Out of the office. and hitting the streets. South Bend's new police chief joined Mayor Buttigieg Friday to meet residents and listen to their concerns. They started their walk at the County-City Building then visited a couple downtown businesses.
Lyle Rector the Manager at Bruno's Pizza said the Police Chief was, "Very friendly, he liked baseball, he liked my hat. So got along right off the bat there."
Teachman said it's important to get out and have these conversations with citizens. "Beginning a conversation with them about how we can improve the service we get from the South Bend police department." Mayor Buttigieg said, "Folks always appreciate a chance to let police know what's going on in their neighborhood."
It was a short walk. They visited two Downtown Businesses before driving over to the Hope Rescue Mission. Mayor Buttigieg said the walk was short for a reason. "I wanted to make sure I could join this event so we just had to compress things a little bit." The event he's talking about was a presentation at the South Bend Housing Authority to announce a new citywide resident council. The Council will represent housing authority residents, so they'll be the ones to take peoples concerns to Teachman and Mayor Buttigieg. And they already have some issues to discuss with the new chief. "There's a lot of stuff that goes on in the park and the kids can't go over there and play and get on the equipment cause there's older people that's over there doing things they shouldn't be doing," said Glenda Calhoun.
Teachman spoke with several residents at the presentation but says it's only the beginning of his work in the community. "To have the safest community with the best quality of life we need to have the community engaged and to do that we need to build trust and build those relationships."
