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SPECIAL MEETING OCTOBER 30, 2013
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<br />people are doing this to help South Bend and all of these value based decisions are going to be
<br />made. Let’s be honest we are adults now, if you want to make a profit, just say that’s what you
<br />are doing making a profit. And, that’s just what you say, I mean just be honest. If you are going
<br />to be you know a philanthropist, well say that as well. If that is the case, then pay for the streets
<br />on your own. But I want to make sure that we’re clear here as to what we are going to do with
<br />this city, and not smoke screen it, and put people in a position to make a decision based upon
<br />time or the unwillingness of certain individuals. South Bend does need to move forward I
<br />believe it; I want to see it happen. I think that we all will be happy to see it happen. But it needs
<br />to be responsible, it has to be responsible, and we cannot not include the folks that live in the
<br />neighborhoods, not in the immediate area, but outlying areas, it’s a community of 100,000 folks
<br />and some of the folks that are here I don’t know if everybody lives in South Bend, but this
<br />represents a small very, very, very small percentage of folks that are living in South Bend,
<br />Indiana. We can go on down from seniors all the way down to infants, we can go from black, we
<br />can go from white, we can talk about legacy, we can talk about Hispanic culture, we can talk
<br />about being Hungarian, we can talk about all those things, but our focus is and has to be to
<br />remain true we need to make sure that the people of South Bend, the people of South Bend, are
<br />getting the gain out of any and every project that we are doing. And, I digress.
<br />Councilmember Tim Scott: Thank you Chairperson White. And thank you Dr. Dave Varner for
<br />guiding us down this path and bringing it home. I also want to thank the Administration. All the
<br />citizens in South Bend, I have lived in other communities where you don’t get the reaction and
<br />the response like you do in South Bend. For me, this is my first term, I noticed it during the
<br />campaign, I noticed it since then, I like that about South Bend. I also like the fact so many
<br />members of my community, my district, has chimed in on this, and they are excited, the
<br />anticipation. For the budget, for the two-way streets, we talk about improving in moving South
<br />Bend, well it starts here, and it starts now. Councilmember Oliver Davis, I understand the past,
<br />and there are a lot of things that I could not control at the time, because I wasn’t on Council on
<br />what happened in the past. What I can do is look at is our term and tenure now in going forward.
<br />And while we are here we don’t want the actions of the past or what has happened in the past to
<br />happen on our watch. I’m committed to helping anybody on this Council that commitments be
<br />made and kept. But it is an exciting time, something we all talked about, something that I ran on,
<br />walking distance in downtown is where we live and people want to see change and it starts now.
<br />And, I think that this is a good program, talked to Ian Blackwood several times, participated in
<br />the workshops and charrettes and Councilman Dieter, Lockwood, yeah okay, thank you. And,
<br />Councilman Dieter there is a lot of input from the NNN and Chapin Park Area on this matter on
<br />both sides and I commend the administration for reaching out to those people and making sure
<br />that they are being heard and things are going to go the right way. As I said in the past, Leeper
<br />Park, you know it’s a very historic park, and I truly believe that we can have historic
<br />preservation but make improvements and make improvements for the better for us. I don’t think
<br />that the park was intended to be designed with a chain link fence and asphalt around a duck
<br />pond. I really think that we can make improvements and it starts here. I am excited about
<br />starting now having jobs in South Bend, having construction on this project for two-ways and
<br />moving forward.
<br />Chairperson White: I would like to as well thank the Councilmembers we have spent a lot of
<br />time together during the eighteen meetings that we have had and various conversations and just
<br />going over the information that the Administration has submitted to us. I would like to
<br />personally thank the Mayor and his Administration. I have been on the Council for quite some
<br />time and I just reflected on some of the previous budget processes that we have had. And, when
<br />we started this budget process the Mayor and the Administration had identified, if I’m not
<br />mistaken twelve or thirteen priorities. It was at that time that I indicated that you need to
<br />prioritize those priorities. Throughout the budget process the Administration has been very
<br />flexible with the Council, this is the first time that I have been on the Council that our priorities
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