Advocates for southwest Rockford demand better after devastating Barber-Colman vote

Victor Rivera and his family have lived in southwest Rockford and in the shadow of the sprawling former Barber-Colman factory campus for decades.

A self-described blue-collar worker, Rivera, 37, could have moved away. But he loves his neighborhood. He has chosen to stay even as the nearby dilapidated buildings of what was once a bustling factory makes neighbors reluctant to invest in their properties.

There have been other attempts to redevelop the sprawling more than 22-acre campus of broken windows, crumbling cement and despair. They have all ended in disappointment and failure. The latest effort from Milwaukee-based J. Jeffers & Company was the most complete, the most promising and the most realistic thus far.

But Rivera said the Rockford City Council this week once again sent a clear message to the people of southwest Rockford when they allowed the project to slip away.

"The way we feel is like OK, you guys don’t want us to have anything," Rivera said. "You just want to leave us in desolation: No education, no nice housing, no nice parks. That’s the way it feels. That’s the way it has felt for at least 20 years."

What's at stake: Barber-Colman could cost the City of Rockford millions. Here's how it plans to pay

Transform Rockford, Southwest Ideas for Today & Tomorrow, Rockford Branch of the NAACP and the Coalition of Latino Leaders among other groups on Thursday called a news conference on the campus. Speakers called on City Council members to reconsider a vote the would force J. Jeffers to enter into a project labor agreement with unionized trades in order to proceed on th eproject.

Jeffers officials have said that the requirement is a non-starter. They told city officials that making a labor agreement a mandate would limit bidding, drive up costs and unravel a complex web of financial agreements needed to make the project a reality.

Jeffers has signaled it is backing out of the project, telling its contractors including Studio GWA to send a final invoice for the design work it had done so far and to stop any other work it had planned.

Because Ald. Janessa Wilkins, D-7, had a family emergency and could not cast a vote this week, Ald. Mark Bonne, D-14, said he is willing to enter a motion to reconsider the vote. But Wilkins would have to ask him to make the motion, he said, and all wards would have to be represented.

“I continue to support the proposed redevelopment of the Barber-Colman campus and continue to hold out hope that local labor and the developer can reach an agreement," Bonne said.

Transform Rockford Executive Director Wally Haas said the city is missing a chance to turn a blighted property into a thriving neighborhood of market rate residences, businesses and recreation areas.

"If Rockford is going to prosper, if Rockford is going to be the best it can be, no area of the city can be neglected," Haas said. "We cannot neglect this property any longer."

Longtime southwest Rockford resident and original president of La Voz Latina, Armando Cardenas said the neighborhood has been too often forgotten by city leaders.

"Unfortunately, I have not seen too many good things come from City Council to the southwest," Cardenas said. "Today, we have an opportunity. We have a mayor who is very supportive of this project. We have a City Council that is divided. I am hoping and praying they do the right thing for our community."

Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Advocates for southwest Rockford rally for Barber-Colman project