The Mid-Illinois Medical District has a new, but familiar, member in state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield. She was nominated to serve on the commission by Mayor Misty Buscher and approved unanimously at the Aug. 5 Springfield City Council meeting.
Turner tried and failed, through a total of five separate bills in the current General Assembly, to pass legislation that she and Springfield business leaders say would help revitalize downtown. One of the bills would ultimately substitute the Capital City Downtown Medical District for the Mid-Illinois Medical District, along with its commission.
The new commission would consist of five gubernatorial appointees along with three appointees each from the mayor of Springfield and the Sangamon County Board chair. The current commission allows up to six mayoral appointees, including two advisory council spots, and only one county board appointee to go along with up to six gubernatorial nominees.
The current MIMD, established in 2003, covers a one-square mile area just north of downtown. Turner’s bill would expand its southernmost boundary from Madison Street to South Grand Avenue to take in Springfield Clinic’s headquarters, although it carves out the area designated as part of the master planning area for the Capitol complex.
“We have some of the most fabulous healthcare in the world. People come here for healthcare, and putting all of our healthcare opportunities under that one umbrella in the medical district will provide so many opportunities for growth,” Turner told Illinois Times Aug. 25.
“We will see more opportunities for expansion in the services that we provide, but I’m looking at how we can move even beyond the traditional healthcare aspect of the medical district and start talking about things like housing, those kinds of things that are critical to continue to have those people come here.”
The Capital City Medical District Commission would be responsible for increasing commercial development, “including mixed-use housing development, workforce housing, student housing and middle-income housing within walking distance of government, healthcare, commercial and educational facilities in and near the district.”
“With the expansion of the medical district,” Turner told the Springfield City Council in early August, “there’s a real opportunity for economic gain to expand what we’re doing in healthcare and really looking at what we can do around housing. Everybody talks about the need for housing.”
In February, Illinois Times reported on the first iteration of the medical district expansion, which was eventually combined with her other measures into House Bill 910. That legislation passed the House but was dead on arrival in the Senate as the main mechanism – public financing to assist the Chicago Bears with a move to suburban Arlington Heights – turned out to be a nonstarter for Chicago-area senators.
Turner, who held city and county office before her current postion, then turned her efforts to another bill by packaging the Springfield measures into House Bill 4496, which just needed a House concurrence to be sent to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk. It was never called for a vote, though there was little time for state politicians to consider all the bills that were progressing through the General Assembly in the final hours leading into adjournment.
Turner’s original three-pronged approach for downtown Springfield includes creating construction job tax credits and new government boards: the Capital Area Tourism Authority and the reconfigured Medical District Commission.
Pritzker, for his part, has expressed support for investing in downtown Springfield.
“The administration also supports a new, coordinated investment in the capital city centered on the Mid-Illinois Medical District and adjacent areas surrounding the state Capitol,” reads page 51 of the governor’s initial February budget proposal.
Despite pushing for legislation to alter Springfield’s medical district, Turner said there’s no conflict of interest with her being appointed to that government board.
“Not at all. One of the things that I love about Springfield is the opportunity for all of us to work collaboratively,” she said. “It’s also important to note that my work with the medical district is just not starting with me joining the medical district. I have been a part of working with (that board) since its inception, so I’m not new to the work of the medical district and actually have worked very closely with people like Ryan Croke, who is now chairing (the commission).”
Dilpreet Raju is a staff writer for Illinois Times and a Report for America corps member. He has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from American University. Reach him at draju@illinoistimes.com.