To all of the Community Forum participants who helped to develop our "Key Questions" about local economic development
From the Coordinating Committee
Thank you all for your lively and educated participation in the process. Here’s what happened after the meeting last Tuesday. Members of the Coordinating Committee worked on the final wording using, we hope, the intent of the group as a whole. Our only significant change was to combine a number of the quality of life issues into one question. That allowed us to limit the total number of question topics to six. Several of the areas contain multiple questions, as you can see.
These questions were sent to all candidates, even those without opposition, this morning. (Note: we were unable to track down email addresses for two candidates but have left messages at their homes requesting this information.) We asked them to respond by Wednesday, October 10, that these responses will be communicated to our members and to who have participated in one or more of our programs, and that we will also attempt to share this information throughout the community.
Since our next membership meeting is scheduled for October 16, we should be able to assemble the responses into a usable form before our next meeting. At that meeting, we can continue the discussion of how we can share this information throughout the community.
KEY QUESTIONS ABOUT LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
For candidates in the 2007 South Bend and Mishawaka municipal elections
From the Community Forum for Economic Development
-
Concerning community participation and transparency in governance: What can be done to encourage more citizen participation in local
government, including local economic development efforts? How should
the community be kept informed about the progress of local economic
development efforts? How would you determine whether economic
development programs achieved the desired results and what actions
would you take to correct or resolve failure to achieve results? -
Concerning the use of tax incentives: Do you support the Community Forum for Economic Development’s proposal
for revision of the South Bend Tax Abatement Ordinance? If not, which
specific changes do you disagree with and why?An alternate question was sent to Mishawaka candidates: Should the Mishawaka tax abatement ordinance be amended to allow tax
abatements only for businesses that provide significant benefits to the
community? Does the Community Forum for Economic Development tax
abatement ordinance proposal offer acceptable criteria for establishing
these benefits?(Note: We sent each person a copy of the CFED tax abatement proposal.)
- Concerning local taxes: In what ways can local government act to make sure that our local tax
burden is fairly distributed among businesses, community residents, and
nonprofit institutions? How can those changes be made while still
raising the money needed for city services? - Concerning job creation: The creation of good jobs for area residents is the cornerstone of any
successful economic development program. In the context of an
increasingly global economy, how would you encourage the creation of
jobs that allow workers to be economically self-sufficient? What
programs will you initiate or support to retain present firms in
Michiana? - Concerning quality of life issues: How would you develop and promote initiatives to enhance the quality of
life for citizens? For example: full service grocery stores and/or
farmers’ markets to areas of the city that are not well served, access
to affordable housing for low and moderate income residents, improved
public safety, environmentally friendly buildings (LEEDs
certification), safe sidewalks and bike lanes, etc. - Concerning equality of opportunity: How would you ensure that economically disadvantaged groups benefit from economic development projects?