South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg touted past successes and laid out plans for new initiatives at last night’s state of the city address.
Buttigieg covered a lot of ground in his state of the city address. He talked about success with the new department of Venues, Parks and Arts, bringing American Airlines back and the city’s double-A bond rating...among others.
In 2018 the mayor says the city will add police body cameras, make lead testing available for all students in the city’s public schools, expand public wifi, and conduct a housing market study to determine what types of homes South Bend needs and where they should go.
He also announced the launch of a program to turn donated modular classrooms from Ivy Tech into the ‘Gateway Center,’ an intake and resource center for those who are homeless.
“This center will be the first low barrier shelter open in South Bend providing transitional housing and supportive services for the formerly homeless individuals as we work to move them into long-term answers.”
The recent flooding and city efforts on climate change and energy savings came up more than once. Along with the difficult winter and resultant potholes.
Buttigieg made mention of the student movements over school safety and gun control, commending the students at Adams High School where the speech took place, and their plans for today’s (WED) nationwide walkout.
“Young people in this community have been an inspiring voice for change. They’re the ones that have seen to it that tragedy and apathy will never have the last word.”
Limebikes, double tracking, smart sewers and streets and many other topics also came up in the speech.
Speech Transcript courtesy of Mark Bode and the City of South Bend.