The dilemma that many East Forest Park residents are facing is whether to remain in the neighborhood.
Residents in Springfield's East Forest Park neighborhood will have some tough decisions to make in the coming months.It was hot on Wednesday.
In fact it was the hottest day of the year. And more unseasonable warm weather is expected on Thursday.
Wednesday we decided to hit the streets to lend a hand, keep people cool, and catch-up with more of our friends and neighbors trying to brave the weather and deal with the aftermath of last week's tornado, which continues to be a life-changing event.
The good folks at Big Y Foods hooked us up with case after case of water, and we took to the streets to hand it out.
We found people in bucket loaders working high above. There were people on rooftops putting in good old-fashioned sweat equity, trying to salvage what they could of their homes.
We found people like that all over the area on Wednesday. We just tried to make the work a little more bearable.
We also found people like Bill Lodi who lives on Roosevelt Avenue, right across the pond from Cathedral High School.
Bill wasn't having much luck getting people to play ball with him.
People like his contractors and landscapers. His car insurance agent did show up to deliver two checks for his two automobiles that were destroyed in last week's storm.
Lodi and his wife were right in the middle of last week's tornado that ripped across Western Massachusetts. They hid in the basement, and honestly thought it was all over.
"They said it was 21 seconds," said Bill. "But it seemed like an hour."
"But I figured that was it, I really did. I just remember saying I hope it's quick. It's really something," said Bill.
I asked Bill, "You really don't have very many of these experiences in your life do you?"
"No," said Bill. "I hope it's the only one."
Lodi and his wife survived the tornado, but an orange X painted on their house by FEMA is visible from the road.
And there are pieces of Cathedral High School strewn across his back yard.
"That's a Cathedral dumpster, there were a couple of cars over there," Bill said.
"That's their roof, I've got a couple of their air conditioners down here."
Lodi told me his yard can be cleaned up and his house can be rebuilt, but the dilemma that many residents are facing is whether to remain in the neighborhood.
An insurance check will eventually come, and many residents will face the choice of rebuilding, or paying off the mortgage and leaving.
And for many of the residents in places like East Forest Park, their families are grown and retirement is well within reach.
Why would they bother to stay? Two weeks ago they couldn't sell their house in this challenging real estate market. Now they have an opportunity to make a life-changing choice.
I asked Bill if he was optimistic or pessimistic about his future. He told me he was optimistic. What else could he be?
"You know, I've talked to my neighbors, Dan and Ken, and we've said we're staying."
"We're good friends, we've been friends for years. So the three of us are staying."
"I don't know about everybody else," said Bill.
I asked him, "You're worried about that aren't you, people leaving?"
"Yeah. It's a great neighborhood, a lot of great people," Lodi said.
"All the people here have always been here. Very few people move. So it's a close neighborhood."
The question for Bill Lodi and all of the residents of East Forest Park is what will happen when the checks clear?
What will happen if and when the Springfield Diocese decides to close Cathedral High School once and for all?
Who will buy the land, and what will end up being developed on that prime piece of real estate right in the middle of one of the most stable neighborhoods in the city?
The legacy of the Great Tornado of 2011 remains to be seen.
One thing however is for sure: one way or the other, the face of the East Forest Park neighborhood has changed forever.