Looking back at the 2016 State of the City
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is giving his State of the City speech Tuesday.
His promises from last year’s speech were fulfilled over 2016.
One of those promises was Smart Streets.
The downtown street makeover is now completed, after a summer of construction, which Buttigieg warned of in his 2016 address.
While construction on the roads was completed by the new year, beautification and brick-laying continues on the side of the streets.
Beautification has also taken place for the city’s parks, as the mayor promised.
Aaron Perri took over the Venues, Parks and Arts Department just months before the last State of the City.
He says in 2016, $10 million in additional funding for parks was raised through partnerships Buttigieg helped form.
“We’ll spend this year on redoing Howard Park and Seitz Park, and some of the river trails in the downtown area,” Perri said of how that funding will be used.
Another 2016 city accomplishment was the city ID program..
Sam Centellas from La Casa de Amistad started it, but the mayor helped the program getting the city government on board.
“The city authorizes it for use with police, fire, city services,” Centellas said.
During his speech last year, Buttigieg boasted about the program.
Since then, La Casa has had much more demand for the cards than originally expected, and they’ll soon expand the application process with more locations.
“Without the support of the city, specifically Mayor Pete, this program would not have been possible,” Centellas said.