‘Please help the city of Gary’

“Never before have we had a president that operated a business in Gary, Indiana,” Young wrote. “Never before have we had a president that owned property in Gary. Never before have we had a president that is directly familiar with local politics in Gary and is familiar with its systemic corruption. But now we do. President Trump knows Gary, Indiana.”

I disagree with this presumption. Trump knows about Gary but doesn’t know Gary. It’s the difference between playing a slot machine and operating a casino. But anyway, Young’s letter — all 1,465 words — is a detailed plea to Trump for assistance on behalf of the city where he has business interests including a used truck parts firm and real estate properties.

“We can hope that his new administration will come to the aid of Gary citizens and business owners,” wrote Young, who lives in Wadsworth, Illinois, located near the Wisconsin border.

“For residents, they have been forced to endure the worst quality of life for decades. But not for lack of money from the Federal government or from other sources, but for the total misappropriation of Federal dollars and monies from elsewhere,” Young wrote. “Residents in many portions of the city are forced to live in sub-third world conditions; this in a place less than 30 miles from Chicago’s Gold Coast.”

Young also sent the letter to the office of Gary Mayor Eddie Melton and other city officials. I reached out to the mayor’s office for a response to the letter’s public plea, but Melton’s office declined to comment.

I also reached out to Chuck Hughes, the longtime president and CEO of the Greater Gary Chamber of Commerce, who didn’t receive that letter until I shared it with him.

“I have not been asked my opinion on anything, nor my support, but I am open to working collaboratively with anyone to help meet the challenges we face in a unified manner,” Hughes replied.

John Allen, a Gary resident since 1986, rehabs and leases or sells properties in Gary. He also hosts the radio show “We the People” on WLTH, with co-host Jim Nowacki. On a recent show, Allen talked about Young’s letter and received criticism from a caller for doing so.

After the show, I asked Allen for his thoughts on Young’s letter and its premise.

“Many more than I would like to admit, Gary residents like to redirect the blame of their plight and challenges of the city at people and things not directly related to the problem,” Allen said. “Some residents think they are fighting the experience (mostly historical) of racial bias by being biased themselves against non-blacks.”

This bias manifests itself mostly by undermining or invalidating opinions from white or non-Black people about Gary, he noted.

“They also hide behind the outsider-versus-insider clan mentality against some blacks, such as myself when we disagree, based upon where the fellow Black American was born,” Allen said. “Some think it’s the United States of Gary as opposed to the United States of America.”

Similar to Young, Allen is known for “highlighting and reporting” corruption in Gary, as Allen puts it.

“So when reading Andy’s letter about the historic failings of Gary, some would like to redirect to the perceived or real shortcomings as issues they have with the writer; such as his ownership of several properties that the city feels he should renovate or make use of other than he has.”

Through the years, I’ve received multiple emails from Young about his complaints and allegations regarding corruption in Gary. His letter to Trump reflects his stance against city officials throughout multiple mayoral administrations.

“For businesses, they have had to struggle against the most impossibly hostile business environment in the state, if not the entire country. The hostile environment is a potpourri of incompetence, corruption, poverty and last but far from least: racism, as well as other forms of discrimination,” Young wrote to Trump.

“Gary needs the help of your administration. It needs your help to be put on a path that will help it become restored to its former glory and its important place in the world. Gary cannot be forgotten, nor should it be forgotten and neglected any longer.”

Will Trump respond to Young? Will Trump try to intervene or offer assistance? Will Trump give a damn about a city he once promised the world?

Thirty-two years ago, Trump visited Gary to meet with local officials who gambled on casino revenue to resuscitate the city’s devastated economic situation. Trump told them he would rescue Gary like he did Atlantic City, New Jersey.

I remember drawing one of my first political cartoons about Trump visiting Buffington Harbor on Lake Michigan, where two riverboat casino boats would be docked. It showed Trump, then a real estate mogul, rescuing Gary on a white horse while tossing out poker chips to residents.

In 1994, Trump told the Indiana Gaming Commission that he would renovate the dilapidated Sheraton Hotel as well as City Hall.

“I think we’ll build it, yes, we will,” Trump told the commission. “I think it’s important for Gary.”

Obviously, it never happened. But maybe, now as president, Trump will toss a few poker chips toward the city. He’s long past the days of tossing a Miss USA Pageant to the city.

“We are not begging for handouts, but we do ask for some help,” Young wrote. “We need the landscape purged of the interfering factors that impede normal development. People need to be safe. We need law and order.”

“Simply put, we want and need the same things that all Americans do. We are now poised, ready and willing to work with your administration to turn this place around. Please respond to this plea for help.”