This guest op-ed ran in The Times of Northwest Indiana on Nov. 16.
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the City of Gary, Ind., elected Karen Freeman-Wilson as its next mayor – a “new day” in Gary, in Freeman-Wilson’s own words, and certainly a galvanizing moment for the city, local business community, and greater Northwest Indiana to mount a full-scale turnaround for Gary, by building on local and regional assets as well as the energy provided by new leadership.
Throughout the campaign, Freeman-Wilson hasn’t shied away from Gary’s challenges. “With bankruptcy looming, a population on the decline, and a troubled school system, it is widely believed by most that the future of Gary is in the balance,” she states on her web site. However, Freeman-Wilson also envisions a bright future for the city she has called home for much of her life. Following her win in the primary elections in March, she wasted no time in putting together an advisory team to inform her on all aspects of her platform. While some of her challengers ridiculed her for “being presumptuous,” Freeman-Wilson wisely continued to plan ahead, even meeting with leaders from other cities, including Chicago, to tap their best ideas and discuss ways to adapt them to Gary. As mayor-elect, she can now hit the ground running to implement a platform that broadly and specifically identifies economic development, education, public safety, and accountability and ethics goals and objectives.
At a news conference in September, Freeman-Wilson presented preliminary findings from her New Day Task Force, further outlined in her official platform. Notably, the Economic Development section accounts for more than half of the document, with a slate of plans to make Gary more business friendly, such as streamlined departments, incentive-based contracting, seamless permitting, and perhaps most importantly, the creation of a clear economic development road map for the city. This last promise would go a long way not only in attracting businesses to Gary, but also in earning support from the federal government and local and national philanthropies. Indeed, at a Gary and Region Investment Project convening in October 2010, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ron Sims urged Gary and the region to develop a blueprint for focused reinvestment in Gary, based on a unified, regional strategy for economic recovery and growth.
Freeman-Wilson’s platform also pledges “responsible” partnership with the “Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority, the Regional Development Authority (RDA), the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), the Gary Region Investment Project (GRIP) and all other community organizations sincerely interested in advancing the economic interests of the City of Gary.” This openness to regional partnership is welcome and will be critical to Gary’s future success.
To that end, the Metropolitan Planning Council is pleased to work with the City of Gary’s administration to help realize this critical agenda by promoting opportunities for support, investments, and partnerships to regional and national public, private, and philanthropic organizations. We strongly believe that Northwest Indiana’s urban core is ripe for reinvestment and that partners are eager to invest in strong, clear visions and committed local leaders.