07/09/07 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JULY 9, 2007 neighborhood are concerned as if those who support this project are not educated; she begs to differ with those people. She doesn't want insult anyone's intelligence by telling the Council that they have already made up their minds on this project. She would like to the Council to look at all the material and evaluate it and she encourage the Council to vote in favor of this project. Mr. Wayne Curry, 1050 Burns Avenue, stated that he has lived there for approximately fourteen years. The Notre Dame Woods is about one and one-half blocks from his house. He is involved in many civic groups, one of which is the Northeast Neighborhood Council, that he is currently the Vice President of that group. He is also a member of the Civic alliance which is part of the City Plan and he was Chairman of the Economic Development Panel for that group. As they had interviewed people this is exactly the kind of development that South Bend needs to bring into the community. It is something that was said over and over again as far as whether we need to bring new people, new money back into the City. This is a $200 million dollar project. It creates a live, work, play environment that is pedestrian and bike friendly. Tying this project in with the future tech park and the $14 million worth of housing that is trying to be developed in the triangle neighborhood gives the City a big tax boom as far as your City services, your police departments, your fire departments, you City schools which is greatly need right now to put more money into these programs and to help the community as a whole. Many jobs are going to be created through this project through building it and maintaining it as well as the shops and the stores and the restaurants that will be created here. You will have permanent and temporary jobs created. People are moving back in to the City. A little of this stuff is that people have moved out of the City into Granger and places like this. Even a lot of wealthier people, it gives them a place to come back into the City, bring their money and spend their money in the City which also helps out local economy. Ms. Luella Webster, 701 E. Howard, South Bend, Indiana, she lived at 701 E. Howard Street and was approached by South end Heritage to move out of the triangle and build on the property of which I was born and raised on. She lived at 1133 N. Burns Avenue for 23 years which is right there at Napoleon and Burns at the woods. At the time I move I, I felt this was an ideal place to go because as a kid we went into the woods. When she moved in after several years it became infested with skunks, rats, stray dogs and cats. The trees that were beautiful once have now become rotten and hollow. When she would come home from work sometimes there were tree branches that had fallen either in the alley or in her yard. She believes that it is time for development and time for the woods to do. Mr. Jim Roemer, stated that he has an office on Notre Dame Avenue, he is retired and he does not represent anyone. He is just representing his own opinion tonight. He stated that he was born in Harter Heights; six generations of his family lived in that neighborhood starting from the 1950's. He was born in Harter Heights and got married when he was in law school at Norte Dame, eventually became the City Attorney for South Bend, and the attorney for Redevelopment Commission. The way we used to do this king of urban renewal in the 70's was basically by Ordinance. They would condemn as urban blight the downtown area or certain areas and then purchased those properties and had to file eminent domain. He filed suit for 55 of them downtown. The wound up having the clerk appoint an appraiser so they had high, low, medium kind of appraisals and bout all of those properties downtown but they had government funding that paid them to purchase those properties and had the incentive to actually raise tax revenue because of the fact that these properties would eventually be built up. This project that is before the Council tonight is unique. He would like to say with all his heart and all of his intelligence that he thinks the Council out to approve it because it is a win, win situation for the neighborhood. This is a 200 million dollar development, why would anyone want to turn this down. He stated that his nice bought one of those beautiful homes on Notre Dame Avenue that the University is giving incentives on. What a wonderful improvement that those homes have been on Notre Dame Avenue. He stated that his friend, Luella, who lives in the neighborhood and spoke just prior, are the real success stories and are the kinds of things that really help a neighborhood like this one. People coming in there and doing those kinds of things, just drive on Notre Dame Avenue, you 21