Exclusive: Gary mayor talks about city's challenges

GARY, Ind. (WLS) -- Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson doesn't have to look far to see the blight that plagues the city where she grew up. The house she calls home is surrounded by abandoned buildings, including a once-historic apartment complex that's been vacant for 40 years.

"I leave out of the front door of my house every day and see an abandoned building," se says. "It's a chronic problem throughout the city of Gary."

But Freeman-Wilson points to the demolition of the Sheraton Hotel and the Dollar House Program as success stories.

The former Indiana attorney general has been working to bring economic development to her hometown. Wednesday, she cut the ribbon for the long-awaited access road to the Majestic Star Casino.

Two weeks ago, the national spotlight was on the once-booming steel town as fellow Harvard alum President Barack Obama landed at the Gary airport.

"We are in the midst of a runway extension and to have him come in and not just come in but come in on Air Force One; that was a huge deal for us," Freeman-Wilson says.

The light quickly dimmed as word came this weekend of an alleged serial killer. But Wilson-Freeman says where naysayers see crime statistics and deterioration, she still sees a landscape of possibilities.

"My hope," she says, "is really to have the resources to tackle this problem in a way that you can look and say, wow, we're making a difference."

Mayor Freeman-Wilson says a grant from the Treasury Department has been instrumental in addressing the abandoned building problem, but that the city needs $40 million more to make an impact. She hopes that, with such an investment, they will see noticeable improvement within three to five years.