Some Springfield aldermen are still balking at a request for nearly $300,000 to assist the Enos Park Neighborhood Association as it struggles with the cost of a neighborhood redevelopment program. The city had already put up money in past years to help the association acquire and maintain more than 70 properties in the neighborhood, but the group has been unable to stay ahead of its costs for taxes and professional services. Mayor Jim Langfelder says if the city doesn’t purchase the properties, they could be sold individually at tax auction, making it harder to market the properties in bigger blocks to prospective developers. But an ordinance authorizing the city to buy the properties has been stalled in committee for weeks.
