Posted on 08/15/2013 8:05:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
GARY, Ind. — As a tower of black smoke rose above this blighted city last week, a group of neighbors huddled across the street from a burning house, trying to guess which other vacant properties on their block would be arsonists’ next target.
“There’s so many,” said Tasha McMiller, 50, a resident dismayed by the estimated 10,000 abandoned homes here. “They’re a burden.”
Officials say that a third of the houses in Gary are unoccupied, hollowed dwellings spread across a city that, like other former industrial powerhouses, has lost more than half its population in the last half-century.
While some of those homes will be demolished, Gary is exploring a more affordable way to lift its haggard tax base and reduce the excess of empty structures: sell them for $1.
The program, announced in June, will offer Gary residents a chance to pay less for a house than for their morning coffee, as long as they meet a minimum income threshold (starting at $35,250 for one person) and demonstrate the financial ability to bring the neglected property up to code within six months. Those selected would have to live in the home for five years before receiving full ownership.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I would rather live in Detroit.
The first 6 words are racist.
Was gonna say....from all I have heard, Detroit is safer.
LMAO!!!!
“No, not Detroit”.... it’s WORSE!
I wonder if you would still be alive after 5 years in either place.
AMAZING how close Gary Indiana is to Chicago Illinois....home to Bronco Bama and Louis Farraklown !
If someone is earning that much per person, I have a hard time understanding why they'd even WANT to live in ChicaGary.
Slate named Gary, Indiana to be the” 2nd Most Liberal City in America!” (Behind #1 Detroit)
The liberal media morons should be FORCED to live in these liberal paradises they helped create, instead of the Mostly-white gated communities, with armed guards, that they hide behind now.
Imagine Tina Brown or Piers Morgan forced to live at Chicago and Woodward, in Detroit?
“... and bring it up to code” tells me it is going to be a lot more than $1
Is it racist to note that places with large black populations seem to have a whole host of social pathologies, in far greater numbers than other places???
Is it politically incorrect to note that many of these places have been run by Democrats for decades???
Both of these are inconvenient truths about many of these God forsaken places. They are facts. Yet, not sure if liberals will allow us to state such facts without being called racist, haters, etc.
This one is timeless. Detroit has been the butt of jokes for decades. This one from the 1970s. (Posting from phone, so sorry for lack of a proper link)
I can survive anywhere, but who wants to live in a place where that question is a real concern everyday.
It was considered a "blight". Now, it is a memory of productivity and prosperity.
Fascinating place. What’s the story behind it?
My parents moved there back in the mid 1950s after getting married.
They moved out 6 months later and still joke about it.
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