06-28-10 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JUNE 28, 2010 state is Connecticut and the bottom ten who impact their state most poorly are #50 - Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Indiana was ranked #25. Consider the laws that Jim Crow implied and did to the south; they suppressed and marginalized most of their citizens regulating them to schools which lacked the basic necessity for education and hiring under qualified teachers. Jim Crow’s ghost is still haunting the quality of education in the south. When she started out in business in the mid 70’s the Fortune 100 Company she went to work for systematically disregarded the ideas of employees who lack a college degree or were women. That company has since been bought up and spun off so many times she is not sure that any of the surviving assets still belong to the original Belgian Company they did a few years ago. Consider if it is any accident that 80% of all Fortune 500 companies now have non sexual discrimination policies unlike her first employer these companies are survivors they understand the need to attract the best and brightest employees they understand need to pull from every possible talent pool to do so. They understand the disadvantages inherent of any Jim Crow mind set for their businesses. Jim Crow laws have been fortunately gone for many decades but his ghost still continues to hurt many of the education systems in the south. She stated that of course South Bend doesn’t have Jim Crow laws but take into consideration of how important it is to support this amendment to the Human Rights Ordinance and think about the advantages in the world market. Nancy Nickels, Pastor, Broadway Christian Parish, 1412 Carroll, South Bend, Indiana, residing at 122 E. Haney, South Bend, Indiana, urged the Council to pass Bill No. 30-10 amending the South Bend Municipal Code addressing the Human Rights Ordinance to include new provisions addressing employment fairness. The denial of human rights flies in the face of Christian beliefs. All individual are created in the image of God and are the beloved children of God and must be protected under the law against discrimination. Protecting the rights of citizens under the law is an area of justice that must be addressed by those who are charged with protecting the common good. Persons who are GLBT must have equal protection under the law and the lawful access to redress issues of workplace hiring and discrimination. She stated that protecting the rights of all citizens is just as equally valuable and they deserve equal protection under the law. This amendment not only protects the rights of GLBT community it protects the larger community as well. This is a quality of life issue for all persons who live in the Michiana area or are seeking an economic investment is South Bend. Ms. Nickels again urged the council to add the GLBT Community to the anti-discrimination ordinance as it applies to employee rights in the workplace. Grace Lydynski-Smith, 536 S. Sunnyside, South Bend, Indiana, advised that she is here tonight to ask the Council to pass Bill No. 30-10 amending the South Bend Municipal Code addressing the Human Rights Ordinance to include new provisions addressing employment fairness. She stated that growing up here in South Bend it has been wonderful to see how civil rights kind of blossomed here. She stated that just recently the natatorium has been turned into a Civil Rights Museum, which was once a place of oppression and prejudice. She stated that for many years people have been promoting equal rights for everyone. She stated that she would like to continue living here and be proud of her community, and as a lesbian youth be protected under the law no matter who they are or who they love. Randy Kelly, 1325 E. Wayne, South Bend, Indiana, advised that there is more than a little compelling date to indicate that communities which show themselves to be tolerant and inclusive, with regard to sexual orientation, benefit economically, from attracting and retaining new business to capturing young workers who are part of, to use Richard Florida’s term, the “Creative Class.” In case anyone is not familiar, Richard Florida is a best-selling author, an American urban studies theorist, a professor of social and economic theory and head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He also heads a private consulting firm, the Creative Class Group. Florida is a PhD from Columbia University, has taught at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy and at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. Florida’s ideas on the Creative Class, commercial innovation, and regional development are being used globally to change the way regions and nations do business 21