04-07-10 70% see hopeful economic future for South Bend

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Office of the Mayor NEWS RELEASE April 7, 2010 2 p.m. 70% see hopeful economic future for South Bend Contact: Tom Price, Assistant to the Mayor, 235-9261 or 514-2169 or Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 Nearly 70 percent of South Bend residents expressed optimism about the city’s economic future, according to a recent random-sample survey conducted on behalf of the City of South Bend’s effort to promote economic development. According to the survey, 69.5 percent of residents said they were optimistic or hopeful about South Bend’s economic future. In the survey, 26 percent said they were pessimistic or doubtful about the city’s economic future. The hopeful viewpoint was reinforced in open-ended responses to the question, “What is your opinion about South Bend’s economic future?” Nearly 47 percent responded with clearly positive responses, compared with nearly 31 percent in 2009 at the height of the global economic crisis. Pessimistic responses in 2010 declined to nearly 35 percent, compared with more than 51 percent in 2009. The survey results will be highlighted in a report to the South Bend Redevelopment Commission during its regular meeting at 10 a.m. Friday, April 9, in the County-City th Building’s 13-floor conference room. “These results are an encouraging sign that South Bend residents see hopeful opportunities on the horizon with the opening of Innovation Park at Notre Dame and the preparation for Ignition Park in the former Studebaker Corridor,” said Mayor Stephen J. Luecke. “It reflects greater awareness of our local economy’s transition from manufacturing to more reliance on research and technological innovation.” The survey also showed that a majority of South Bend residents now are aware of the City’s efforts to develop Ignition Park in the former Studebaker Corridor – a jump of 16 percentage points in one year.