence offenders and rapists still roaming free throughout the city.
“Springfield has over 200 serial domestic violence offenders roaming free and over 20 serial rapists and Springfield has no way to track them,” Donahue said. “On May 30th, 2024, Adam Humphre on or near the intersection of McCra Avenue and Simon Kenton Trail did by force and threat attempt to rape a victim under the age of 13. Humphre removed her from another place where he restrained the victim against her liberty and will to engage in sexual activity. Adam Humphre punched and strangled the victim, knocking the victim to the ground where he attempted to sexually assault her. Springfield PD and Clark County Sheriff knew of Adam Humphre. How? Because in June of 2019, a Springfield woman was grabbed and tackled to the ground and the offender attempted to rape her on the bike path near her home on Red Coach. But this assault was never brought to Clark County Courts. It was sent to Shelby County Juvenile Court even though the crime occurred in Springfield. Since the 2019 event, Adam Humphre was listed in a sex offender database, but his name was only visible to the sheriff's office of Clark County. Why? Because the offender database only lists offenders based on date of conviction. Since he was a juvenile at the time, the sex offender database guideline requires no public notification that a sex offender lives at a residence. Humphre is now serving 22 years to life in prison. But this is the same story of inadequate protection that women in Springfield continuously face. Mayor, city manager, and commission members, if you seriously care about stopping violence against women and putting an end to domestic violence offenders and rapists, work with me to create a city ordinance that requires the names of arrested serial domestic violence offenders. Note, I said arrested, not convicted offenders, to be placed into a publicly available database. make the offenders pay for the registration and allow women to examine who they are truly getting involved with.”
Another resident, Jimmy Steward, a criminologist, spoke out about a lingering arson problem the city is facing. According to his recent report which was provided to TOR, the city has seen a significant increase in arson cases from 2019 through 2023. According to Steward, trends in the data may even indicate the potential for a serial arsonist to exist undetected.
“Key findings indicate a significant and concerning increase in reported arson incidents in Springfield, Ohio, directly contrasting with a statewide decline,” the report said. “Specifically, arson incidents in Springfield rose by 61% from 44 in 2018 to 72 in 2023. This surge has positioned Springfield as the #1 city per capita for reported arson in 2023 among over 325 cities in Ohio, underscoring the severity and localized nature of the problem. Concurrently, the State of Ohio experienced a decrease in arson incidents from 1,343 to 1,094 during the 2018-2023 period, representing an approximately 18.5% reduction. This divergence marks Springfield as a significant outlier.”
According to the report, Over ten years from 2014 to 2023, only 24 clearances were recorded against a total of 522 reported arsons, resulting in an approximate clearance rate of 4.6%. With such a low clearance rate, it is entirely possible, according to Steward, that a serial arsonist could exist and be completely undetected due to the limited success of SPD in solving crimes.
It has previously been reported that the Springfield Police Department has moved to encrypt their communications to prevent residents from transparently observing what they are doing and has even been caught omitting information from their submitted FBI criminal statistics. The administrative actions combined with the alarming criminal statistics begs the question on if Springfield should be focusing so strongly on spending federal funds for park projects or working to make the city a safer place for residents.
Another resident spoke out asking the city the cost of replacing light posts and infrastructure destroyed by Haitian drivers throughout the city. It is noted that Community Development Block Grants can be used to repair and replace infrastructure like street lights and posts. It will be a matter of resident input on if any hypothetical federal funds should be used to repair damage done to the city by the indentured servants shipped through Welcome Springfield Initiative and HIAS.
Residents can provide input on the 2025 Consolidated Planning at https://springfieldohio.gov/2025-consolidated-planning/
Copies of the arson reports from Criminologist Jimmy Steward can be found below.
