HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-11-18 Residential Neighborhoods (2nd District Bus Tour) 4 SOUTH h
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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK
RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS AUGUST 11, 2018 12:00 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Jo M. Broden, Regina Williams-Preston, John Voorde
Committee Members Absent: Karen White
Other Council Present: Sharon L. McBride, Tim Scott
Other Council Absent: Oliver Davis, Gavin Ferlic, Jake Teshka
Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer, Casey Colvin, Gabriel Murei,
Elivet Navarro
Agenda: Second (2nd) District Bus Tour
Vice Committee Chair Jo M. Broden called to order the Residential Neighborhoods Committee
meeting at 12:00 p.m.Vice Committee Chair Broden stated,I want to thank you all for committing
to this tour of the second(2nd) district. Karen White has a funeral to attend and unfortunately will
not be able to attend. These meetings started as an effort to get out in the community and see these
areas for ourselves. She then introduced members of the Committee, Council and Clerk's Office
and gave the floor to Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston.
Second (2nd) District Bus Tour
Committeemember Regina Williams-Preston stated, Welcome, everyone. This is exciting. Today,
overall, is the celebration of neighbors engaging with City Government. You may have received a
packet as it will serve as our guide for the tour today. If you are with someone, please share. She
then handed out copies of the aforementioned document which is available in the City Clerk's
Office. She continued, We will be touring the entire district so this will kind of be a drive by tour.
As we move into different neighborhoods, I've asked neighbors speak to what they are doing in
their neighborhood. One (1) thing I have been wanting to do as a Council Member is to kind of
reengage with the neighborhoods and bring residents of district two (2) into the downtown. We
should really be proud of what has gone on downtown. In the handout, in the very beginning of
the agenda, I wanted to share some things. For me,the past few years I have really been focusing
on working intentionally and being strategic. That kind of action is what really brings about
progress. We are also trying to connect neighbors with City resources so they can get done what
they need to get done. I want to do a little shout out to the Far North West Neighbors. They aren't
in my district but that is kind of where I came into this area of politics. I was organizing at a
neighborhood association level.
The tour consisted of the bus traveling through the Second(2nd)District on a planned route. Below
are comments made and discussed during the tour,broken down by direction.
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Lincoln Way West to Olive
-Back in the day, African Americans were red lined and not allowed to buy homes
anywhere north of Lincoln Way.
-"Better Homes of South Bend" was organized to break that color barrier.
-WUBS is a radio station that means a lot to the Black community.
-Charles Martin Youth Center is located on Lincoln Way and it is a great resource for the
neighborhood. This ye the 100 Black Men will open offices there. Charles Martin Sr.
focused on getting kids into school by having them take their SATs and ACTS.
-The City is putting $2 million into the Charles Martin Sr. and Lincoln Way West
intersection. In the packet (available in the City Clerk's Office) is a map of the Lincoln
Way West Plan. Development started in the downtown and is working out by what are
called nodes.
-The City is determined to make this community walkable and bikeable.
-This is an area that is very ripe for development. The old brewery building is getting
repurposed to become a low-to-middle income housing development as part of phase two
(2) of the Historic Lincoln Way West Homes. One (1) of the goals is development without
displacement and this helps with that.
-Sunrise Cafe is a jewel of Lincoln Way.
-Neighbors in this area are very engaged. Consuella's Tax Accounting is a staple of the
area. She has a vision that is all about looking at the intersection of Lincoln Way and Olive.
This place is a food desert and neighbors are engaging to demand development that they
want to see. The City hasn't done much to look at a residential grocery store but neighbors
are considering a cooperative solution as a possibility, as well.
Vassar(Olive to Diamond to Portage)
-Mutual Homes has sites scattered in this area and they intend to build low-income family
dwellings.
-One (1) of the first African American surgeons had a home in this area.
-Homes are in disrepair and families are living in these homes. There is about $650,000
targeted to three (3) neighborhoods as a pilot for home repair. This neighborhood is one
(1) of those neighborhoods.
-There are a lot of folks that want to start businesses in their homes because they don't have
the knowledge or the resources to take it to the next level.
-Holy Cross School and Muessel Grove are two (2)jewels of this area.
-Diamond is a very important street for our community as it is a main connector to Notre
Dame. Some homes have been renovated and some still need a little work.
Elwood (Portage to Goodland)
-Martin's changed their name to Portage Meat & Market. There are a lot of ideas for this
area. There are thoughts of using this center to have an open market for all the different
businesses in the area.
-Drewry's Brewery is located in this area and there are a lot of questions surrounding the
future of the building and the site.
-Pastors in this area have come together and have said we need to do more to engage the
community. We want to reduce the violence and we will do that by standing together,
praying and having things to do for kids.
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-On the back of the handout there is a map of Munchie Mart Convenience Stores. We have
a little contest today to look for all of the Munchie Marts in our area. I will be taking
comments and commentary later on.
-LaSalle Academy is located in this area and is the premier intermediate academy for South
Bend Community Schools. Kennedy Academy is the premier primary center for South
Bend Community Schools and is also located in this area. This is a clear indication that
things are changing on our side of town.
-There has been a rise in litter and there are residents that have declared a war on litter. If
we all do a little bit, we can get a lot done.
Bendix (Lincoln Way West to Orange)
-Lincoln Way is truly a major corridor to South Bend and if we want to see development
that we want, we have to be vocal about it.
-Linda Wolfson, 809 Park Avenue, stated, LaSalle Square, as many people may know or
remember, was once a thriving commercial area. It had many different establishments but
one (1) important one(1)was a full grocery store. It no longer has, and still does not have,
a full grocery store. By about 2006 it was pretty devastated. The Apostolic Church had
done improvements,there was a Chinese Restaurant that was still here,St.Vincent' DePaul
was still here but more or less everyone had to start going everywhere else for their
groceries, cleaning and anything else. 2006 was the first (ls) of two (2) times that they
tried to close the library here. Both of those efforts were unsuccessful because there was a
giant community effort to save it. There was a group of people that included residents,
businesses, non-profits and others, who rallied and who were active in that. There was a
LaSalle Square cooperative. At that time,the Community Forum was formed and we were
really interested in how the City spends money. Also at that time, suburbia was going up
and people thought this could have been a new city, almost. People were floating the idea
of using Airport TIF money. There were then questions about extending TIF money to the
north and also the south to Lincoln Way. We eventually won but there was a caveat.
Though it was true LaSalle Square was now in the TIF District, so was the Studebaker
Corridor. It is hard to argue against developing the Studebaker Corridor but it was Karen
White that fought to say we won't forget you. $2.5 million at least will be spent in LaSalle
Square. It has been quite some time. We had a consultant,we had a neighborhood plan that
is sitting on a shelf somewhere, and what we do have is a new senior housing facility, St.
Vincent DePaul is now a charter school and we have community gardens.But we still don't
have the things we need that were in that plan. We don't have a grocery store and we don't
have a place to get your clothes cleaned.
-Marty Wolfson, 809 Park Avenue, stated, Richard Collins is the head of the Ardmore
Neighborhood Association and there are really two (2)issues here with regard to the South
Shore. There was originally a plan to have the South Shore go directly through a
neighborhood.That was designed to save ten(10)minutes off the trip to Chicago.This was
combined with the double tracking effort. Many of those homes were going to be lost, the
Ardmore neighborhoods got together and stopped that idea. I think that idea is now off the
table and now the question is where else could the station go. The City put out a bid for a
study on that. In the packet you can see the four(4)proposed relocated sites. One(1) is the
South Bend Chocolate Factory,the second(2°d)is here by Honeywell,the third(3rd)would
repurpose the old Amtrak Station and the fourth (4th) would be to bring it downtown. I
would like to point out a consideration that I think should be taken into effect when that
decision is being made. That consideration is to refer to the recent Radical Wealth
Inequality Study that was done by Prosperity Now for the City of South Bend. I would like
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to quote a sentence from that report. "The City of South Bend works to strengthening the
economic well-being of all residents by advancing Indiana's fourth (4th) largest city into
the twenty-first (21St) century economy. It is important that racial economic equity is a
frame used in all facets in future economic development planning to ensure the racial divide
of past is not continued into the future." I think the relevance of that for the South Shore
relocation decision is that, potentially putting it at Honeywell right next to LaSalle square
could do much more for the development of the whole area around here. It would do much
to address the racial wealth divide.
Linden(Olive to Wilbur)
-Fire Station Number Four(4) is new to the area. They have committed to green space and
they are building a walking track and maybe a playground.
-This area has also been a recent area where Munchie Marts have popped up and they are
hubs for crime and violence.
-This area was also hardest hit with the 1000 Homes in 1000 Days program. There is a lot
of concern about that. People started to take note and get engaged. However, these vacant
lots are an opportunity. The theme has been for neighbors to drive development in their
neighborhood.
-Overgrown lots have been a problem but the City has been doing a much better job at
keeping the lots cut. There is a group called Greater Impact that employs youth to cut
lawns. The mentor for the business also has the youth run the books and do the business.
-Jasmine Brown, 230 Sadie Street, stated, If you look out your window to the right hand
side, the last house on the left is my house. To give a little background about me, I have
lived there about ten(10)years now. My grandmother moved here from Arkansas to make
sure her family got out of poverty. She lived here and passed away and her house went into
foreclosure. This house was about to be lost from generations for us. My parents and I
decided we needed to keep it in the family. At that point, my children and I moved in and
we began working to save the home. We spent money, not the City's money, but money I
had saved over a decade. The roof had animals living in it. My son had a hole in his wall
that he could see raccoons living in. We didn't know the City's programs. I make less than
$25,000 a year and I am a single mom of three (3) children. We got together with a couple
of friends and we worked on that roof ourselves. I say that to say people in this community
are vested here and there is a purpose to live here. We want the City to know that people
over here care. Does my house look the best? Absolutely not. It needs a little love, but
because of this program for the City, it might help me. I'm a straight shooter and I don't
hold back. The Fire Station just came up behind us and I went down to talk with the Fire
Fighters and for the first time I realized that they are my neighbors. They spend a third of
their lives here. They see the same things I do and they stay here because they love the job.
I got to talking to them and they found out I needed a smoke alarm. Within two (2) hours,
four (4) Fire Fighters showed up to my house and installed the fire alarms. That's how
much they care about this community. Across the street from my house is a known drug
dealer. I've known about him for years. Thirty (30) cars hit his house an hour. I see kids
inside the house. He is on house arrest. I've been to the Council, I've been to the Police,
I've been to State Police and I've been to the Mayor's Office, I am not getting any resolve.
The other districts don't have to live like that, and neither do we. We care about our
community too. I believe the Administration will fight to change South Bend. Though they
have divested,we have not. We have ideas and land. This used to be the African American
Mecca over here. We want it to return and we want everybody to be a part of this. This
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Inclusion Workshop. That will bring together a lot of different perspectives of the
neighborhood. That is next Saturday,August 18th,2018 at the Civil Rights Heritage Center
from 9:00 a.m.until 1:00 p.m.It will be a workshop lead by Eric Love. It is free to residents
here on the Near West Side and Kennedy Park. We hope it helps increase the
communication.The Neighborhoods Resource Connection has given a grant of$1,000 that
will help do things for free.
-St. Augustine's is a historic black church located on the West Side.
-Royal Adhesive and Sealant is a multimillion dollar international company located right
here in South Bend.
Rail Road Crossing at Meade/Bendix
-The neighbors have been complaining about this railroad track for a while. Residents have
said it messes up their cars. This crossing has been an expressed priority for paving and is
hoping to be paved in the near future.
-There has been some confusion and discussion about who is responsible for the litter along
the tracks.
Linden(Kaley to Chicago)
-Sharon Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, stated, Back here is Beck's Lake. It is all green right
now but during the winter, this is a manmade landfill. There are appliances, furniture,
probably dead bodies back there. It needs to be cleaned. It looks nice but it is all illegal
dumping. We need to do something.
West Washington(Chicago to Kaley)
-Stacy Odom, 212 South Iowa Street, stated, In the 1940s when black people moved to
South Bend, they weren't allow to live anywhere but the lake. And the reason they called
it a lake is because it was literally a lake. It was a dump and a lake. They filled it in so black
people could live there. A few years ago,the City of South Bend came through and thought
it would be a good idea to take all the homes from Falcon to Meade and turn them into a
soccer field/sports stadium and condominium. So ever since then, we have been fighting
to keep this land. I created Odom's Developmental Corporation. We have been acquiring
empty lots so we can build. We are getting funding and volunteers so we can keep legacy
residents in the area and eliminate gentrification.
Western(Kaley to Summit)
-Many businesses have been here for a while but there has been a change. The City made
access to fagade grants and it made a big difference.
-Harrison Primary is on Western.
-Munchie Marts and Dollar Stores have been a source of litter.
Western(Mayflower to Olive)
-There are also many auto care stores on Western.It is not to speak ill of the whole industry,
but they tend to take advantage of the lack of income and poor credit. The car is the most
important thing to get to work and there needs to be a place to fix it. There is a need for
more intentional development.
Western(Olive to Chapin)
-Munchie Marts actually price gauge. At the counter you kind of negotiate your price.
Sometimes it can be five dollars ($5) for a gallon of milk.
-Councilmember Karen White has spearheaded an initiative called Not In Our Community
to focus on the illegal sale of synthetic marijuana. It's goal is to hold these Munchie Marts
accountable for selling this substance.The Council just passed an ordinance to address this.
-Pentecostal Church, the KROC Center, the Elks Lodge are just a few jewels on the West
Side.
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neighborhood is lit up on weekends. Trash is left everywhere and we are left to deal with
it.
-Kennedy Neighborhood Association is in the area and is doing fantastic things.
King Center, 1522 W. Linden
-One (1) of the brightest jewels of the City.
-These new sidewalks help connect parts of the City and are a part of the TIF District now.
-There was a picnic happening this day and,therefore:
Committeemember John Voorde made a motion to recess and reconvene after attending the picnic
for refreshments. Committeemember Williams-Preston seconded this motion which carried by a
voice vote of three ayes. The Committee recessed at 1:10 p.m.
Vice Committee Chair Broden reconvened the Residential Neighborhoods Committee meeting at
1:28 p.m.
Walnut (Linden to Washington)
-There are a lot of vacant lots and those are all opportunities.
-There are also a lot of historic businesses in this area.
-The City Cemetery is located in this area. There are plan s for the expansion of the City
Cemetery. They are doing a lot of work on it.
Washington(Walnut to Laurel to Jefferson)
-The Civil Rights Heritage Center and the Indiana History Center are in this area and are
considered jewels to the area.
Jefferson(Laurel to Walnut)
-Megyn Edmonson, 1102 E. Jefferson Blvd, stated, So this area (referencing the scenery
outside the parked bus) all the way to that alley is our entire park. My husband and I have
been living here for seventeen (17) years. We have noticed a lack of a landscaped green
space. We acquired our first(1St) lot at tax sale, and then there were five (5). When the last
tenants went out of the derelict property, we hopped on it. The City Engineers allowed us
to have a curved sidewalk and we are thankful for that. There are a lot of vacant lots and it
is not easy,but Regina has made it a lot easier for us. I tried for a long time to get anything
from the City.A lot of it has been made possible by neighbors help.Now we are recognized
as a park and we are getting more resources. We are now trying to get more engaged with
other neighborhood groups. Across the street from our park is a construction site. We took
down a lot of trees and we started having bonfires and dinners with neighbors. We have
emerged as the Near West Side Neighborhood organization.
West Washington (Walnut to Bendix)
-There is a lot of wonderful renovation coming back with the beautiful homes in this area
-Michael Pippenger, 920 W. Washington, stated, As Megyn mentioned, at first (1St) it was
just a social gathering of neighbors coming to help but we realized we needed to be more
organized. My wife and I moved to South Bend about two (2) years ago and we lived on
the corner of W. Washington and Laurel, but when we first (1St) started coming to
neighborhood meetings, there were maybe only five (5) people at any given meeting. One
(1) of the things we talked about was how to use the neighborhood association to help
continue developing the neighborhood. We wanted to make sure that no matter how long
we were there, we weren't leaving people out or red lining them. We started to invite
neighbors to the meetings and we started working with our friends in Kennedy Park helping
them secure the space that they have. Next Saturday we are having a Diversity and
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-Many residents are upset with how expensive the KROC Center membership is. They do
have some scholarships. It is a real problem when there is something that nice and beautiful
and kids just look on. It used to be Oliver Park and now it is a facility with prices that lock
our kids out.
Chapin (Western to Indiana)
-One (1) of the possible solutions to homelessness is the concept of housing-first (1St).
There was a facility built for this concept. It was the old Oliver School. What makes that
different is in stabilizing their home, first (1S), they can then begin to address their
addiction. The City Administration will be giving a more thorough update at the Monday,
August 13th 2018 meeting of the Common Council.
Indiana(Chapin to Lafayette)
-DTSB hired a liaison for homelessness.
Lafayette (Indiana to South)
-The Renaissance District is repurposing the old Studebaker building as we get into our
downtown.
-Four Winds Field is a jewel to the City.
-Union Station is a possible destination for bringing the South Shore down town.
South(Lafayette to Lincoln Way East)
-Ms. Odom stated, I am one (1) of the few people who are blessed enough to have two (2)
neighborhoods. I purchased a home in Monroe Park and didn't know anything about a
demolition list. We are in a historical area. We are having our neighborhood association
meeting this weekend. We are making sure to help neighbors keep their yard up. When you
get fined they go to your taxes and when you go to pay your taxes, you may not have a
home. We help people keep their lawns up so they don't lose their homes.
Lincoln Way East (South to Bronson)
-When the City heard about Odom's Development model, they are moving forward with
applying for grants. They recently won one (1) called Love Your Block. There will be
volunteers that teach homeowners the skills to keep up their own homes.
Studebaker Plaza
-There was a festival to celebrate collaboration and neighborhood partnerships when the
residents got off the bus.
With no further business,Vice Committee Chair Broden adjourned the Residential Neighborhoods
Committee meeting at 2:37 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jo . roden, Vice Committee Chair
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