Editing Springfield, Massachusetts (section)

==Government==
[[File:City Hall - Springfield, MA - DSC03296.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Springfield Municipal Group|Springfield City Hall]] (1913)]]

===City of Springfield===

Springfield employs a strong-mayor form of city government. [[List of mayors of Springfield, Massachusetts|Springfield's mayor]] is Domenic J. Sarno, who has been serving since 2008.

The city's governmental bureaucracy consists of 33 departments, which administer a wide array of municipal services, e.g. police, [[Springfield Fire Department|fire]], public works, parks, public health, housing, economic development, and the [[Springfield Public School System]], New England's 2nd largest public school system.<ref name="masslive">{{cite web |url=http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/springfield_schools_superinten_8.html |title=Springfield Schools Superintendent Daniel Warwick touts students' gains in academics, attendance, behavior &#124; |date=October 4, 2013 |publisher=masslive.com |access-date=October 16, 2014 |archive-date=July 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702104114/http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/springfield_schools_superinten_8.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Springfield's legislative body is its City Council, which features a mix of eight [[Ward (United States)|ward]] representatives—even though the city has more than twice that many neighborhoods, resulting in several incongruous "wards"—and five at-large city representatives, several of whom have served for well over a decade.

====Finances====

In 2003, the City of Springfield was on the brink of financial default, and thus taken over by a Commonwealth-appointed Finance Control Board until 2009. Disbanded in June of that year, the Control Board made great strides stabilizing Springfield's finances.<ref name="bostonfed">{{cite web |url=http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/pcadp/2009/pcadp0901.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/pcadp/2009/pcadp0901.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-10 |url-status=live |date=September 14, 2009 |title=Towards a More Prosperous Springfield, Massachusetts: Project Introduction and Motivation |author=Lynn Browne |access-date=October 16, 2014}}</ref> While Springfield has achieved balanced budgets since 2009, the city has not enlarged its tax base, and thus many of its public works projects—which have been in the pipeline for years, some even decades—remain unfinished (e.g., repairs to Springfield's landmark Campanile).<ref name="springfield-ma2">{{cite web |url=http://www3.springfield-ma.gov/capitalassets/campanile.0.html |title=Springfield, Mass. Capital Assets: The Campanile |publisher=www3.springfield-ma.gov |access-date=October 16, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701140037/http://www3.springfield-ma.gov/capitalassets/campanile.0.html |archive-date=July 1, 2014 }}</ref> The construction of [[MGM Springfield]], which opened in 2018, fueled a number of projects in the years leading up to and after its opening, with an estimated $3 billion of new development and infrastructure spending materializing.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Governing|url=https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-springfield-massachusetts-turnaround-bankruptcy.html|title=This Small New England City Was on the Verge of Bankruptcy. Now It's a Turnaround Success Story|last=Greenblatt|first=Alan|date=December 2018|publisher=e.Republic|location=Washington, DC|access-date=August 21, 2019|archive-date=August 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821173856/https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/gov-springfield-massachusetts-turnaround-bankruptcy.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Building off of the work of the Control Board, the city's finances have remained stable under Mayor Domenic J. Sarno's (2008–present) despite the Great Recession and several natural and man made disasters: [[2011 New England tornado outbreak|June 1, 2011, tornado Springfield Tornado]], [[Hurricane Irene]], a freak [[2011 Halloween nor'easter|October snow storm]] (which in some ways was more damaging than the tornado),<ref name="masslive3">{{cite web |url=http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/western_massachusetts_communit_41.html |title=Western Massachusetts communities deal with cleanup costs in wake of October snowstorm |date=December 27, 2011 |publisher=masslive.com |access-date=October 16, 2014 |archive-date=July 3, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703092355/http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/western_massachusetts_communit_41.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a large gas explosion in the downtown area in 2012. The city has recovered, however receiving a bond upgrade from Standard and Poor's Investment Services and the GFOA's Distinguished Budget Award for six consecutive years.

===Judicial system===

Like every other municipality in Massachusetts, Springfield has no judicial branch itself. Rather, it uses the Springfield-based state courts, which include Springfield district court and Hampden County [[Massachusetts Superior Court|Superior Court]], both of which are based in Springfield. The [[United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts|Federal District Court]] also regularly hears cases in Springfield—now in an architecturally award-winning building on State Street, constructed in 2009.

===Politics===

{{See also|List of mayors of Springfield, Massachusetts|Mayoral elections in Springfield, Massachusetts}}
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 26, 2024<ref>{{cite web|title=Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 26, 2024 |publisher=Massachusetts Elections Division |access-date=November 23, 2024 |url=https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/elections/research-and-statistics/accessible-table/enrollment-breakdown-2024.htm}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Number of Voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 39,388
| style="text-align:center;"| 32.80%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 7,072
| style="text-align:center;"| 5.89%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| Unaffiliated
| style="text-align:center;"| 72,335
| style="text-align:center;"| 60.24%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]]
| style="text-align:center;"| 460
| style="text-align:center;"| 0.38%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! style="text-align:center;"| 120,078
! style="text-align:center;"| 100%
|}

Springfield became a [[City (Massachusetts)|city]] on May 25, 1852, by decree of the [[Massachusetts General Court|Massachusetts Legislature]], after a decade-long internal dispute that resulted in the partition of Chicopee from Springfield, and thus the loss of two fifths of the city's population.

Springfield, like all municipalities in Massachusetts, is subject to limited [[home rule]] municipal power. The current [[charter|city charter]], in effect since 1959, uses a "strong mayor" government with most power concentrated in the [[mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts|mayor]], as in Boston and elsewhere. The mayor representing the city's executive branch presents the budget, appoints commissioners and department heads, and in general runs the city. The mayor is former City Councilor [[Domenic Sarno]], elected November 6, 2007, by a margin of 52.54% to 47.18% against incumbent Charles Ryan. He took office in January 2008. In November 2009 and 2011, Sarno won reelection, albeit—in the latter case—with just 22% of eligible Springfield voters voting.<ref name="valleyadvocate">{{cite news |last=Turner |first=Maureen |date=December 8, 2011 |title=News—Where Were They on Election Day? Apathy is too simple a way of explaining why 78 percent of Springfield voters didn't make it to the polls in November. |url=http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14394 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315213443/http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14394 |archive-date=March 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |work=The Valley Advocate |access-date=May 22, 2019 }}</ref>

The Springfield [[City Council]], consisting of thirteen members, is the city's legislative branch. Elected every odd numbered year, eight of its members are elected to represent "wards", which are made of (sometimes incongruous) groupings of Springfield neighborhoods, e.g. Springfield's ethnic North End neighborhoods—Memorial Square and Brightwood—share a ward with Metro Center, Springfield's downtown. Five city council members are elected at-large. The City Council passes the city's budget, holds hearings, creates departments and commissions, and amends zoning laws.

The mayor's office and city council chambers are located in city hall—part of the [[Springfield Municipal Group|Municipal Group]] in Metro Center, Springfield. The Finance Control Board met there as well.

Springfield is heavily Democratic. In the [[2020 US Presidential Election]] Democrat [[Joe Biden]] received 72.4 percent of the vote to Republican [[Donald Trump]]'s 25.7 percent.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://electionstats.state.ma.us/elections/view/140751/filter_by_county:Hampden | title=PD43+ » 2020 President General Election Statewide (Showing only Hampden County) | access-date=September 8, 2022 | archive-date=September 8, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908160417/https://electionstats.state.ma.us/elections/view/140751/filter_by_county:Hampden | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Switch to ward representation===

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:1em;"
|-
! Springfield City Councilors 2024-2025<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wmasspi.com/2014/01/council-makes-history-president-fenton-promises-busy-year.html |title=Council Makes History, President Fenton Promises Busy Year ...—Western Mass Politics & Insight |website=Wmasspi.com |date=January 6, 2014 |access-date=July 12, 2017 |archive-date=June 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621091326/http://www.wmasspi.com/2014/01/council-makes-history-president-fenton-promises-busy-year.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://springfieldcityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Board/1001-City-Council|title=Accela Meeting Portal|website=springfieldcityma.iqm2.com|access-date=July 12, 2017|archive-date=July 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710002402/http://springfieldcityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/Board/1001-City-Council|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wmasspi.com/2018/09/in-springfield-a-whitfield-of-dreams-comes-true-mid-term.html|title=In Springfield, a Whitfield of Dreams Comes True Mid-term ...|date=September 25, 2018|website=Western Mass Politics & Insight|language=en-US|others=Whitfield joined in mid-2018 after resignation of Thomas Ashe.|access-date=May 14, 2019|archive-date=May 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514152945/https://www.wmasspi.com/2018/09/in-springfield-a-whitfield-of-dreams-comes-true-mid-term.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wmasspi.com/2021/03/springfield-council-explores-strange-new-duty-boldly-chooses-a-gomez-for-ward-1.html|title=Springfield Council Explores Strange New Duty, Boldly Chooses a Gomez for Ward 1…|date=March 9, 2021|website=Western Mass Politics & Insight|language=en-US|others=Gumersindo Gomez filled the seat his son [[Adam Gomez]] vacated after the latter joined the State Senate.|access-date=May 14, 2019|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309063851/https://www.wmasspi.com/2021/03/springfield-council-explores-strange-new-duty-boldly-chooses-a-gomez-for-ward-1.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|
* Michael A. Fenton: Ward 2 (President)
* Melvin Edwards: Ward 3 (Vice President)
* Sean Curran: At-Large
* Kateri Walsh: At-Large 
* Jose M. Delgado: At-Large 
* Brian Santaniello: At-Large
* Tracye Whitfield: At-Large  
* Maria Perez: Ward 1
* Malo Brown: Ward 4
* Lavar Click-Bruce: Ward 5 
* Victor Davila: Ward 6
* Tim Allen: Ward 7
* Zaida Govan: Ward 8
|}
In the past, efforts have been made to provide each of the city's eight wards a seat in the city council, instead of the current at-large format. There would still be some at-large seats under this format. The primary argument for this has been that City Councilors live in only four of the city's wards. An initiative to change the composition failed to pass the City Council twice. In 2007 Mayor Charles V. Ryan and City Councilor Jose Tosado proposed a home-rule amendment that would expand the council to thirteen members adding four seats to the existing nine member at large system, but allocated between eight ward and five at large seats. This home-rule petition was adopted by the City Council 8–1, and was later passed by the State Senate and House and signed by the Governor. On election day, November 6, 2007, city residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of changing the City Council and School Committee. The ballot initiative that established a new council with five at-large seats and eight ward seats passed 3–1. On November 3, 2009, Springfield held its first ward elections in 50 years.

===State and federal representation===
The State Representatives are [[Orlando Ramos]], [[Carlos González (American politician)|Carlos González]], [[Bud Williams]], and [[Angelo Puppolo]].  The State Senator is [[Adam Gomez]]. Springfield is part of the Eighth [[Massachusetts Governor's Council]] district and is represented by Tara Jacobs (D-North Adams).

[[Richard Neal]] represents [[United States House of Representatives, Massachusetts District 1]], and [[Elizabeth Warren]] and [[Edward Markey]] represent Springfield in the Federal Senate.