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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> the Racial Wealth Divide question and whether or not they specifically looked at those in the
<br /> report.
<br /> Councilmember Williams-Preston followed up, I think what is important to think about is
<br /> considering those questions moving forward with economic development. What I remember
<br /> hearing is they did look at the percentage and the concentration of, say for example, African
<br /> Americans in these different areas. One (1) thing I remember, again don't quote me but this was
<br /> the conversation,was that,well,there are more African Americans downtown than are on the west
<br /> side. I think if we want to begin moving forward in a more culturally competent manner, one (1)
<br /> thing I know, or suspect, I don't have any data to support this but this is the data we want to find
<br /> out, is if we are considering something to the effect of the economic impact of a station in a
<br /> neighborhood, should we just be looking at the concentration of what the racial concentration is?
<br /> Or should we be thinking about, what I remember is they said, well, there are more black people
<br /> downtown than there are over on the west side. We need to look at more than that. What is the
<br /> socioeconomic status of the African Americans who are living downtown? If it's lower than those
<br /> living on the west side, which group is going to have the disposable income to actually take
<br /> advantage of, you know, any opportunities to either do development or take advantage of a coffee
<br /> shop? I think it is more complicated than maybe we even know how to evaluate. So, I'm just
<br /> saying, in general, as we begin to think about those issues, we might need to look at identifying
<br /> some consultants to help us better understand it. That report was an important first(1st) step for us
<br /> to start thinking about it, and those questions are good,but I'm not sure, and I'm not saying I have
<br /> the competency, and I'm curious to know, I think that is something we need to think about as a
<br /> City, the competency to really understand those issues and analyze the data we get. What does it
<br /> really mean? I know there are consultants out there that can help us work on that. I'm just bringing
<br /> that to the Council. Again, if we are really going to begin to look at those issues, I think we are
<br /> doing a great job in terms of raising the issue and having those conversations, but we might need
<br /> help because I'm not sure any of us are experts on how that all really plays out and how to put all
<br /> that data together to really understand the economic impacts. So,just a thought.
<br /> Update: Quiet Zones (15 minutes)- Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works
<br /> Mr. Horvath handed out a presentation (which is available in the City Clerk's Office). He stated,
<br /> I'm going to ask our City Engineer, Dr. Boyles, to give this presentation.
<br /> Dr. Kara Boyles, City Engineer for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 13th floor
<br /> of the County-City Building, stated, So, on that first (1st) slide (referencing the handout) you see
<br /> the project locations. This shows you the differences with the east side quiet zones. What you see
<br /> here, we have three (3) different quiet zones that need to be established. On the west side, you've
<br /> got three (3) different railroad corporations. We've been focused here in the beginning on the
<br /> Northfolk Southern line. If you flip to the next slide, this gives you the basis for the entire west
<br /> side. The next slide after that gives an example of an improvement. This one (1) shows you the
<br /> Twyckenham Drive crossing. So, this is what we used on the east side when we did the
<br /> development of this project. But, you will see what looks like a pavement marking example, what
<br /> we mean by an advanced warning sign, and then, of course, the mountable medians you see there
<br /> on Twyckenham. So,these are typical examples of the types of improvements we recently installed
<br /> on the west side. I would like to give Becca some credit, she put this slide presentation together
<br /> for us. If you go back to that project location slide, it is nicely color-coded. You can see we are
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