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01-10-11 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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01-10-11 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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REGULAR MEETING JANUARY 10, 2011 <br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated that he was aware that this ordinance has been on the <br /> books since the 1970's however, it was not clear then and that is why he is asking these <br /> questions now, because they are not clear to his constituents now and it doesn't seem <br /> very clear to the Council either. <br /> Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. applauded Councilmember's Puzzello, LaFountain and <br /> Kirsits for their efforts on this bill. He stated that this is something that was a concern of <br /> his the past couple of years concerning the Housing Authority and how their property was <br /> being maintained. He stated that it was the same scenario that they would clean off the <br /> sidewalks and the street department would come by to plow the street and pile the snow <br /> back onto the sidewalk, so it was people working against each other. So he commends <br /> the Councilmember's involved in getting a bill together. However, he stated that he has <br /> some concerns regarding his district. He stated that in the 2nd District there are a lot of <br /> housing facilities and elderly that live in the district, so when priority areas were <br /> mentioned earlier, what does priority mean and how is it defined for this particular <br /> ordinance. <br /> Catherine Toppel stated that priority is not mentioned in this ordinance. She stated that <br /> they base priorities on pedestrian traffic, bus routes, schools, where the sidewalks are <br /> getting the most use. Ms. Toppel noted that clearly is you have a street that has vacant <br /> lots and that there is not a lot of need to use those sidewalks then they are not a priority. <br /> She noted that the police department has compiled lists of high pedestrian traffic areas <br /> and it is from those lists that they base their priorities on because of the high pedestrian <br /> traffic use and need the most attention for the pedestrian use. <br /> Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr., thanked Ms. Toppel for that clarification and stated <br /> that the 2nd District should be a high priority because they have Transpo bus routes, five <br /> schools in the district and noted Harrison Primary which borders the 2nd and 6th District <br /> and the many snow routes; Sample Street, Western Avenue and Lincolnway. He stated <br /> that these are great reasons to make them a priority, however, there are many things in <br /> this bill that make him a little apprehensive of voting in favor of it. He noted that there <br /> are vacant lots owned by the City of South Bend that have not been cleared and <br /> questioned whether or not the City fines itself. <br /> Mr. Toppel stated that clearly they do not fine themselves; she makes phone calls to the <br /> various departments that are required to have the snow removed to get the snow removed. <br /> She used for example where all the trees were planted at the south west corner of Main <br /> and Jefferson, was missed for clean up of the sidewalks for the first year that the City <br /> acquired the property. She had to make the proper phone calls to put it on the list to get <br /> the snow removed. <br /> Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. stated that his concern was that the intent of the bill <br /> mentioned a specific area of the city and noting student housing/rental properties, so that <br /> is why he is asking these questions. To make sure that it represents the aggregate of all <br /> the districts within the city. He questioned how many vacant and abandoned lots are in <br /> the city? Because children will have to walk past these areas to get to and from school, <br /> so do we know how many there are and where they are located? Because to him it is <br /> those kinds of areas that are going to need a lot of attention. <br /> Councilmember Kirsits stated that he cannot answer how many vacant or abandoned lots <br /> or homes there are. However, it had come to his attention through the Community <br /> Campus Advisory Coalition (CCAC) that a lot of students were ignorant to the <br /> requirement by the city to shovel their sidewalks. He stated that it was through the <br /> CCAC that they made them fully aware that the students and their landlords are <br /> responsible for clearing those sidewalks with a 24 hour period and that they could <br /> potentially get fined if not doing so. It was totally about creating awareness, and then it <br /> came up about students having to walk through high trafficked area having to walk in the <br /> street to and from school because the sidewalks were not being shoveled either by <br /> residential homeowner or commercial businesses. He noted that they have an obligation <br /> to clear those sidewalks in a high trafficked area especially when children need to use <br /> them to go to school. He stated that the registry of volunteers is for helping to get to <br /> 7 <br />
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