Gary begins year 3 of 'blight blitz' demolition project

This year's city "blight blitz" kicked off Monday near Cathedral of the Holy Angels with demolition of an abandoned home on Harrison Street, the first of an anticipated 60 demolitions across the city in coming weeks, the third year of a project that began in the Aetna neighborhood.

An excavator bucket bit into the home on the corner of Harrison and Seventh Avenue shortly after elected officials and the contractors donating services to the project gathered for a press conference in the old Holy Angels school gym.

"Moving forward, over the next several weeks, the volunteers — we have a volunteer army of local contractors — will be targeting approximately 60 unsafe, blighted structures across five of our neighborhoods," Mayor Eddie Melton said. "We started with one neighborhood over the last few years, and now, on the leadership of this team that's behind us, we're moving to five neighborhoods throughout the entire city of Gary."

Buildings will be taken down in the Downtown, Emerson, Glen Park, Midtown and Westside sections of the city, Melton said. The project is led by Rieth-Riley Construction, with Hasse Construction, C. Lee Construction, Superior Construction, Biesen Excavating, Macallister Equipment, R&D Construction and Z-Force Transportation contributing to the work, along with the Lake County Highway Department.

"For too long, these abandoned properties have been a drain in our community," Melton said, citing safety hazards and the properties' negative impact on surrounding property values. "They stand in the way of progress, and today, we're clearing that out, and we're setting the tone."

Jim Wiseman of Rieth-Riley said the companies' efforts were focused on rejuvenating the city.

"It's the children of Gary that we have an obligation to, to fix these problems and make it a better tomorrow, so that we keep our children here, when they get through high school and out of college, they come home, this is what it's about, a better tomorrow for our kids," he said.

City Councilman Dwayne Halliburton and other speakers said they're also looking ahead to the possibility of new construction.

"We're looking forward, not only to tearing down the buildings, but we're looking forward to building, and that's what we're going to be doing," he said. "We're going to be replacing these dilapidated buildings with something that's constructive in the city of Gary."

The city's several ongoing blight reduction projects have included funding from the city, state and federal governments, as well as the services being contributed by private businesses in the annual "blitz" effort.

"We are answering the call of the residents of Northwest Indiana by coming together with a collaborative effort," U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan said. "Federal and state dollars do not fall from the sky. It needs leadership from Mayor Melton, from the city council, and it needs examples like this (project) so that we can go back to an appropriations committee to say we have skin in the game, and we will do what it takes to make a difference in our community."

Locally, the city spends about 10 months preparing for the "blight blitz" project, with tasks ranging from "legal clearances to environmental abatements to structural inspections," Melton said.

Demolition work itself is expected to take "several intensive weeks," according to the city.

Gary Redevelopment Director Christopher Harris said the 2024 and 2205 efforts in Aetna have produced positive results.

"We have 15 new-construction homes that are actively being built on 10th Avenue, and that would have been very difficult without this team's effort from the last two years," he said.