04-09-18 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING April 9, 2018 the City of South Bend. Women's Care Center says they are not activists. How did they get this many people here?Not everybody read this. They were activated to come here. Thank you. This being the time heretofore set for Rebuttal on the above bill, presenters and petitioners were given an opportunity to be rebut. Ms.Hunsberger stated,I would like to say a couple of things. The first is that,in terms of rezoning, I would like to remind the Council that the immediate neighbors and several other neighbors have all applauded and are in favor of this rezoning. The people most impacted by the rezoning do not see this as a detriment either to their property values or the use of their land. They see it as a positive. The second thing I would like to say is, in terms of magnetizing protestors, I think we would say that in many ways, we agree. Part of our whole position is that we agree that that experience is not good for women. Protestors do not protest us. There will be, there have been, there may be protestors at Whole Women's Health, but they won't be on our side. We provide a barrier to protestors. We don't galvanize protestors and we are incredibly grateful and proud that so many members of this community were here tonight to say that they support the work that we do at Women's Care Center,knowing full well that what we do is not protesting or activism. They are here because they stand behind that model that says no to protesting and no to women walking through those picket lines.This is what our community is saying. Women's Care Center will bring that to this location. We agree on that point. I will also say that it makes me sad there was a client who came to Women's Care Center who didn't feel particularly welcomed or who felt the questions were invasive. That is not our model and that is not our care. We provide care without judgment. I don't know what the situation was and I would like to look into it. It is,though,worth note that the women seeking abortion services was recommended to our Center by Planned Parenthood which is the larger abortion provider in the Nation and world. Even Planned Parenthood recognized the quality of care that we provide and they would recommend our services. The third thing is that we love and utilize Community Wellness Partners all the time. They are a great partner organization for Women's Care Center. We do not provide the same services. They are more medical care and they provide a great service and it is fantastic they received that huge grant. We could not be more thrilled about that. The West Side needs more, not less. They need Community Wellness, they need Women's Care Center, we need both. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic then turned the floor back to Council for further comment or main motion. Councilmember John Voorde stated, This, on one (1) hand, seems to be a complicated issue and on the other hand, I don't think it is complicated at all. If you look at this purely as a zoning issue, I have to agree with my former teacher Marcy. I think based on what our Council Attorney has listed as criteria, what the Area Plan Commission staff has offered as holding this particular use up as a buffer to separate commercial from residential, I don't think you can find any better buffer than what these folks are doing. They are taking a home and are putting in several hundreds of thousands of dollars, apparently, and will maintain the residential character. It is not a high or intense use. It might as well be a quasi-medical counseling office. I'm convinced that what they do is very good work and very much needed. They are very much a lifeline to someone who might be conflicted about what might be the most important decision they make in their life. I do wonder a bit, I'm not clear on what Women's Care Center does if someone comes in and rejects the life alternative and choses abortion. Do they continue to be hounded in some way? Further, I would say it seems clear to me that this service is needed. The whole location issue is almost secondary. The fact is where they are now is too small and they have to do something about that if they are going to continue providing the services they do like on Notre Dame Ave and LaSalle. I don't like the idea making it any more commercial but this isn't a right to life or right to choose issue. Sure that is out there and this has ramifications but which ever you choose, this Women's Care Center provides a real psychological and meaningful alternative. It just seems to me that if is just a zoning issue, I don't think there is valid basis to turn it down. There are ramifications to this whole thing that we can't turn a blind eye to or put blinders on, but then you're even more persuaded to allow this to happen. It provides a great buffer that you've never had the investment in from anyone else and secondly it is just a needed service. I came in to this meeting leaning toward supporting this petition and after hearing everybody, I'm even more convinced that it is the right thing to do. I'll be voting in favor of this.Earlier in the Committee meeting,there was a notion that continuing this 21