Former Ward 2 Ald. Frank McNeil, lead plaintiff in a federal court case that resulted in Springfield switching to the aldermanic form of government in 1987 and electing its first Black members of the City Council, wants to restore the city’s first Black-owned doctor’s office.

“I look at this as a community enrichment project,” McNeil, a retired Illinois Department of Transportation administrator, told Illinois Times . “There is a movement in this country to erase history. This is history we don’t need to lose.”

A $100,000 grant from the city’s cannabis grant program, approved by the City Council at its Aug. 6 meeting, would help fund what McNeil estimated will be a $400,000 to $500,000 project to renovate the former office of Dr. Edwin Lee at 501 S. 13th St.

The council voted to autho

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