Why Gary is Finished?

I recently made the observation on "Facebook" that there was no way to save Gary, Indiana and that its future was essentially finished.   Some individuals, who had not known of my work previously, asked the serious question of why I would argue for such a position.  It was further suggested by some of the readers of the comments that a new approach to Gary's future could be undertaken by improving the circumstances of single mothers in the city.

The basic reason that Gary is finished is that there is no one and I mean no one who knows what to do and what they are doing to change things in Gary.  For over forty years, Gary has been analogous to a 747 in a stall with snow white and the seven dwarfs at the controls.  No matter what option or idea the people in charge will come up with or have come up with, nothing will change the final outcome that the 747 will land nose first into the ground and will leave a big hole behind.

If you improve the lot of single mothers in the City of Gary, they will move out as soon as they can.  Bank Calumet has already tried that approach.  Not a single candidate stayed in the city and that was over five years ago.  Does anyone really believe that it has gotten better. 

No!  Now the school system would be better off investing in large screen TVs and getting rid of the teachers.  Let the kids watch the television and have homeless people monitor them.  It is a win-win situation.  I suspect that the ISTEP scores will be higher and retention will increase. 

For over forty years, Gary has done nothing but take and take and take.  It has returned nothing to NWI, except what was already there previously, e.g. U S Steel.  The most recent Rudy Clay approach is to take from the Obama, the Lord and savior of Gary, administration to save Gary.  This will not make one iota of difference.  This political option was undertaken by former Mayor Hatcher for decades.  He and the City got billions of dollars from the U. S. Government now there is nothing to show for it -- just a destroyed city.

The next big plan was lake front gambling in the early 1990s.  Gary made such a case (or stink and blackmail) that it got two boats and no referendum.  Gary is special (specially incompetent).  What is there to show for 10 years of gambling revenues to the city in hundreds of millions of dollars -- the continued death of the city.

One can go on and on.  The stadium, after 50+ million of dollars, including kickbacks, absolutely nothing has changed in Gary, except its continued devastation.  Then there is the "international airport" that is a joke to everyone, except for the people, like its director, who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars from it; but no one will or ever has flown into Gary.  Why fly there?  If it were not for the crime, there would be no entertainment whatsoever.

Everyone who is now in Gary wants out.  What does that tell you?  U S Steel is the highest taxed steel mill in the U.S. for what?  Why not just get rid of the City of Gary?  It would be the best thing for everyone in NWI, including the people of Gary. 

Being truthful, since no one, has an idea of how to change things, there is no future for Gary.  The choice is a slow glide into oblivion or a fast crash and a less painful end.  At one time Gary had some choices, I discussed them with Mayors Clay and King.  I also talked to mayoral/council candidates and the Gary school board members.  They all nodded their heads but nothing was ever done.  I suspect the reason is that the choices to turn Gary around did not include pocket money for the politicians and that, ever since Hatcher, pocket money has been the ONLY choice that has mattered to the people in-charge.  Now it is by all accounts too late.

Have mercy.  Let it end quickly.

Comments

[MMEisenstein]

My solution to Gary's problems is not overly complicated; but it is doubtful that the City "fathers" will do anything about it.
First is education. (This is also the first through the last. You solve this problem; you have solved ALL your problems.) I would start with the top, IUN. The City of Gary needs to end the racism that says that the tax money goes to white campuses such as Bloomington or Muncie, but not to campuses in more integrated places like IUN, PUC and IUPFW. The students here get half the tax dollars of a West Lafayette. If it were equalized, this would be more money than Gary gets from gambling (without the costs. I would make sure that racism results in the buildings, i.e. construction the Indiana University Presidents and Trustees promised; but did not deliver under Clay.
K-12 is also easy. Make them into boot camps and make sure that everyone marches to same tune and to the same learning that has served everyone well for 200 years. Declare the School City bankrupt and get rid of ALL the administrators and the union. Until you do that there will be no change. Once education is turned around everything else follows: property values, businesses, jobs, lower crime, etc.
It is simple. The only problem is that educational money is the hardest to steal. So with Tom McDermott in charge of the Democrat Party it will never happen.

[gioperation]

Maurice...

While I agree with some of the comments you stated, my sity being ran by some incompetent people... if you had it your way, what would you do different, what would you do first? and knocking the city down is not an option... when we focus on all the negatives, we need to have some positive of what could happen- so what are yours?

gioperation

[Buzzcut]

Maurice, I was actually thinking the same thing the other day.

I was just running some numbers in my head.

Rough population of Gary is 100k. How many homes is that? Say 25k.

We know that, as of 2006, 25% of them were abandoned, and already owned by the city for back taxes. That was before the subprime crisis. Let's say that there's a 50% abandonment rate now.

So, there are maybe 13,000 real, occupied homes.

You could probably get those homes for $15k on average. Let's just say.

That's 195 million dollars.

Add a hundred million for demolition, and we could wipe Gary off the face of the earth and start over for 1/6 of what they paid to build the Steel Yard.

That would free up the land for other purposes.

What purposes?

How about building that trash to ethanol boondoggle there? At least it would have good highway access to ship in garbage from Chicago and make former Democrat State Party Chairmen even richer than they already are.

[Jack Lesky]

Maurice,
When you are interested in sharing a dialogue that is productive with my team and I we can set up a meeting. i think you will find it to be productive.

[Maurice Eisenstein]

Jack, I appreciate what you are saying; but it is not new. Do not confuse truth with slamming. There is no nice way to say it. I wish it could be different; but the people made the decisions on their politicians and leaders. Look at who is heading the Democratic party in Lake County.
I may be interested in pursuing a dialogue if I was convinced that there would be anything new; but so far it is a repetitions of the same lines.

[Jack Lesky]

Mr. Eisenstein,
I read your blog and I while I appreciate your perspective,things can change for Gary. I am not,nor, will I be a part of the corruption that exists.My team and myself bring new ideas, new initiatives, and a completely new vision for Gary. We will succeed.
Gary is the centrifuge for the entire Lake County area with problems. Changing Gary is the first step in fundamental change in the region.
I respect your position and ask you to direct your efforts at trying to change this unfortunate circumstance and offer solutions.Gary is ideally situated geographically, it has more than adequate infrastructure, and can recover from this devastation.
Continuing to slam Gary derves no purpose for anyone.We need to focus on the future and what can be, not what is.... ... Read More
I have emailed you in the past and would be more than happy to open dialogue with you.
I think that you will find our approach to be a complete departure from what has transpired in the past.
We are prepared to roll up our sleeves and get to work...
will you help us?