In a city targeting the demolition of hundreds of blighted structures, this one in Gary’s Aetna neighborhood felt personal to contractor Jim Wiseman on Monday.
“If you look behind you, that green house with the white smokestack was my childhood home for 15 years,” Wiseman told a crowd Monday morning in the 3700 block of East 13th Avenue.
Wiseman, who heads a group of contractors in a public-private partnership to help Gary demolish blighted, vacant homes, said: “What we’re doing is making a better future.”
The son of a single mom, Wiseman said he remembers when families filled the now-blighted homes and the neighborhood on Gary’s east side felt alive.
Now, contractors and city officials hope the tear-downs lead to a build-up in the neighborhood.
The partnership demolished 38 Aetna homes last year at a cost of $570,000. Wiseman said 22 houses were targeted to come down in the second phase at an estimated cost of $285,000.
Community activist Penelope Love, of the Aetna Revitalization program, couldn’t hold back her excitement.
“Bye-bye to blight, hello to beauty,” she said. “It’s a good feeling when someone comes along to do what you cannot do,” she said of the contractors.
Mayor Eddie Melton jumped into an excavator with a worker who guided him as he whacked down the small ranch home at 3737 E. 13th Ave. Wiseman estimated it may have stood vacant for three decades.
Melton said the city’s demolition efforts would turn next to the Emerson and downtown neighborhoods.
“This is just the beginning… we’ll take this across the entire city,” said Melton in promising a transformation of neighborhoods he said have been plagued with blight for generations.
Melton said the city plans to offer the vacant lots for sale to developers or prospective homeowners to build new houses.
“Today, it’s free,” Melton said of the demolition. Contractors cover the cost of tearing down the homes and hauling away the debris, while the city pays for its disposal, Melton said.
Gary workers flooded the zone Monday with street and sanitation crews who cleaned gutters, swept streets, and checked manholes. The street just west of the demolished home was recently paved.
Wiseman said the demolition process takes time as permits are secured, asbestos and other hazards are removed, and utilities are disconnected.
Wiseman, marketing coordinator for Rieth-Riley Construction, was joined by other contractors including Hasse Construction, C. Lee Construction, Actin Inc., RMD Construction, Superior Construction and P & C Trucking.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, said the long-awaited demolition signals “a new dawn and new day in Gary, Indiana. The message is clear, the public-private partnership will use this synergy to create a greater Gary and a greater Northwest Indiana.”
Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
