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REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 14, 2013 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis: So the 4% is actually putting dollars in people’s pockets, it not <br />just training. It is putting money some contractor’s so they can take home. A lot of people who <br />do something like that, so you are committing to that. <br /> <br />Karen Ainsley: Right, its training. <br /> <br />Nick Surak: Right, if you’re a tradesman or whatever and you are a MBE, WBE or VBE, we are <br />committing to hire folks that have that designation to do work for us. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis: Ok, cool, that’s all I have. <br /> <br />Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand: The City Code calls for a minimum threshold, <br />and then the MOA would be after that. <br /> <br />Councilmember Gavin Ferlic: No comments <br /> <br />A Public Hearing was held on the Resolution at this time. <br /> <br />The following individual’s spoke in favor of this bill. <br /> <br />Jesse Davis, P. O. Box 10205, South Bend, Indiana, spoke in favor of this bill. He stated that <br />this project is an investment where there is a majority of private dollars and that is a good thing. <br />He urged the Council’s favorable adoption of this bill. <br /> <br />JohnMynsberge, 735 Portage Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he lived on Portage <br />Avenue for about 8 years now and he chose to move into the neighborhood because he really <br />appreciates the work that the Near Northwest Neighborhood does for the city here. But my <br />problem is that we are trying to put too much on a private entity as far as training programs and <br />things like that, that’s things that the city should be doing themselves. I just would like to see <br />somebody come in with private money to develop a building that has been sitting there just <br />getting dilapidated and getting in worse shape. We haven’t had any development up and down <br />Portage Avenue from downtown up to Cleveland Road almost nothing in the 8 years that I’ve <br />lived here. I think we should go ahead and approve this as soon as possible. <br /> <br />Margaret Porter, 4325 Garden Oak, South Bend, Indiana, I have been a board member of the <br />NNN off and on for over twenty-five years. I am currently a board member even though I no <br />longer live in the area. But, having lived in the area for a number of years almost 30 years I <br />know that the Ford Building is something that needs to be taken care of. There are no taxes <br />being collected on this particular property. Apparently there is nobody locally that is interested <br />in developing it so; nothing came through the Sheriff’s sale that took place recently. So I think <br />that this is something that we really need to think about and help along. I think that the <br />gentleman before made an excellent point there has been a lot of development on private homes <br />by the NNN along Portage. Those of us that have lived in the area for a long time we have seen <br />some of the houses that they have improved and look better. But there has been very little done <br />from California Avenue down to the city center. This would make a huge improvement in that <br />area and it might actual spur some more development in that section of Portage going down <br />toward the city, so again, I am at a loss as to why this discussion is even here, about this tax <br />abatement. It seems very odd to me that we would not as a city want to development something <br />that has been an eyesore that would actually bring people into the NNN area with affordable <br />housing, people will then think who might somewhere along the line be able to move out of the <br />rental situation and start investing and buying homes that are being developed and rehabbed by <br />the NNN. So I think they would do the city a great disservice if we stop this project from going <br />forward. <br /> <br />Rebecca Kaiser, 913 Diamond, South Bend, Indiana, I lived in the near northwest neighborhood <br />since I was 6 years old. When I was 26, I bought a house that had just been rehabbed, not by the <br />NNN, but by my little brother, on Diamond Avenue, that had been condemned. I am very <br />passionate about the NNN; I think that there are a lot of people who don’t understand what <br />Karen Ainsley and the NNN do. They think that Karen comes to you or to the Mayor and you <br />hand them a blank check and oh goody, goody, let’s go paint the house green. I would happen to <br />21 <br /> <br /> <br />