SOUTH BEND — In alignment with South Bend’s downtown 2045 plan, Community Investment Deputy Director Joseph Molnar presented a proposal to beautify the Lafayette Boulevard, Main Street and Michigan Street viaducts for $1 million at the city’s Redevelopment Commission meeting Aug. 13.
The improvements are expected to bring new lighting, landscaping, public art installations and surveillance cameras to make residents feel safer walking under the viaducts and to provide a more cohesive look among the viaducts.
But, although the commissioners approved the project’s budget, they’re not entirely sure a few appearance adjustments will be enough to make residents feel safer in those areas.
“What I’m concerned about is this sort of skirts a bigger issue that I think mitigates any improvements as long as they’re there: people living there [and] sleeping there under the viaducts on a regular basis,” commissioner Eli Wax said, referring to members of the city’s homeless population. “You could do all the cosmetic, lighting, murals and painting, it’s not going to make it a positive, safe route for people to use.”
The downtown viaducts projects would be completed in two separate phases, Molnar said.
The first phase involves basic surface cleaning, including vegetation removal, painting and basic lighting. The second phase takes things up a notch and transforms the viaducts with comprehensive lighting systems, public art, surface repairs and basic intersection improvements.
Without these improvements, including the addition of South Bend Police Department-monitored cameras, residents will continue to feel unsafe in certain areas of downtown, Molnar said.
“It’s easy for an area to be occupied by potential bad actors or individuals who are maybe disturbing the public peace when a place does not seem well cared for, when it’s dark [and] when it seems like it’s not well maintained,” Molnar said. “I think that step one is making it appear like a place that is not one you can take over and make it a negative experience.”
In addition to establishing a potentially safer environment, Downtown South Bend Inc. Executive Director Willow Wetherall said the project gives the city a chance to change the narrative and positively impact downtown’s identity.
“These gateways are associated with visible neglect, chronic homelessness, illegal activity and people experiencing crisis due to substance abuse,” Wetherall said. “This is, unfortunately, the first impression that people receive when they enter downtown, and it’s the last impression as they leave. We have the opportunity to change that.”
Through eight group meetings and interviews, the project has acquired 55 stakeholders, including Downtown South Bend, South Bend Public Transportation Corporation, the South Bend Cubs, the University of Notre Dame and the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, to name a few.
The project was unanimously approved and improvements to the viaducts could be seen as early as September, Molnar said.
Email South Bend Tribune business reporter Jessica Velez at jvelez@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Redevelopment Commission members ask if viaduct makeovers will help
Reporting by Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Jessica Velez, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
