Laserfiche WebLink
South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br />Rescheduled Regular Meeting -August 25, 2006 <br />6. NEW BUSINESS (CONT.) <br />A. Public Hearing <br />() continued... <br />for the inner city's blighted areas, and, in <br />fact, removes tax dollars that would be <br />applied towards rejuvenating those areas, <br />seems unnecessary. The employment <br />opportunities touted by developers of <br />projects such as this are of no use to the <br />people living closer to the city center without <br />the transportation system to allow access to <br />those jobs promised. The tax base that could <br />go towards upgrading city schools and other <br />improvements now will include none of that <br />money. An opportunity for profit is provided <br />these companies, tax dollars are applied to <br />enhancing their projects like Portage <br />Prairie, and the areas of our city that could <br />use the financial boost those tax dollars <br />could bring in oNder to upgrade life in the <br />city are lost. <br />Which brings me to... (1) One way of <br />ensuring that the companies reaping a TIF's <br />benefits also contribute to the improvement <br />of life here in South Bend and surrounding <br />areas would be to balance development <br />outside the city center with a correlated <br />expansion of that TIF district to include an <br />area, or areas, severely in need of attention. <br />If the TIF district can be redrawn to include <br />Portage Prairie, there should be a <br />corresponding expansion of the TIF to <br />include an area such as LaSalle Square, <br />thereby ensuring that some of the benefits <br />from the redirecting of tax funds would go to <br />benefit the people living in our city, and not <br />just the corporations looking to profit from <br />our population. <br />30 <br />