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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-26-19 Residential Neighborhoods �SpUTH g � U `:1 C r PEACE • x 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOODS August 26, 2019 3:56 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Jo M. Broden, Regina Williams-Preston, Sharon M. McBride Committee Members Absent: None Other Council Present: John Voorde, Tim Scott, Dr. Oliver Davis, Gavin Ferlic, Jake Teshka Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Dawn Jones, Lisa Horton, Bob Palmer, Bianca Tirado Presenters: Ms. Aldridge Agenda: Welcome and Introductions Bill No. 27-19 Ordinance Amending Youth Council Update: Western Manor Apartments, Councilmember Dr. Oliver Davis Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Residential Neighborhoods Committee meeting at 3:56 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Bill No. 27-19 Ordinance Amending Youth Council Ms. Aldridge, Director of Engagement and Economic Empowerment for the City of South Bend with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building. In front of you, you have a second substitute bill amending your Youth Council ordinance which was initiated by co-sponsor Councilmember White in 2003 along with Charlotte Pfeiffer and then amended once more in 2007. So, today we're looking to amend this ordinance once more and also invite the NRC to the table as a partner and operations partner. So, the handout that you have in front of you that is blue with three buckets there on the back also highlights what this collaboration looks like. Who is in charge of what and some of that is outlined pretty broadly in the Ordinance as well. So, those are the amendments that we'll look to change here. This program will be a year long academic program which if we get your vote today, we will put out a press release tomorrow that we have a Youth Council and invite people to start applying. Your first initial contact, and if you look in the back of your packet, you'll see I've highlighted some of the opportunities that you might see as an opportunity to join us as a mentor, which is also highlighted in the ordinance of what your role would be here. So, one of the first engagements is just swearing these youth in as Councilmembers INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN - -- - BIANCA L.TIRADO - - - JOSEPH R.MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERIC EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 I t 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK which we will do formally at the NRC's and the City of South Bend's first annual Neighborhood Summit which is going to be held at IUSB. That will be happening on October 19, 2019. So, that is the day that we will be swearing these kids in officially and moving into the curriculum and leadership development piece of it which is going to be a lot of fun and we're really looking forward to it. The front sheet in blue is where we tried to highlight as well how this also connects to standing youth programing that the NRC offers. So, the NRC already runs a Youth Empowerment Program that is civically sort of motivated. We hope to recruit from that program as a base. It's a very neighborhood focused program so also giving them a pipeline. So, into this Youth Council and then into the Mayor's Youth Task Force which has a very specific focus in violence and has garnered some real national attentions with their advocacy efforts. So, our program is really neighborhood based and very local based with issues that you can impact as a Councilmember as this ordinance gives them the authority to be. When you get to sort of the national level with our Youth Council that's broader, but as advocates for issues that we're experiencing in out community that really are a national level policy leverage. So, we're hoping to really just create a pipeline here. This is a fun time for our City in a sense of civic engagement and following Pete. Hopefully kids in the City can really start to see themselves as public servants. That's what we're trying to encourage. Committee Chair Karen White asked, Do you want to share that each Council person will be able to make a recommendation in regards to membership on the Youth Council and that's how the Council would be involved? When the Youth Council first originated, that each Council person would make a recommendation in regard to a youth that they would like to see be a member of the Youth Council as well as work very closely with the schools. So,what you see here is three entities working together, but mission, scope and responsibilities are completely articulated in the ordinance. Most of you should have received a copy of the draft that I emailed probably about a month ago and now you have the second substitute,right? Most of the changes is changing it from Committee and making sure that the language is consistent throughout. Committee Chair White then opened the floor to questions and comments from Committee and Council Members. Committeemember Jo M. Broden stated, First of all,this is just terrific. I think it's really great. It's good to see how you are awakening this again, and then just amplifying I think for affect and for impact. I'm wondering if it would be helpful, and I don't necessarily think some of the suggestions impact the ordinance, but added a pre-application training that would actually be kind of a call to area youth and also be a signal to all of out referral entities that your have identified already to say basically, this is coming up. Here's a training you'll want to get an inside scope of how to put together a strong application. I think what would also be advantageous relative to some of our other meetings in the community is that we have strongly heard about an interest in that type of programing relative to jobs within the City of South Bend and specifically summer job opportunities. So,maybe we could hit two birds with one stone and sort of say basic pre-application and instruction education event. Then I think I love all the partnerships that we're asking to disseminate this information, but I just want to make sure that we have adequate lead up time for stuff to go to those partners, but then I think most importantly extend out through families, guardians and kind of the network of communication pieces that are within our South Bend schools or within our churches. Some of those publications and communication devices are on a weekly basis, but some of the ones that are broader and bigger are on a monthly level. So, I just want to make sure that we have adequate of enough time. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574 235 9173 I I U574.235 5567 www.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committeemember Jo M. Broden continued by asking, Is the orientation piece of this similar to what we get as Council which is embedded in sort of a summit? Will this be on an annual basis? Ms. Aldridge replied, It may not always be at the Summit, but this year it just made a good connection. They will annual get orientation. Committeemember Jo M. Broden followed up by asking, I did not see the topic of the budget in here and I'm assuming that's going to be part of the orientation, but there's nothing like being a part of that process at some level as almost a mandatory meeting. I know that quarterly we get an opportunity to tweak sort of those budgets that are set for the year. I would encourage not one (1) neighborhood associations meeting,but two(2),and one(1)that is in a completely different district than your own or that you reside in. Because I think there's different experiences unfortunately across our City, and I think the better that we connect people at a very young age to those experiences at a neighborhood level all the better. I think in section two twelve (212) there's an item D that says newsletters and other means of community with youth. Do we want that to say communication? Ms. Aldridge replied, Yes. Committeemember Jo M. Broden replied, Ok good. Committeemember Jo M. Broden continued by stating, Again, sort of another accent topic that I wondering about, and I see there's pretty expansive language here where you said including, but not limited to, but I guess that I would argue maybe for an either health and wellbeing kind of component specifically addressed in this area given our high suicide rate, the lead poisoning issue that is already a vert strong push within our school system, that we actually incorporate that language. Then I think in terms of the liaison I would just actually build in just for staying power if you would an authority, but I would consider adding a Vice Chair and/or the Council Vice President as individuals that could also work with this group I know that Council President is very busy, but that position could be a way to pull people in. Committee Chair Karen White stated, During our.neighborhood townhall meeting we heard consistently about the need to engage our youth,and all youth. Not just the ones that typically need help, but we need to make sure that we have that level of diversity at all levels. So, we will work real closely with that as well. Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, Given the tight time line for this year's cohort, assuming it passes tonight would you be posting all of that information to get it out and share it with all of the districts. Ms. Aldridge replied, Yes, we're ready to go. We actually pushed it back for two weeks so that we're ready to get the information out, and I want to make sure that this evening we are asking for a third(31'1) substitute because of the corrections that need to be made. Committee Chair Karen White stated, Also, Councilmembers you can start giving some thought to who you would like to make a recommendation to, and then they need to fill out the application which will be located in the Clerk's Office. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 1TD574.235.5567 e wi.southbendin.gov 3 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Ms. Aldridge stated,To answer some of the questions that I will amend in the third(3rd) substitute as to which points you want to be more specific. We're going to recruit directly with the schools and directly through the neighborhood associations and directly from Alumni students. So, a lot of those students have actually landed in the Youth Task Force already. That's one opportunity to recruit from as well. We've spoken with the schools so we're being super intentional. Diversity is really sort of the heart of what we're trying to do here as well. Committee Chair White then reopened the floor to questions and comments from Committee and Council Members. There were none. There were none. She then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak. Judy Fox with the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center located at 725 Howard Street, South Bend, IN stated, Very quickly just wanted to let you know that we work regularly creating training sessions with the Mishawaka Council so we definitely be interested in assisting this as well. Seeing no one else from the public wishing to speak in favor or against substitute Bill No. 27-19 Ordinance Amending Youth Council, Committee Chair Karen White asked the Committee what their pleasure would be for substitute Bill No. 27-19 Ordinance Amending Youth Council. Committeemember Sharon L. McBride made a motion to send substitute Bill No. 27-19 Ordinance Amending Youth Council to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Jo M. Broden seconded the motion and it was carried with a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Update: Western Manor Apartments, Councilmember Dr. Oliver Davis Councilmember Dr. Oliver Davis stated, As you all know, we've had three (3) meetings with our residents who live in Western Manor. I'd like to thank attorney Judy Fox who is here and will give us an update, and we have Mr. Rodney Gatson who has also been appointed by the tenants to help. Judy Fox with the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center located at 725 Howard Street, South Bend, IN stated, So, I am not exaggerating when I say that we have a humanitarian crisis here. We have a hundred families. It is very clear that the apartment complex intends to throw all of them out one way or the other. Even though they are paying the rent they are making everyone reapply and pay a new deposit even though they have an old deposit somewhere on record that apparently the apartment complex says they can't find. Pretty much everyone that I've been able to talk to who has reapplied has been denied. I've been in personal contact with over fifty (50) families. The second crisis is that everybody has to get utilities such as the electricity in their own name by September 1,2019.These are folks who haven't had utilities in their names sometimes for decades so there are often very large deposits that have to be paid as well as the rent increase. I am working with Real Services and Catholic Charities and St Vincent De Paul.We have gotten to State to agree to emergency funds so we think that we can cover the utilities.We're going to have an event where Real Services is going to be at the library on Lombardy Street on Wednesday with their laptops to take applications in order to get everybody signed up with utilities, but that's not going to solve the whole problem. The problem is going to fall on the City. The City doesn't have much control over the fact that this landlord's attitude is,and this is a paraphrase,but I'm in there to make money and I don't care what happens to these people.The City is going to face the burden of what's going to happen with all these people, and there are no units available. We have been trying to rehouse EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson BvId South Bend.Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 vvvruv.southbendin.goy 4 CITY OF SOUTH,BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK people for three (3) weeks. It's kept me up at night. I don't know if the City can put any pressure on them to slow down and let us try to work with some of these folks. The second problem that we're having is with quite frankly is with the Housing Authority because a lot of these folks if they're on section eight (8) they need to get their section eight (8) updated with the new rental amounts and as is a typical story they are not answering the phones. In fact, their message says don't call us email us,but our clients don't have that ability and so that's a secondary problem that we've got. We're doing what we can to soften the blow, but I think the blow is coming for an awful lot of families.We're helping the Tenants Association incorporate,but we need quite frankly some more pressure on this owner to be human. Mr. Rodney Gatson stated,The problem is that you have people that live there. I've been there and Channel sixteen (16) News was there with me, and we're looking over the housing division (I've been in ten (10) different units), and they have everything from lead paint to plumbing problems. They say that Code Enforcement has been out there. They haven't had any feedback from Code Enforcement to enforce these issues that are prevalent that were shown to them and so that's one problem. The second problem is there are no updates, fixing anything or maintenance, and the maintenance has been very slow. There has even been a pipe burst from the top level of the apartment all the way to the bottom. We were there to see it and that got news coverage with the problems happening with the plumbing problems, happening with mold, happening with lead- based paint. These are inhumane living conditions. Now, what we're trying to do is we have been organizing. Like the Councilmember said, we have been having meetings, organized meetings to organize ourselves as an association, to come on out there and say hey look we need community leaders and etcetera to actually be servants that you were called to be. To come out and actually see our problem, meet with us and come up with solutions. Time is not on there side. Saturday, I watched fifteen (15) cars leave the residence. They were on the news. Now, with that being said, I'm looking at others trying to fight. For the seniors that are there it's horrific.There's no handicap access anywhere to be found. Mr. Gatson continued with stating, So, I say to myself, we're not accommodating to single families, we're not accommodating to seniors, we're not accommodating to handicap people. I'm not going to even put race in there because that's going to be a whole new can of worms. We can't be human enough to have good living conditions? That's not right and it definitely isn't fair to raise rent and to raise utilities. So, I've been canvasing asking the community to come out to the Thursday meeting that we have. We have two (2) meetings. In one meeting we're trying to meet with Real Services as Judy Fox mentioned at 1:30 p.m. in order to get the information out there so the tenants can at least get help with the utilities.There's money there,but they also have to qualify and there is a list of qualifications that the tenants will have to meet. We will have a Thursday meeting and I have included the Police Department and I know that our Councilmember has been there from the very beginning of the struggle, but we need more of you to show up as well. You need to see this hand for yourself. If you see it I believe that you will become more passionate in getting help for these people. Ms. Fox replied, I did meet with Code Enforcement on this, and one of the issues with Code Enforcement is that the apartment complexes position is, even though they are increasing everyone's rent they are not letting the current tenant live in the units that will be updated and repaired. So, in other words we're increasing your rent, but we refuse to fix anything in your apartment. They will be starting with one building at a time and will be repairing them, but they are not allowing the current tenants to move back into those. So,the current tenants are paying for EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend.Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 vwaw.southbendin.gov 5 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK the repairs that they are not going to get on their apartments at all. What the owners are telling Code Enforcement is we aren't fixing anything because we're going to do a whole new remodel, but in the meantime, people are still living there, and as previously pointed out, the conditions are really horrible. We are working on getting some mold testing done right now. I've been out there myselfself and I've seen it. Like I said it's nothing less thancrisis.a Mr.Gatson stated, The other thing too with this is that when we talked with the tenants they were willing to be treated fairly. I looked at other apartments that are owned in Indiana and they look nothing like what Western Manor is. They have weight rooms, jacuzzi areas and they look like places that I would want to live in. The new owners of Western Manor have not been very transparent from the very beginning. They have not said here's model. A little transparency and communication would have gone a long way regarding rounding up all of the tenants and saying we will round up the tenants, show you our model, show you own plan and show you our other property. That would have been humane and just. These tenants did not get that type of conversation because the landlord refuses to meet with us. As a matter of a fact, all of the local new networks tried to contact the owners but can't get a hold of them. Our Councilmember himself tried to get to contact the owners but can't get a hold of them. I have reached out to the Mayor's Office as well as Senator Tim Young's Office,but I have not received any response as of yet from either office. So, I ask myself, If I am citizen, tax payer and a resident, what happens to me when the people who are supposed to serve me are not transparent or even there? Now, I thank God for the Council giving us a forum to have this conversation. I thank God for Councilmember Davis and for Judy Fox's tireless efforts,but we need help. We have lost fifteen(15)tenants that I know of(there could be more) out of one hundred two (102) units. Now, there are even more people talking about leaving because they're scared,uninformed and don't know what's going on. I have met with and spoken to the Director of Section Eight(8),Tanya Robinson.When I spoke with her, she stated that they would like to be at our next meeting. As for Section Eight(8), the rent will be covered under the previous contract,but that's not the real issue. Although you may be on Section Eight (8) you still have to put the utilities in your name and pay the deposit. So, who's going to pay all of this? Is Section Eight(8) going to pay it? Section Eight(8) can't put the utilities in their name so someone else must do it. Will there be a voucher program that is going to happen on a card or whatever to be able to subsidize the money for the utilities and housing for these tenants that are on Section Eight(8)? Who's going to do it? Are the former owners going to step back in? Who's going to do it? We need answers. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked, In terms of the current security deposit what are the challenges that you have getting them back? Ms. Fox replied, According to the apartment complex owners (and this is not legal) they have no records after July 1, 2019. So, what they are saying is that if you paid a previous deposit you will have to reapply, and you will get your old deposit back if you can prove that you made it. Well, I have one (1) little old lady who is eight five (85) years old. She's been living there for eighteen 18 years. Doyou think she has a receipt from eighteenyears ago? You also have to paya new ( ) p � g deposit if the new owners decide that you can stay. Frankly, I don't think that the new owners are going to let anyone stay. So,again,there are some legal challenges here.As I have been telling the tenants there might be a fair housing issue here and I get that, but they don't need a ten (10) year law suit. They need a place to live on September 1, 2019. So, I can do all of that, but we have to do something more urgent with all of these folks. A lot of these folks would have been eligible for Section Eight (8) but didn't need it because there were some subsidized units in this place, and EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 1574.235.9173 17-D574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 6 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK also there is a five(5) year waiting list for vouchers. They are starting to file evictions on some of these folks because they cannot put the utilities in their names. If you have an eviction on your record with Section Eight (8) housing, you will lose your Section Eight housing. So, they will never be able to get another place. The Housing Authority didn't have enough time in thirty(30) days to get all of these people through its system especially because as we know,this all fell at the time when the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was visiting the Housing Authority. Committee Chair Karen White stated, Well, we sincerely appreciate you Mr. Gatson, you Mrs. Fox and everyone that has been apart of this. The reason whysome of the Councilmembers were Y not available on Wednesday is because we had a budget meeting schedule. So, I don't want for you to think that we did not want to attend. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, Can you quantify for us the deposits relative to the utility cost meaning what's that sum total. Ms. Fox replied, I have a list of about fifteen (15) to twenty(20) people that I've gotten numbers from, and the deposits have ranged from about seventy-five ($75) dollars to three hundred sixty- six dollarsbeingthehigh. Most of them have been in the two hundred ($200) to three ($366) gh hundred ($300) dollar range. Committeemember Sharon M. McBride asked, Has the Human Rights Commission been involved as well? Mr. Gatson replied, I tried to reach out to the NAACP and Pastor Patton. So far, I have not received a response. I have called their office and gone by the Heritage area and Colfax Center,but they are not in their offices for some reason. I also went to Pastor Patton's church and left him messages to contact me. Committeemember Jo M. Broden stated, Certainly this has happen in other cities. Are there other actions with regard to this type of management change and dereliction of duties, are there other actions that have been affected in other cities? Ms. Fox replied, So, here's your big problem, we have the worst tenant laws in Country. So, a lot of other places you could not do this.You'd have to give more notice. You'd have to have to have cause. It's a long-term thing because we've been trying to get that law changed for years. When we come back around to the session this year, I would love to have all of your voices in there,but that's reallywhat we're facingbecauseyou don't have togive anyreason. You canjust saywe don't want you here. Committee Chair Karen White stated, We'll get together to outline from a Council perspective what we need to be doing. Thank you so much and with no further business, Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 4:36 p.m. Respec Submitted, .Ccs 4-e-n. Kare White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 u 574.235.9221 1574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 7