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REGULAR MEETING MAY 29, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br />Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr., stated that this bill before the Council is actually <br />basically asking for support from the City and City Department Heads to look at <br />Belleville Park as well as Kennedy Park as priorities within our city. He stated that he is <br />not going to bore everyone with the language within the bill, however, he did have an <br />opportunity to be visited by more than 30 students from Navarre Intermediate School this <br />afternoon who also came to the Council pressing to make sure that updates at Belleville <br />th <br />Park which is located within the 6 District are going to happen, and they also had <br />nd <br />residents here right now from the 2 District for Kennedy Park. He stated that they are <br />asking that these things are a priority. There are things that can actually be done before <br />the budget session happens, they are asking for that as well. He stated that they want to <br />make sure that we all understand that these things are not there that we are looking for <br />and that they are asking for and they want to make sure that again they are a priority. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver J. Davis stated that they had something come before the Council <br />earlier regarding Belleville Park and the vandalism and fire, and it was requested that <br />parts of the money be used on the east side of the City, which they agreed to do and then <br />looking back there was more hind sight that they could have probably looked at issues <br />regarding what the five year plan is and seeing if they have met all those needs had been <br />met in the Belleville area. He stated that many of the young people said that the money <br />was earmarked for that area and so why didn’t the Council look at that. He stated that he <br />thought that was a legitimate concern. He stated that with the Kennedy Park enclosure <br />and putting the fence around everything, they need to make sure that they have more <br />public access to that. He stated that he would like a letter to be sent from the Council to <br />ask for more of a public partnership to work on that issue. <br /> <br />A Public Hearing was held on the Resolution at this time. <br /> <br />The following individuals were in favor of this bill. <br /> <br />Phil St. Clair, Director, Parks & Recreation, City of South Bend, 301 E. Walter Street, <br />South Bend, Indiana. <br /> <br />Mr. St. Clair advised that he spoke during the committee meetings this afternoon <br />regarding Kennedy Park and Belleville Park. He stated that those parks are good parks, <br />they are well maintained parks. It’s unfortunate that they had a vandalism issue last year <br />out at Belleville and they are currently making every attempt at this point to have the <br />playground equipment at that facility replaced. He state that he would love to come <br />before the Council and ask for capital appropriations for parks, and if the Council so <br />chooses to support the revolution, he will be back with some capital requests for Kennedy <br />and Belleville. He stated that there are a lot of parks within the City of South Bend, 58 of <br />them, and they feel like they have maintained all very well and all of them are used a lot. <br />A lot of the parks have very specific activities that go on there, Kennedy it’s the pool and <br />Belleville with the complex, Potawatomi it’s the zoo; O’Brien it’s the skate park; every <br />park has something, but they try to in addition to that they try make sure that each park <br />has an adequate amount of playground equipment and the ability to be accessible as well. <br />He stated that they are working on that and would certainly support any initiative by the <br />Council that would help them obtain those capital goals at their parks. <br /> <br />Jerry Niezgodski, 2930 Bonds Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, advised that the members of <br />the Lincolnway West Gateway Association are in support of this resolution. <br /> <br />Valerie Sims, 1636 Florence Street, South Bend, Indiana, advised that she is a member of <br />the Kennedy Park Neighborhood Association. She stated that there is currently no <br />playground equipment at Kennedy Park. She stated that to use the water park, you have <br />to pay a fee to get into the park. She stated that the playground equipment at Kennedy <br />School is enclosed and not accessible. <br /> <br />Gloria Norris, 510 Birdsell Street, South Bend, Indiana, advised that she is the <br />coordinator for the Holy Trinity Focus Group at Holy Trinity Church. She reiterated that <br />there is nothing at Kennedy Park. She stated that there were a couple of benches, but as <br />far as playground equipment is concerned there is nothing. <br /> <br /> 26 <br /> <br />