SPRINGFIELD — More than a year after a tornado ripped homes apart here, residents are facing destruction of a downtown section where a gas explosion Friday crumbled brick walls and left hundreds homeless. The two disasters in as many years hit a city that has struggled to gain fiscal stability and rein in blight and crime, and its residents have grown weary.
“I don’t want to think about what may be next,” said Cliff Mansfield, 57, who lives about a dozen blocks away from the scene of the explosion but felt it rock his home.
Comments
The difference in attitude between Stephen Bryant, president of Columbia Gas, and the officials at the electric companies when they are asked to step up to the plate after a disaster, is like night and day. Here, Mr. Bryant demonstrates community responsibility and concern for those who were affected by this disaster. Try getting some of that love from the electric company the next time you lose a refrigerator full of food.