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South Bend edevelopment Commission <br />Rescheduled Regular Meeting, August 28, 1981 <br />7. NEW BUSINESS (continued) <br />k. Commission approval requested to enter into a contract <br />with Battelle Memorial'Institute, Columbus'LaboratoriOs <br />for the'desi n'of'an act ion= oriented`economic'develo - <br />men proVar for the'community. <br />Mr. McMahon explained that permission was being re- <br />quested to enter into a contract, on behalf of the <br />Department, with the Battelle Memorial Institute, for <br />an economic study of our area and the establishment <br />of what is referred to as an Action- Oriented Economic <br />Dev lopment Program. This firm will make an analysis <br />of 1he community's assets with respect to transporta- <br />tio , access, manufacturing ability, trades, educa <br />ti o al resources, existing institutions that could be <br />built upon, such as the medical community, tool and <br />die area, other areas that we might be attracted to <br />that we currently have not been successful in pursuing <br />- for example certain types of office or commercial <br />developments such as a major insurance company. <br />Battelle will identify what we can best do, what our <br />positive features are, what our negative aspects are, <br />and what we can do to improve on both and how we can <br />best present this to firms that we would be most <br />attracted to in soliciting their interest in invest -. <br />ing in South Bend. They.will also identify short- <br />comings that we may have in the community that are <br />correctable and that would make South Bend more at- <br />tractive to industry and other types of commercial <br />businesses as well. <br />The overall desire to see such a study take place has <br />beer expressed through the Long -Range Community Econ- <br />omi Development Planning group that Mr. Rosenthal is <br />currently chairing. The Chamber of Commerce also <br />sup orts this, as do a number of entities within the <br />corm unity. Toward this end, we have requested pro- <br />posals and have found Battelle to be outstanding in <br />qualifications. They have done a number of economic <br />related studies of this nature around the country. <br />The3 have the talent to offer us a great deal of <br />advice and to recommend a number of devices to <br />effectively pursue an aggressive development program <br />for the City of South Bend. <br />Fun ing will come from various sources. The Chamber <br />wil be participating through funds they have avail- <br />able. Some financial institutions in the community <br />hav made a commitment and, in addition, one of the <br />loc 1 non - profit trusts in the community has provided <br />15 <br />