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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> Coalition website, you'll see that our mission is to promote bicycling for commuting and
<br /> recreation. Underlying this goal is reducing greenhouse emissions by promoting cycling as an
<br /> alternative form of transportation. That's why, at least in my mind, while we promote recreational
<br /> cycling, our main focus is on commuting. Bicycles offer a viable alternative to cars, as fewer than
<br /> all trips are three (3) miles or less, very doable on a bike. Every commuter trip on a bike is
<br /> obviously one (1) less trip in a car. South Bend has done quite a bit to encourage cycling, hence
<br /> our recent promotion to Silver Level Bike Friendly City Status. But, we need to do more.
<br /> According to current data, the share of trips by bicycling here is one-point five percent (1.5%) of
<br /> all trips. The data on other cities including snow belt cities, shows we can do much better. There
<br /> is no one(1)way to raise that number. We must make cycling safer, easier, more convenient, and
<br /> to do so we need to coordinate efforts across City Departments,including City Planning,the Street
<br /> Department, Education, Law Enforcement, Health and so on. As we have seen with the expansion
<br /> of the City's bike system, if you build it, they will come. South Bend is moving in the right
<br /> direction, let's finish the job.
<br /> Analise McKenna, 410 Peashway Street, stated, I'm a fifth (5th) grader at Good Shepard
<br /> Montessori School. My school focuses a lot on sustainability. We recycle a lot and we have
<br /> compost bins in every classroom. We have a farm curriculum where in fall, from the beginning of
<br /> school, to the start of winter, and in spring until the end of school, we go to a farm once a week.
<br /> During the winter last year, when we were not going to farm, our teacher started helping us make
<br /> compost bins called worm bins. They are big bins with worms and newspaper and the worms will
<br /> compost. She told us it would help us compost more food, and that would help us not waste a lot
<br /> more food. I thought that was really cool. My point is, if we have compost bins, along with
<br /> recycling bins around the City, less and less things would go to landfills and there would be less
<br /> pollution. Thank you.
<br /> Mike Keen, 1012 Riverside Drive, stated, I'm the founding Director of Center for a Sustainable
<br /> Future, and I'm currently a Principal with Thrive Michiana. I would like to start with an apology.
<br /> My apology is to all of the young people in this room, as a member of the baby boomer generation
<br /> that has been the most destructive generation in the history of our planet. We have created a mess
<br /> that unfortunately we have been unable to adequately respond to. I would like to say thank you to
<br /> all of those young people in this room who are going to help solve this mess, because you're
<br /> standing up tonight in a place that we should have been two (2) or three (3) decades ago. I hope
<br /> that your example is causing us to recognize that we do need to act as we think about it. We stand
<br /> at a pivotal point in the history of humanity. The history of our planet, in essence, we either have
<br /> the opportunity to realize the evolutionary potential of our species, or destroy our planet
<br /> completely, along with the other species that share it. That being said, I have a millennial hope. It
<br /> is the kinds of decisions and activity that are being taken in rooms like this across the country in
<br /> thousands of communities and around the world that will make that difference and will actually
<br /> create that change. It won't happen in the next ten (10) years, and it won't happen in the next
<br /> twenty(20) or thirty (30), but we can see the changes begin and perhaps in the next fifty (50) or
<br /> one hundred (100) years, we can begin to see ourselves moving toward a sustainable future for
<br /> Michiana and for all of the world. So, thank you everybody very much for helping us and being
<br /> the conscience for too many of us who have lost it, perhaps, in our older age. Thank you very
<br /> much.
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson BvId South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 wvvw southbendin.gov
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