No. 1207 designating the SEDA, declaring the SEDA to be blighted, approving a development plan and conditions under which relocation payments will be made and extablishing an allocation area for purposes of TIF

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1 buildings and dense manufacturing complexes employing thousands of workers were by necessity tied to the centralized transportation network and the nearby, accessible labor force. Employees lived only blocks away in densely developed residential neighborhoods and walked to work or nearby shopping strips and commercial nodes. The physical and economic conditions of the residential neighborhoods and business districts were directly linked to the industrial areas. As vacant or underutilized industrial buildings appeared, it meant not only fewer jobs but vacant commercial storefronts along Indiana Avenue, Miami Street or Michigan Street. The merchant serving the residential neighborhood and the blue collar factory worker both saw the immediate impact of downturns in the manufacturing sector in their paychecks, on the shop floor, and in their neighborhoods. Fewer jobs and lower paying jobs meant fewer people and families and more residential vacancies, less residential maintenance and more deteriorating homes, less shopping activity and more vacant storefronts. ' It was an era dominated by rail transportation and centrally located manufacturing businesses and facilities. The project area is still crisscrossed by all the major railroads. Spur lines cross through and around residential neighborhoods and cut across the area's major arterial streets and inter -city highways. Many of the once active spur lines have been abandoned as industrial production slowed and moved from the area and truck transportation grew in importance. Sporadically used spur lines, abandoned tracks, and large swaths of vacant land (former rail beds) are still evident throughout the area. The main rail lines remain and cut through the Sample -Ewing Development Area on both elevated and non - elevated tracks. The presence of these railroad tracks offer both a challenge and opportunity for the redevelopment of the area. ' A large corridor of industrially zoned land between Indiana Avenue and Sample Street that stretches from the vacant White Farm manufacturing complex on Chapin Street (east) to Olive Street (west) also reflects South Bend's economic history. A ' haphazard arrangement of trucking companies, scrap yards and warehouse distribution and wholesalers dominate this corridor. Large sections of vacant or marginally used parcels are mixed with these economic activities. This area was once the site of South Bend's main rail switching yards and main rail lines. The area developed as a mayor link between rail and truck transportation. Many of the truck terminals and truck servicing areas remain in the area. Scrap and salvage yards also are prominent in the area. 1 In 12/17/93