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Lynn Patrick: I'd like to open the public hearing portion by recognizing any member of the public who wishes to speak on the matter. We'll have five minutes or less and I'd like to have anyone wishing to speak line up so we can expedite this because we're starting to run long on our meeting. Joseph Taschetta: My name is Joseph Taschetta and my wife and I live at 1029 Riverside Drive. We're some of those people who are going to be right across the street from this boondoggle we've been talking about. I'm sorry that my wife can't make it today, but she asked me to speak on her . behalf also. And, it's very frustrating number one, I just found out about this on Saturday through the mail and I found out about this meeting yesterday. So I don't know what the big hurry is. I think it is too bad. What I want to say is: Pm very proud of South Bend. I was bom here. I left at six months: I came back when I was 50. I'm very proud of this place, always have been and we had a lot of, greens and I see a lot of them being taken away.I see a parking lot now where the Madison School used to be and I think enough is enough. Taken too much of our greens away. This is a beautiful, beautiful park across the street there on Riverside. And it's the last of the wilderness that we have within the city. You can actually walk down there on your own without a pathway, without stairs and enjoy. People go there for retreats, for meditation. I go down there to paint and its just beautiful. And if this thing comes about, it's going to be destroyed and we're never going to see what we had again. It's just going to be a terrible eyesore, this ramp going down into the river. The reason my wife and I moved to Riverside is for this park, for the natural beauty of it and it is gorgeous. But this is the last that we have in South Bend. Please don't take it away. As far as the engineers go. I'm an engineer and I know there are alternatives and I'd like to see these people, these engineers, thinking outside the box. We have a lot of alternatives that we could have. Some of them were already discussed. The river is very low at certain times. It could be worked on there. Why not come in from the North Shore, and do the work from there rather than this terrible .. ramp you're talking about. And a barge, there are alternatives. What's the big hurry? This has been _ going on since the year 2000 and all of a sudden we've got to rush to this. It doesn't make any sense. And the final thing is if you do this you're going to rape this beautiful, beautiful park, natural setting, that we have. I plead with you, please, vote no. Thank you. Brendan Crumlish: Hello. I'm Brendan Crumlish. I'm a property owner at 1021 Riverside directly across from this proposed work. I have here a letter I received six years ago that I received from the Army Corps of Engineers in Detroit. I received it by certified mail. I received this letter in 2000. It outlined the work at this CSO #6 and also some additional work in Leeper Park and then along North Shore Boulevard. I'd like to note that I think this designation of Emergency is somewhat dubious. This designation was outlined in the second sentence here: "Emergency riverbank protection is authorized by the Federal Flood Control Act of 1946." This was in September of 2000. On page 5 of this document, I'd like to read a couple paragraphs. "Paragraph 2.11: Miscellaneous Project Details. The proposed construction of bank protection at three sites along the Saint Joseph River, South Bend, Indiana may require construction of one or more temporary structures, temporary placement of clean construction material, site access or temporary work and storage instead of or in addition to those noted above. All temporary facilities would be at US ACE approved locations upland or in water. Outside of any wetland areas known to contain federal or state protected species, or their critical habitat, or properties listed on or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places or state - listed properties." "Paragraph 2.12. The type and location of temporary structures and/or construction aides cannot be determined at this time since they are incidental to the work being performed. Examples include turnarounds, work and storage areas, access ramps and office facilities. Such structures would include appropriate precautionary measures to prevent erosion and sedimentation, or other March 20, 2006 HPC Minutes .doc [Preliminary] Page 9