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