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South Bend redevelopment Commission Regular Mee ing — December 4, 1981 5. COMMUNIOATIONS (continued) Mr. Nim z: Now it's not the intention of the Chair or the Commission to run a re -hash of everything that went on the other evening. I would be glad to have any succint com- ments and so on. Mr. Lobdell of the TRANSPO Board and Mr. Vogel have been in contact with me and since they were not at the ,eeting the other night, they have asked to be heard. lAre you the spokesman, Mr. Lobdell? Mr. Lobdell: I guess to answer that, Mr. Chairman, I am afraid so. Mr. ZaVisca, our General Manager of TRANSPO, is well acquainted with our grant application for secur- ing the parcel of land downtown,happens to be out of town so Mr. Vogel and I are going to attempt to fill in in a sense o the word. On that basis, I think that we should stick with a prepared statement so that we get the story straigh . t1r. Nimtz: We're pleased to have it. Mr. Lobdell: We have a review on the TRANSPO /Century Mall Transfer Project and we'd just like to take a moment and step back and take a look at it. First, we want to say that we do want to do this project. It was at the Mayor's request, shortly after he took office, that TRANSPO ini- tiated t e grant application with UMTA to secure funds for this land. Next, we think that we do need to be downtown in the Cen- tury Mall Program. Studies and planner projects under earlier administrations have continued to call for the TRANSPO transfer area to be located near the Century Mall Project. We want to do this project. We want to do this project as meeting a long time commitment for better ser- vice to TRANSPO patrons, and which in general benefits the Sout Bend - Mishawaka community in terms of improved public transportation. We also feel there is a need to move now. We have made application to UMTA for this location in the Century Mall area and after a number of procedural reviews, we are pleased to say that UMTA, under the new Washington Ad- ministration, has responded by approving our grant. I say we are pleased in view of the anticipated cut backs that are going to occur. Again, the funds are now avail- able. W feel that in order to represent TRANSPO patrons and the taxpayers in general on a proper basis, that we must do verything possible to move ahead while these funds ar available now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 9