Shyam Rama, a son of the former owner of the Springfield Inn in Springfield, Missouri, has co-created a short documentary film about his childhood and his former home’s sad and startlingly quick decline.
A redeveloper of the Route 66 motel earlier this year announced plans to put a Whataburger restaurant and other businesses there.
Rama seems mostly stoic in the film while he ponders the ruins of his former home. But the sorrow and dismay lurk just below the surface:
OzarksFirst.com had some of the details behind the film:
As a school project, Huinda and Rama were tasked to create a documentary on any subject they wanted. Although assigned in January, the filmmakers procrastinated until around spring break.
After a few rounds of texts, the two decided to tell Rama’s story about what it was like growing up in a hotel and dive into the housing crisis and homeless issues of Springfield.
“It was mostly a project, but then we … really liked how it started turning out and so we let it become more than just a school project.”
Rama’s family owned the motel for a little more than 20 years.
The motel went downhill fast during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, a fire broke out in the dilapidated property just a few weeks ago.
The redevelopment of the property is part of a long-term city plan to revitalize a long-stagnant Kearney Street.
Kearney remains a prominent Route 66 alignment known as a car-cruising Mecca during the 1970s and ’80s — at least until the city cracked down on it.
Ironically, Springfield in 2017 welcomed back cruising on Kearney during the summer months.
(Hat tip to Tonya Pike; excerpted recent image from Google Street View of the Springfield Inn in Springfield, Missouri)
The terrible conditions and fate of this property are at the end of a journey. Surely this property was in at least decent condition when it was purchased twenty years ago; else the parents would not have bought it. Shyam doesn’t attribute any blame to his parents. What decisions were made or not made that allowed the property to deteriorate over 20 years? How did it end up so rundown and neglected to become a target of opportunity or a destination for the homeless?
Wow! What a sad and moving story. Shyam had several insightful things to say about the economy during covid and about our society; specifically, how we handle the problems of our homeless population. The warning is clear: we need to act because this problem is spreading out. And this business of deporting the homeless population ought to be declared a form of human trafficking.