I wanted to have a conversation with someone who could better help me understand exactly what the Springfield Rail Improvements Project will consist of. I wanted to understand the process better so I can take a deeper look into related conflicts and be able to have an informed conversation about it. It would have been extremely helpful if I could have been at the last open house they had which was August 17th (too soon). I decided to go to the SRIP Community Resource Center to to gather more information. Unfortunately, I found out that the Resource Center is no longer open, but I was able to get brochures and talk to someone with more contact information.

I was able to make an appointment to speak with Jimmie Austin from Hanson Professional Services, he is the community contact for the project. He also oversees the stakeholder meetings. I found out that there is another meeting coming up September 27th that I plan to attend. I located meeting minutes from all of the previous meeting which include the presentations and the questions and comments from the meetings. I plan to go through these minutes through the next couple days. I have made a list of stake holders that I plan to meet with to get more information. The project website is full of resources and contact information, I can even see who has had a presentation about SRIP at their business or organization. Something I was particularly interested in was the list of properties that had been affected by the land acquisition for this project.

I will be constructing an email to send out to stakeholders especially the representative from the NAACP in Springfield and Springfield Public School Board. I really want to get both sides of the story, not just from Hanson who is carrying out the project – this will help me find the conflict. I really want to find out how this project is affecting the African-American community specifically businesses and neighborhoods. I have written out a list of questions to ask Hanson and I will start constructing a list of questions to ask stake holders.

I am still a little leery about when to start recording my interviews because I don’t want to miss anything but I don’t want to come into a situation with a camera. As of right now, I will meet with people first and I guess if I feel it is something I need to record I will talk to them about doing it in the future. Also, I still have not heard back from the IRB at my school so this has been in the back of my head. I have also been watching YouTube videos on how to conduct interviews.

I used Google Maps to plot the points of the main locations the SRIP will affect. This map includes 3 future corridors and 3 underpasses. One of the underpasses on Carpenter Street has already been constructed. Ash Street is the next location where an underpass will be created.