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REGULAR MEETING November 23, 2015 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Mario Sims, 608 S. St. Joseph St. - To put a face on this, this is one of our residents, Barbara <br />Smith. She was referred to us by the multi-million dollar operation, Memorial Epworth. They <br />called us because they couldn’t house her and her son. As a part of our intake process, we do a <br />check for warrants. Her son had a warrant and we called the police. We took her in. She is <br />seventy-two (72) years old and had no place to go. We don’t ask for or receive government <br />funds. We do it from private donations. Donations come from police to private organizations. <br />Consider why they called us, a poor church when the hospital can’t help, when people get out of <br />jail with nowhere to go. It’s heartbreaking. Our church is being renovated. It doesn’t even have <br />a central heating system. We are heating using pellet stoves. This is real, these are real people, <br />and if something is not done there will be more. I just wanted to show the face of homelessness. <br />We house everyone. Please help! <br /> <br />Melvin Townsend, 608 S St. Joseph St. - I saw you give away tax abatements so people can <br />redevelop to make more money, but no one offered to donate anything. You profess to know <br />Jesus but have not read Isiah 58:7, where it tells you how to deal with homelessness. Each of <br />you has a park building in your district that’s open at night and you have not offered it to house a <br />human being. I am appalled at each one of you who sit up and give away money to these <br />million-dollar friends and these people around this town are starving and homeless. You got <br />the opportunity to assist Duolos’s Chapel and you do nothing. <br /> <br />Charles Smith, 2023 S. Taylor St.- The clean-up of the Main St. bridge by the train station catty <br />corner from the Transpo Station was some cardboard boxes, a front end loader, a couple police <br />officers, and Director of Code Enforcement Randy Wilkerson. Those who can make an impact <br />have a blind eye and are deaf to humane issues. We have an ordinance for our pets but not for <br />our people. No one deserves to freeze to death. The City should help. I want our city to be <br />known as a caring city. I ask the City to get these people out of the cold. <br /> <br />Jason Banicki, Critchlow, 3822 W. Ford St., South Bend- The year is ending and budget month <br />May returns quickly. We talk about abatements and tight budgets. The circuit breaker is coming <br />where we and other counties will lose the ten percent (10%) that we got. The circuit breaker was <br />a setup so cities & counties could find ways to work together for cost savings. Sometimes we <br />failed, sometimes we didn’t try. There are five (5) of you who will be here next year. Start to <br />th <br />put pressure on the 14 floor about discussing more with Mishawaka and the County to find <br />areas to work together to find savings. No reason to wait until 2018 or 2019 to find the savings. <br />Let’s get ahead of the game. According to the Tribune, there are five-hundred (500) homeless <br />and we are spending thirty (30) million dollars on streets, in hopes of attracting 5,000 new people <br />downtown. So far, with a fraction of the 30 million we could find beds for people and deal with <br />our homelessness and give a better quality of life for the other 100,000 who live here. <br /> <br />Jesse Davis, P.O. Box 10205, South Bend- An article in the paper said South Bend applied for a <br />grant for $3 million to give the Heritage Foundation to make a building to house thirty (30) <br />people. That's like putting $500,000 on (6) six houses and giving them away. That’s $100,000 <br />per unit. That’s a ridiculous amount. There are already buildings here we could use. I know a <br />nursing home on Mishawaka Ave. that has been empty for a while. Or we could build several <br />homes. We need to relook at it if we get that grant. Handing it over to a non-profit known to <br />waste our funds is not good. Second, our mayor who was just re-elected sent me an email from <br />the Democratic Party that he is still collecting campaign funds. He was just elected—this can’t <br />be for his next mayoral race. Apparently he is not planning to stay. Third is about a bill you <br />postponed. In a letter from the mayor, it says we must work together to make South Bend a <br />stronger community, but we cannot do it without ensuring that our citizen’s voices are being <br />heard. Our mayor believes every citizen needs a voice. You got a billing coming in December <br />that says every citizen needs a voice and I would suggest you all look into it and vote for this <br />th <br />plan on the 14. <br /> <br />Samuel Brown, 222 E. Navarre St., South Bend- We got a problem; I don’t have the answer. You <br />all are the elected officials who have to tackle the problem. These are people who like to <br />contribute to the homeless problem. We should want to take care of this problem. You guys are <br />the brain trust: try to work on it. The renaming of the MLK St. is going to be a long, drawn out <br />process. We have met: the Mayor has people, the Council has people. We are going to pray <br />about this and hopefully, going into the New Year, get it done. I got a feeling we are going to <br />get it done. Thank you. <br />13 <br /> <br /> <br />