05-09-16 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING May 9, 2016 expressed his delight that she agreed to join the City. The Mayor invited Ms. Brooks to introduce herself formally to the Council Christina Brooks, 17970 Buckland Dr., expressed her excitement and joy about joining the City of South Bend and all the wonderful team members this City has assembled. She wanted to make sure the Council is aware that she is very committed to making sure the Executive Order which was issued in January is at the top of her priority list and has been actively meeting with several departments and leadership across the City already. She hopes to have good early indicators of results to report back to the Council shortly. Ms. Brooks provided the Council a brief overview of her history in the area which began in 1988 when she attended the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate and then came back to South Bend about twelve (12) years ago. She is raising her five (5) children here in South Bend and hopes to push forward the importance of inclusion in the City. The Mayor also highlighted that he had the pleasure of being a part of a wheelchair basketball game and he wanted to make everyone aware that there is a wheelchair basketball league in South Bend. They meet every Wednesday in the Memorial Health and Life Style Center. A number of City employees, including Council President Tim Scott, was on the Mayor's team and unfortunately they were defeated badly by the River City Rollers but it was an uplifting experience. There are Vietnam Veterans who helped get the whole program started and a broad range of other people participating even someone as young as a ten (10) year old boy. Their spirit was truly inspiring and a reminder in all the different ways in which inclusion matters in making sure that we are including people of all abilities. Inclusion is also one of the reasons the Administration considered it important to establish Downtown Wi -Fi and in the immediate Downtown area people can log on using the wifi network SBOurGuest. We are at a time where everything from personal financial management to getting school work done depends on getting online. This is an effort that can bridge that gap for some people who do not currently have easy access to the web. It would not have been possible without a partnership from the Community Foundation, a number of private donors and the St. Joseph County Library who made a grant available to the City that they had applied for and received. Now that the infrastructure is available there may be opportunities to expand it beyond the immediate area. The Mayor highlighted the Rise Up Academy, a program which helps people who have reached the end of the line in terms of expulsions and suspensions from school and are getting one (1) more chance. Also, it was an honor to be on hand for the United Religious Community Prayer Breakfast which reminds us that every different community of faith has something to offer here in South Bend. The City also saw a number of presidential campaign visits over the previous weeks from all four (4) of the major campaigns. These visits will have an impact on our budgets and the preliminary numbers so far look like the cost will be around $40,251 in overtime for the Police. There will also be overtime hours needed to be paid for the Fire Department and Streets and Public Works Department as well. Once the numbers are finalized, the Administration will provide them to the Council ` South Bend was included in a trip organized by the Department of Transportation earlier in April, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation invited three (3) mayors to accompany him on site visits in Europe to see how streets are made in the complete streets style or Smart Streets as we are calling them in South Bend. Those cites were Portland, Austin and South Bend and we certainly appreciated being included in that delegation. In Amsterdam, there was already some knowledge and praise for what South Bend is doing and we are continuing to develop a good reputation even globally for some of the steps we are taking which would not have been possible without the support from this Council. The Mayor also informed the Council that May 17th 2016 will be an important day for the Smart Streets project as the Bartlett and Marion intersections on Michigan will go offline for the summer. This will not be an easy thing to manage and in order to mitigate those negative effects, we are doing whatever we can to keep everyone informed. There is a Smart Streets website offering real time updates as well as a newsletter going out to residents. The contract mechanism 2