It sounds counter-intuitive, but the city of Springfield, Missouri, is considering declaring Kearney Street blighted so it can improve it in the future.
Kearney remains a prominent Route 66 alignment once known as a car-cruising corridor during the 1970s and ’80s, until city fathers cracked down on it.
Since then, Kearney has declined into a strip of fast-food restaurants, aging properties and little else.
The Springfield News-Leader explained the logic behind the process of the blight designation:
If Kearney is declared blighted, the city will be able to offer developers tax abatements and hopefully, attract new businesses. […]
Missouri law defines a blighted area as one that “retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability or a menace to the public health, safety, morals or welfare in its present condition and use.” […]
If Kearney is declared blighted, property owners within the approved area would be eligible for 10-year property tax abatements on improvements to assessed value.
The News-Leader produced this short video about Kearney:
In an ironic twist, Springfield welcomed back cruising to Kearney from 6 to 10 p.m. the second Friday of each month from April through September or October.
In the long-term, Springfield hopes to draw a clothing retailer such as T.J. Maxx, a food-truck court, a microbrewery, restaurants, a miniature golf course and a Route 66-themed structure or park along Kearney.
The city’s director of economic development hopes to have a blight report to the city council by the end of the year.
(Close-up image of the Rest Haven Court’s neon sign on Kearney Street in Springfield, Missouri, by Tadson Bussey via Flickr)