South Bend Mayor James Mueller delivered his 2022 state of the city address Tuesday evening. Major themes of the speech included public safety, housing, the economy and investments in infrastructure.
South Bend has received $58 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, which Mueller called a “once in a generation” opportunity to transform the city.
As part of that transformation, Mueller said the city is prioritizing long-term investments in infrastructure, including via its Rebuilding Our Streets Plan.
In 2021, the city repaved 50 miles of city streets and maintained 78 miles. Mueller said the city plans to work on an additional 138 miles this year, but it will need to request additional funding from the Common Council in light of material cost increases to “stay on track.”
As for other infrastructure investments, all city streetlights are in the process of being converted to LEDs and the city is working to “triple” Open Wi-Fi coverage and expand broadband access.
In August 2021, the city unveiled a new plan to improve its sewers, which Mueller said will save ratepayers millions of dollars while vastly reducing raw sewer discharges into the St. Joseph River.
The city has resumed water shutoffs following a two-year moratorium due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but forgave all unpaid utility bills before doing so. Mueller said the city has also reformed its water shutoff policy to vastly reduce shutoffs — going forward, they will only be used as a last resort.
As for housing, Mueller said the city is working with St. Joseph County to establish a mental health crisis response center and a low barrier intake facility for the chronically homeless. This year’s city budget includes $5.8 million for those projects, and Mueller said the city is currently looking for additional funding sources.
The city is also expanding its home repair and lead remediation programs and Mueller said the construction of new affordable housing is a “top priority.”
Mueller said the city is working closely with the South Bend Housing Authority on a redevelopment project for the Rabbi Shulman apartments, which will create 300 affordable housing units. And he said the city is supporting multiple tax credit applications for projects which could bring 120 more affordable units.
Twenty-two new permanent supportive housing units will open at Hope Avenue Homes later this spring, and the city is working with the state to bring more units online over the next few years.
“Housing is a long-term issue that can’t be solved overnight, but I’m confident we can make progress together to ensure safe housing for all residents of South Bend, and provide new space for new residents as well,” Mueller said.
As for public safety, Mueller said South Bend had 121 shooting victims in 2021, 12 less than 2020.
“This of course is nothing to celebrate, even though the numbers are down,” Mueller said. “Too many of our kids are losing their lives.”
He said the city is not immune to national trends of increased violent crime, but that he hopes the decrease means it is recovering from the impact of the pandemic and choosing a different path.
To that end, he touted the city’s ten 2022 Alive grant winners, which are all nonprofit organizations that focus on restorative justice and engaging with city youth to reduce gun violence.
So far this year, Mueller said the grant winners have served 390 youth and 243 adults. Last year, the city’s group violence intervention team served 498 people and placed 10 in jobs.
“The core of our group violence reduction strategy remains the same,” Mueller said. “We offer help to the most at-risk and provide opportunities for them to choose a better path.”
In 2021, the South Bend Police Department took 603 illegal guns off the street, worked 194 drug cases and responded to over 82,000 service calls while receiving less than one complaint per week.
The city’s new violent crimes unit took over murder investigations in in October due to the dissolution of the county’s long-running Metro Homicide Unit. Mueller said the new unit has solved 7 out of 12 murders since the change took effect.
Two of the remaining five murders have been presented for charges, one has a suspect identified.
“The investigation for the only open case without a suspect just started last week, and is very active,” Mueller said. “No matter how you cut the numbers, starting with a solvability rate of 100 percent is an impressive feat.”
Mueller also said he is looking forward to receiving the Common Council’s recommendation for a new Community Police Review Board director.
The council has completed first-round interviews for the position, and will be holding a public meeting on Monday, May 2 to gather feedback on the candidates.
Finally, Mueller said South Bend’s economy is resilient. The local unemployment rate is around 3 percent — near where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic despite new challenges such as inflation and price increases.
“If we can emerge from the past two years stronger than ever, we can certainly power through this challenge, too,” Mueller said.
For example, he cited a new city workforce development program that will provide free training and professional certifications for residents.
He also touted the 2020 census results, which recorded South Bend’s first population increase in 50 years.
“Our city grew faster than at any point since the 1950s before Studebaker closed,” Mueller said. “Our comeback decade also marked the first time in a century that South Bend grew faster than the county.”
The April 26 speech was Mueller’s second state of the city address. His first occurred less than a year ago in July 2021 after being pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.
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