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SPECIAL MEETING JULY 16, 2007
<br />many to have more of a college town and create a new urban district that will revitalize
<br />the area south of the University and to bring prosperity to all of South Bend. She stated
<br />that she also understands that she was not early on one of those who sowed the seed of
<br />this dream, watered it, weeding or tending and then all the harvesting, grinding and
<br />baking to put this on the table now. There has been a great deal of effort and good will
<br />put forth and she thanked all of those who have worked to bring this dream into reality.
<br />This hard work of others made her somewhat hesitant to speak; she doesn't want to stand
<br />in the way of good peoples dreams. She decided to speak though after all not to prevent
<br />this dream from becoming a reality but because she wants the dream to come true. She to
<br />wants to be able to walk a few blocks to get the needed ingredients to make her recipe,
<br />she wants to buy a book for her niece's birthday, go out to a restaurant with guests and
<br />then stroll home. She wants to hear students and South Bend residents talking about life
<br />as they sit on a bench in the Commons. She wants South Bend to thrive; she lives here
<br />just as her pastor, doctor, dentist, plumber, carpenter, store keeper, librarian, gas station
<br />owner and her friends do. She wants what the project could bring to the people in the
<br />City and wants the completed project to be something that Kite will be proud of for
<br />decades, when the presenters that are here tonight are old and reflecting back. She is not
<br />here tonight to speak against the dream or the efforts, but the immediate adoption of this
<br />plan. There are things about this plan that are disappointing to her. The buildings seem
<br />so crowded onto the land that scarcely any shows through at all. This makes the
<br />residence seem very concrete bound and of all the trees on that wooded property all
<br />though some will be left alone, none seem to be really incorporated into the plan to add to
<br />its beauty. It takes half a century to grow a tree like that, and it seems like a waste not to
<br />use what nature gave along with the land. She also worries that the buildings look to
<br />high, so that rather than a welcoming gateway into South Bend, the Commons could be
<br />more of a barrier. And rather than connecting Notre Dame and South Bend and the
<br />neighborhoods more closely the roads and intersections could lead people to avoid them
<br />because of getting into too much traffic. She realizes that high density is exactly what
<br />urban means so she is not saying to stop the urbanism, but she would like any new
<br />mother along Howard Street or in those new apartments to feel like she can put her baby
<br />in the stroller and walk down the street and cross safely. There comes a point when too
<br />many cars zipping and weaving and waiting on the roads will drive people off the
<br />sidewalks that run along side them. Many people have questions and concerns about the
<br />plan, about the design of the parking garage, about the scale, about the hotel size, about
<br />the retail spaces and about lots of other things. Of course there are many decisions in life
<br />that can be worked through in process and difficulties over comments that arise and
<br />changes made on the fly, but too many can leave the project to become something quite
<br />different from anybodies hopes. She stated that is it best to give the project more time, to
<br />ripen a little longer. She urged the Council and the developers to continue this bill until
<br />the next Council Meeting. Ms. Seabaugh stated that it is better to measure twice and then
<br />cut once. She recommended delaying the vote until everyone is perfectly satisfied that
<br />the development will proceed according to the best possible plan and until the dream for
<br />the Eddy Street Commons will come to fruition.
<br />Mr. Conrad Damian, 718 E. Broadway, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he has been in
<br />opposition to this plan, he knows that the Council is going to vote for it, but is asking that
<br />the Council to put that vote off for one week. He realizes that this project has the
<br />potential of being great for the University of Notre Dame, for the wealthy members of the
<br />northeast community, for the faculty who houses are being built up in that neighborhood
<br />and for many other people, but he would like the Common Council, and since they
<br />represent all of us, to see that this project benefits all of the citizens of South Bend, by
<br />adding to requests, requirements, codicils, or whatever you want to call them. One
<br />regarding Kite and one regarding the University of Notre Dame, so that not only faculty
<br />members or alumni and other important people at Notre Dame, but custodians, and
<br />maids, grounds crew workers, those who live on the southeast and west part of the City
<br />the other side of the river might also benefit from this project. He would like to have the
<br />Council request Kite in fact do as their rendering showed on the Erskine Commons
<br />Project. Mr. Damian stated that is where he goes to shop, if he doesn't go downtown.
<br />But there aren't benches, trees, fountains or walkways as were promised, and there
<br />should be. The Council should required that those amenities be placed there because they
<br />were stated in the presentation that they would be there and before another project goes
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