Northwest Indiana Discussion

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Free-Press/186249654744245

Gary Free Press
February 21, 2013
The Ambassador Apartment Caper: This Sucks!

Everyone really needs to take a drive by 574 Monroe St. in Gary. This is the address of the once-regal Ambassador apartment building. There was a time, not that long ago that this building was one of the most sought after residential high rises in the entire city. But she ain’t regal no more! More like on the verge of total collapse; large chunks of masonry plummeting to the sidewalk and street below; every last bit of anything metallic already picked clean by armies of scrappers throughout the years.

Back in 2001, this beautiful bit of Gary architecture was in need of rehabbing. If the right buyer were to have purchased this building , it could have long ago been renovated and be fully occupied now and it could be serving as a bustling anchor to the neighborhood in which it is situated.

But alas, it was not acquired by the right buyer. It was instead acquired by the absolute worst buyer: the Gary Urban Enterprise Association (hereafter referred to as GUEA). This was Team Karen before Karen constituted Team Gary. This 574 Monroe building was one of the fine examples of her team’s handiwork. While it is a perfect example of the most imperfect performance of Team GUEA, which operated under the supervision and guidance of Karen Freeman-Wilson in her role as attorney for the organization, it was hardly a unique example of Team GUEA’s performance.

Most of Team GUEA was sent to federal prison for the magic tricks they performed. The trick was as follows: make nearly 20-million dollars disappear without any identifiable benefit to the community for which the money was specifically earmarked to serve. They managed to do it; and surprise, surprise, nobody saw a thing. The Mayor, in her role as the attorney for Team GUEA, didn’t see a thing—not one thing—ever! And bear in mind, this obscene theft took place over the period of over 5 years; so even as financial statements were produced annually in an effort to comply with required federal guidelines to maintain the organization’s not-for-profit status, nobody—including her, a Harvard-educated attorney—ever noticed any irregularities. Huh? Impossible!

So in April of 2002, Team GUEA found it prudent to purchase the Ambassador apartment building at 574 Monroe St. And what Team GUEA did with it from the day they bought it until now was absolutely nothing. And then sometime around 2008, after the total meltdown of Team GUEA, the property wound up back in the ownership of the City of Gary. Then 5 years of Team Rudy did not one damn thing for the building. And then an entire year of Team Karen (the new-and-improved Team GUEA) did not one damn thing for the building.

After these decades of neglect, I hate to say it, but the building is now beyond repair. Its only future lies in its demolition. It is not feasible to renovate the building any longer. But this may have been the plan of Team GUEA/Team Karen all along. This is what passes for economic development in this city: demolition. This is a tried-and-true way by which several of the past administrations have been able to funnel money to their friends and cronies.

This is the style of leadership that now guides our city. Nothing could suck worse!

The State created the legislation that provided the funding for the GUEA program. It was designed to divert certain inventory tax monies to invest in areas of the city that needed it most. The GUEA organization what supposed to revive the Emerson neighborhood. Well needless to say, the Emerson neighborhood never got revived. Instead, Team GUEA wound up stealing every last dime. Over $20,000,000.00! The ONLY beneficiaries of this program were Gary politicians and their cronies. And here is what totally sucks: some of the old members of Team GUEA are now in positions of high authority to run this city! If that doesn’t suck the big one, nothing does!

*And one more important bit of related news: Jojuana Meeks, the former director of Team GUEA, will be fully released from federal custody on February 25th of this year, just a few days from now. Just in time for her to attend her teammate’s State of the City address. I’ll bet that she’ll be sitting in the VIP section. She just did 5 hard years of federal time. A lot of people are still wondering why a certain teammate of hers got away scot-free.

We’ll all just have to keep a close eye on her and the leader of Team GUEA. If Jojuana’s lucky, she might land an important role on the new Team Gary; she certainly deserves it for keeping her mouth shut all that time! Hey…now that Valda Staton isn’t on the team anymore, maybe Jojuana can take her old job.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Free-Press/186249654744245

Gary Free Press
about an hour ago
“Crime of the City of the Century”: The Gary Airport Expansion Project

(Although it would be more aptly named as the “Railroad Improvement Project”; as far more has been spent on construction and improvement to rail lines than has been spent on actual construction and improvements to the Airport itself.)

Not since the wholesale theft of public funds by the GUEA (Gary Urban Enterprise Association) organization, has a contingent of miscreants--masquerading as public servants, elected officials, and other phony do-good individuals; (the ones that double as seat fillers at just about every public political forum in and around the area) --been poised to rip off and abuse the public trust (what little that’s left of it!) to such an extent.

Now I don’t know if I should classify this rip off as a separate caper, or just a continuation of a job that started way back when—but had an inconvenient break in the action thanks to the US Attorney’s office--and is just now getting back on track. The reason being is that the groundwork for the heist in progress was laid many years ago by many of the exact same individuals that perpetrated the GUEA heist. Many of them got caught and were sentenced to federal prison; but just as many, if not more, got away relatively Scot-free.

Some of them got off by negotiating deals. Others got off by shifting blame to their co-conspirators. Yet others got off through a combination of both. But there really were no innocents. Everyone knew the score. The GUEA investigation yielded numerous prosecutions. It returned numerous indictments. It sent numerous individuals to prison. It “encouraged” others to withdraw from the public sector. But it let just as many get away. For each convicted felon, there were probably just as many un-convicted felons allowed to walk free. Our criminal justice system is far from perfect. The results of the GUEA investigation and the prosecutions that followed are not atypical. This is about as good as it gets.

Now if one got away clean from a very, very messy deal like this, one might think that they’d be content to slink away back to under whatever respective rock from whence they came. But not in Gary, evidently: the land of amnesia; where short memories abound; and where forgiveness of public officials’ foibles is mandatory. Instead, in Gary, they just won’t go away. They continue to pop up in positions that ostensibly provide public service. These types of people are incorrigible. They must be sociopathic. They are a scourge, to be sure. And most unfortunately of all, the ranks of local polity are densely populated by their ilk.

So let’s go all the way back to when the plans for this heist were first hatched; back to when they were being discussed in one of the dimly lit back rooms of the GUEA organization; probably in its old headquarters at 825 South Lake St. This is the time when we are to believe, the genius of Jojuana Meeks came up with this scheme all by her lonesome. This is when we are to believe that none of the attorneys involved with the organization had anything to do with the plans. This is when we are to believe that a marginal high school student was able to fabricate these plans, while a bevy of attorneys--some with law degrees from prestigious universities--were hoodwinked; were evidently too stupid to detect the scheme that this novice was contriving beneath their very noses.

The Airport Development Zone TIF account:

This is the piggybank that “Jojuana Meeks” and her cohorts at GUEA fell head over heels in love with. This is the TIF account that would go on to devour property taxes from the Black Oak area. This is the TIF account that would enable the City to divert the much-needed property taxes collected from the Black Oak community and numerous other taxing districts and store them safely away (safe from being put to any good use) in the ADZ (Airport Development Zone) TIF (Tax Increment Financing) account. All the while the Black Oak community suffered without the most basic city services; services the residents of the area paid dearly for--services they deserved; services they were deprived of because some individuals had other plans for this cash.

So how was it that Jojuana Meeks--with no formal business experience, and no formal business education--was able to pull this off? What was the whole point of the GUEA organization having an attorney (Karen Freeman-Wilson) on staff if it wasn’t to oversee and approve or disapprove of the actions of the staff and of its board? Shouldn’t it have been the duty of GUEA’s attorney to provide legal advice to the organization-- to keep it from getting into legal trouble? Isn’t that the whole point of having a lawyer in the first place? And she wasn’t the only attorney that should have noticed that something was terribly awry, there was also Scott King. He was also intimately involved with the functions of this group. He had been one of its most ardent cheerleaders. He once penned a letter describing the GUEA organization as an important and key partner of the city. This was just a few short months before the whole mess fell apart. He was effusive in his praise. He tried to withdraw the letter and submit a different version that was far less glowing in his praise of the GUEA; however, the State included the original one in the renewal submission that was turned in just before the organization’s implosion. Some thought he was trying to distance himself from the GUEA organization as much as possible. (Who could blame him?) Also, the banker, Christopher Morrow—someone that should know finance—was equally complimentary and supportive in his letter of support to the State; again just a few months before everything unwound. He managed to avoid most of the fallout from the meltdown, but it was around this time that his family sold the generations-old family business: Mercantile Bank. This was one of the banks that GUEA used for much of its banking activities.

And what about Ex-Councilwoman Marilyn Krusas? Most of the shenanigans took place in her district—right under her nose. Emerson is entirely in the First District. Why didn’t she ever notice anything?

What “drug” was able to induce this catatonia? By what could everyone have become so entranced? Just how is it possible that no one noticed anything wrong? Not even one little thing wrong—according to everyone close to the organization, everything was beautiful. I’m sure it was!—for some.

**GUEA was an organization designed to help revive one of the neediest neighborhoods: Emerson. However, back in its heyday, it was commonplace to find its staff hosting indulgent parties at some of Miller’s priciest establishments. The restaurant and bar tab for some of these events often exceeded 10K. These events were usually frequented by a virtual “who’s who” of the city’s political elite. You would also always find many of the city’s “movers and shakers” at these lavish affairs (at least the movers and shakers that were direct beneficiaries of GUEA’s largesse). For a chosen few, GUEA served as an ATM machine that seemed to have no limit. Was this how to help the poor? This was back before the State’s pesky auditors started poking their noses into the workings of the operation. It didn’t take long after the audit before things went all the way south.

At last count, the ADZ TIF account was holding onto around 28-million dollars of property tax money. This is money that had this TIF never been created, would have been able to be used to contribute to the General Fund, to provide these much-needed services, not only in Black Oak, but wherever the need might arise in the city. It could be used to pay for more police. It could be used to purchase new fire equipment. It could be used to fix potholes. It could be used to replace streetlights. But instead, all of the mayors who have held office since its creation have instead chosen to keep it safely tucked away; stashed away until they could figure out a way to get their hands on it.

* GUEA’s charter was to improve the Emerson neighborhood. Its target area had specific geographic boundaries. So why was it extending its tentacles far beyond these boundaries, all the way over to the far western borders of the city?

Well folks, it appears that day is finally here. They have finally figured out a way to break open the piggy bank—and then some!

The arrival of the Public/Private Partnership at the Gary Airport, or “P3”. P3 could just as easily stand for Pilfering for Personal Profit. In fact, that would describe what is going on over there far more accurately.

Airport for sale: No Money Down!

Just months ago, when the proposal was first being discussed publicly, it was said that the Airport was looking for investors to invest 100-million dollars. It was first indicated that prospective suitors would need to have deep pockets and would presumably need to have available capital stores well in excess of 100-mil. But how fast things change! Now, the winning bidder is no longer required to come up with 100-mil of their money. Au contraire! Instead, the winning bidder is going to be allowed to get their grubby hands on the stash in the ADZ TIF account. It also appears that they will be able to manage money that the Airport will be able to issue bonds for. So what was initially advertised as someone bringing a fresh 100-mil investment into the city, will in reality be someone from somewhere else being able to have an all-access pass to 50-70-million dollars of a combination of the ADZ TIF money and money from bonds issued using the Airport’s bonding capacity. (The winning “bidder”, in what seemed to all outside observers to be a pre-determined outcome--some insist this was a textbook case of collusion, conspiracy and/or bid rigging--will still need to have deep pockets; but not to bring money to the Airport and the project, but to cart away all the cash they may siphon out of it) A pretty sweet deal, eh? (We now just learned that these “investors” will be getting paid for their services by the Airport. They get $120,000.00 base pay for “management services”. Quite a departure from bringing suitcases full of cash TO the Airport, wouldn’t you say?) Clearly, if from the onset it was known that the winning bidder really didn’t need to have 100-million dollars, or access to it, or for that matter, any actual money at all, surely there would have been a helluva lot bigger response! But as far as that goes, I think they got a lot bigger response than they anticipated as it was. It took some real finesse to winnow the field of twenty down to the chosen one. This winnowing was seemingly facilitated by a process of partnering by the few that made it to the final round.

Of course it’s a sweet deal! It was designed to serve a very select group. But at what cost? It appears to be at a tremendous cost! Besides the ever-inflating direct costs of the ill-conceived project, the indirect costs are mounting rapidly. The entire remainder of the city is being neglected and sacrificed while this over-budgeted, over-hyped, and sure to under-perform project sucks all of the life from the city. The city continues to die its slow death just so that a few fat-cats, who all coincidentally happen to be some of the Mayor’s closet allies--and many of whom are known to be her largest campaign contributors--can benefit.

*One has to wonder why several of the individuals that have been involved in vetting this P3 proposal have severed their ties with the group. It cannot go unnoticed that the individuals that have chosen to distance themselves are respected and successful businessmen—with reputations to protect. The last thing anyone needs is to get embroiled in some GUEA-like scandal! With the only voices of reason having left for safe havens, it leaves only the toadies in charge of making this important decision that will surely dramatically affect the lives of every Gary citizen for many years to come.

There is no adequate police protection citywide. The fire trucks are falling apart. The streets are crumbling. The sidewalks are broken. The alleys are unnavigable. Half the streetlights are out most nights. The entire fleet of trucks and equipment has been neglected and are in horrible condition. Apparently the City has no money left to purchase salt to keep the streets safe in the winter.

The Airport expansion is not going to be the savior of this city. Don’t believe the hype. Don’t fall for any of it. To the contrary: this project will be the city’s downfall. It already is.

So besides being an endless money pit, these so-called leaders also use this project as an excuse to do nothing else—to NOT do all of the things we need them to do for us. “The expansion of the Gary Airport will save us all!” How many times have we heard some variation of this mantra? Too many! And while we suffer through these syllables, the balance of the city deteriorates just a little more each day. The more attention and resources that get directed towards the Airport, the less resources there are available to provide the basic services that the entire city is desperately crying out for. The Airport gets the attention, and everything else gets neglect. It is zero-sum.

So let this serve as notice to report this crime in progress—this boondoggle—this black hole for tax dollars. But there is no one else to call. The particular crime in progress can only be stopped by citizens’ arrest. That is to say, the common citizens of this city need to stop it. They need to demand attention to their needs. They need to reject the neglect of their needs. They need to let it be known—in no uncertain terms—that THEY matter; they matter more than all of the campaign contributors; they matter more that all the relatives and close friends; they matter more than all of the cronies and hacks. And that the rest of the city should not be sacrificed so that this ill-conceived and poorly executed project can continue—with no good end in sight.

And they need to remind her and others that it was only a short time since they were all told that they DID matter. They were made all sorts of promises—every one of them yet to be fulfilled.
****************************************

In summation, it is both foolhardy, as well as grossly irresponsible for the powers that be to embark on such a project before ensuring the city as a whole is solvent; before the citizens basic services are provided; and until a sufficient level of public safety can be provided to them so that they are afforded at least a bare minimum quality of life.

Furthermore, it is grossly fiscally irresponsible to continue to forge ahead with this over-budget project while being advised by several experts in the industry that this Airport body itself has commissioned and/or employed, that the lofty expectations of its success are severely overoptimistic.

If the city were financially healthy, and healthy in many other important ways, then and only then, should a project of this magnitude be contemplated. This project is not a panacea for the city; to the contrary, it will be its downfall—at least in the relative short term, say ten or more years. I don’t think it is for any group alive and in a position of authority now, to forsake the health and well-being of the city’s current residents, all in hopes that this high-risk gamble pays off in the future.

Think of it like a slot machine: it may eventually pay off, however the player will likely be broke long before that happens. Maybe, several players afterward will benefit by the previous players’ losses. But it doesn’t change the fact that several had to go broke first. Unfortunately, WE are these early slot machine players. The city today is an early player. Maybe, just maybe, the city of Gary of the future, will benefit—but maybe not! It is quite a risk to take--especially given that there is the blood of the youth of this city running into the gutters on nearly a daily basis. Reeling in crime MUST be the only priority. The rest of this nonsense can wait.

Having already wasted over 100-million dollars is not reason enough to continue to waste several-hundred-million dollars more. This is the same excuse we were given when the Baseball Stadium costs went from $25-million up to $56-million. “We can’t stop now.” The Council said on numerous occasions in many different ways.

So now we have a baseball stadium that cost taxpayers triple what similar stadiums cost in other communities, and continues to costs the taxpayers nearly a million a year in miscellaneous operating costs that we are on the hook for forever.

All of the development that was done at taxpayer expense around the Stadium has failed. The Bennigan’s sits empty. The Dusties Buffet sits empty. The most expensive per-seat stadium in the country operates at a loss to the city for as far into the future as we can see.

Failed projects like these are so very costly; not just in their direct costs, but even more costly because they direct so many other resources away from providing the basic functions of the rest of the city. We see it now, not only in all of the attention being directed at the Airport project, but seemingly even more in the Sheraton demolition project. It seems to have all but consumed the focus of the current administration for two years.

While some may see its demolition as being symbolic of something, it just doesn’t seem that it is worth forsaking the condition of the entire balance of the city over. In the two years that it has become the obsession of this administration, probably several-hundred other commercial buildings have fallen into disrepair that will also require demolition.

Symbolic of anything or not, focusing on the demolition of just one building, while letting the rest of the city go to hell, cannot be a good plan!

And the same goes for the Airport: focusing and directing all of the city’s resources on this one project that has no guarantee of any level of success can neither be a good plan; especially not as it apparently requires the abject neglect of the other 50 square miles of real estate we all know and love as Gary, Indiana!

So, is this a conspiracy to steal the Gary Airport and all the booty that goes along with it? Or is it just an innocent example of bad planning , worse management, and the worst execution imaginable? Or is this a great deal for the common citizens of Gary and its surrounding communities? You decide.