Recommending Establishment 5-year Action Plan Historic City Cemetery

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Resolution Establishing a 5 -Year Action Plan for Historic City Cemetery Page 2 Chicora Foundation, Inc. who specialize in cemetery preservation with a special emphasis on conservation treatments, cemetery preservation plans, marker inventories and assessments, historical research, grave identification, archaeological investigations, and cemetery preservation workshops for Amy B. Minnick, Assistant Director of the Historic Preservation Commission of South Bend with this detailed publication being available at htt p:// www.chicora.org/,odfs /RC512.pdf; and lamas, the Common Council further notes that the Preservation Assessment of City Cemetery, South Bend, Indiana publication sets forth key data, information, maps, pictures and recommendations addressing the following topic: Introduction — preservation fundamental, the Cemetery — its setting and context, factors affecting the landscape character, administrative and legal issues; Historic Synopsis; Road and Pedestrian Issues; Lighting and Security Issues; Cemetery Fixtures and Furnishings; Landscape Maintenance; Other Maintenance Issues; Conservation Issues; Priorities and Funding Levels; and detailed source information as well many recommendations; and <�lins, on January 14, 2013, the South Bend Common Council unanimously adopted Resolution No. 4226 -13, which officially declared March 23rd of each year as "Schuyler Colfax Day in South Bend, Indiana" to recognize his public service career and especially his determined dedication to civil rights and the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865 to abolish slavery, the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868 addressing due process, and equal protection, and the 15th Amendment in 1869 addressing the right to vote regardless of one's race, color or previous condition of servitude; and the fact that he was the first person from Indiana to be elected Vice - President of the United States; and on March 23, 2013, the 190th birthday of Schuyler Colfax, members of the South Bend Common Council, representatives of the Colfax Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, union members, city residents, Historic Preservation members, members of the St. Joseph Lodge 45 of the Free Masons, and concerned citizens gathered at 601 West Colfax Avenue, where Schuyler Colfax once lived in patriot observance of the first observance of "Schuyler Colfax Day"; this year's celebration of Schuyler Colfax then continued to his final resting place in City Cemetery, where he, and his son Schuyler Colfax, Jr. who was the 11th Mayor of the City of South Bend serving from 1899 -1902, and other family members are buried; and ill �Pr this year's celebration was dampened by seeing first -hand the overall condition of City Cemetery which has far too many neglected and broken headstones many of which have weathered into anonymity, a place which has repeatedly become the target for vandals with well over one hundred grave markers pushed over and damaged resulting in significantly hurting our rich City's history; and since March, spirited discussions have taken place with regard to developing a collaborative approach and partnerships to making the preservation and maintenance of historic City Cemetery a top priority so that its rich history and the thousands buried there is continued for future generations. It was noted that in 2011, there was a Veterans Day Tour of City Cemetery led by the