Economy

Gary’s $1 Million Plan To Remodel City Hall

CHICAGO CRUSADER — Gary city officials are planning to spend approximately $1 million to remodel portions of historic City Hall. Some city employees have been assigned to offices in the City Hall annex located at 839 Broadway, the former location of Sears downtown Gary, but city officials are interested in selling off the annex and moving city employees back to City Hall, at 401 Broadway.

Published

5 years ago

June 2, 2019

Oakland Post

By Giavonni Nickson

Gary city officials are planning to spend approximately $1 million to remodel portions of historic City Hall. Some city employees have been assigned to offices in the City Hall annex located at 839 Broadway, the former location of Sears downtown Gary, but city officials are interested in selling off the annex and moving city employees back to City Hall, at 401 Broadway.

The remodel plans are being developed to accommodate the space needed for additional employees. City Hall and the Lake County Superior Courthouse were built using Neoclassical style in 1926. They are both a part of the Gary City Center Historic District, a historic district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the U.S. federal government’s official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. NRHP was established as part of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 and is overseen by the National Park Service. The National Register recognizes more than 90,000 properties for their significance in American history, architecture, art, archeology, engineering, and culture.

Gary’s City Hall and other historic properties listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

The Gary Common Council created a Building Renovation Fund which will have $1,040,385. Funds are sourced from a one-time project to construct a new vehicle maintenance building. The project has since been suspended.

The council voted 6-0 in favor of the employee transfer with the belief that the City Hall remodel project will benefit city government operations while making the City Hall structure a more efficient place to work.

This vote comes on the heels of infrastructure week as Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson pushes for an influx of federal infrastructure dollars to be utilized in the City of Gary.

“Local leaders are stepping up and doing more than ever to address our infrastructure challenges, but our budgets are stretched far too thin for the rebuilding we need to do. That’s why it’s great to hear Congress and the President have heard our call and agreed to come back to the negotiation table for a $2 trillion infrastructure package this year,” said Freeman-Wilson who serves as the president of the National League of Cities (NLC).

NLC is the nation’s largest organization representing cities and their leaders. As president of NLC, Freeman-Wilson is leading the organization to focus on four priority areas: helping city leaders tackle the housing crisis; uplifting legacy cities; creating communities for all generations; and, encouraging civic engagement.

Through these four pillars of work and a national campaign, Freeman-Wilson and NLC will engage city leaders to create a more meaningful bond between communities and their residents. Freeman-Wilson also leads the organization’s advocacy efforts, focused on the critical issues of infrastructure, public safety and economic development.

Freeman-Wilson stated, “As our nation’s infrastructure ages, it becomes less reliable and, in some cases, less safe,” to support her push for the $2 trillion infrastructure package.

Federal infrastructure funding would help Gary close the funding gap and speed up projects that have stalled. Freeman-Wilson has outlined plans for potential funding. “For example, in my city of Gary, IN, we could accelerate our commuter rail project, allowing us to reduce the amount of time required to travel between Gary and Chicago, and create transformative transit-oriented development at train stops. It would also provide a “shot in the arm” for the development of a multimodal site at Buffington Harbor. Every city, town and village has a project like this that will help our infrastructure work better locally and nationally,” said Freeman-Wilson.

Though the National League of Cities heavily focuses on infrastructure during its one week initiative, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson intends to push for federal funding as she wraps up her term in office.

“We have to keep the pressure on until we see a federal investment package that reimagines and funds our infrastructure in partnership with cities, towns and villages,” said Freeman-Wilson.” I encourage every local leader to connect with their members of Congress to ensure they know that we want to work together on an infrastructure package. Together, we can lead the movement to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. Until we see a bill, let’s remind Congress – every week is Infrastructure Week back home.”

Giavonni is a passionate freelance writer native of Gary IN. She covers business, politics, and community schools for the Chicago/Gary Crusader.

This article originally appeared in the Chicago Crusader.

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Activism

Bank of America Grants $200,000 to Richmond Housing Nonprofit

RNHS has provided housing services to Richmond residents since 1981. The organization develops, acquires, and/or rehabilitates single-family homes and housing developments in blighted or vacant lots in order to make them available as affordable homes for rent or purchase to low-income families.

Published

6 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo by RDNE Stock via Pexels. Courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (RNHS) was one of two Bay Area nonprofits awarded a $200,000 grant over two years from Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program.

The nonprofit also serves residents through education programs involving financial literacy programs, home loans, foreclosure prevention, and affordable rental counseling.

RNHS plans to use the $200,000 Bank of America grant to hire leadership staff, and to expand its Emerging Developers Program and Restoring Neighborhoods Program.

Through this grant program, RNHS will also benefit from comprehensive leadership training for its executive director and an emerging leader.

Since the Neighborhood Builders program’s inception in 2004, 59 nonprofits have been selected in San Francisco and the East Bay, with the bank investing nearly $12 million in philanthropic capital into these local organizations.

Along with RNHS, San Francisco-based mental health nonprofit RAMS also won a $200,000 grant this year.

“We’re proud to include RAMS and RNHS as the 2024 Neighborhood Builders,” said Gioia McCarthy, president of Bank of America San Francisco-East Bay. “Countless individuals, families and neighborhoods have felt the profound impact that these 59 Neighborhood Builder nonprofits have had in our area over the past two decades.”

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Activism

LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST

Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST

Published

2 weeks ago

November 12, 2024

Oakland Post

Discussion Topics:
• Since the pandemic, what battles have the NAACP fought nationally, and how have they impacted us locally?
• What trends are you seeing concerning Racism? Is it more covert or overt?
• What are the top 5 issues resulting from racism in our communities?
• How do racial and other types of discrimination impact local communities?
• What are the most effective ways our community can combat racism and hate?

Your questions and comments will be shared LIVE with the moderators and viewers during the broadcast.

STREAMED LIVE!
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Business

With Immigration Reform on the Table, Advocates Put Human Face on Calif’s Migrant Farmworkers

About 99% of the commercially grown crops consumed by people across the United States come from California, according to data compiled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). Between half and one-third of the farmworkers who help to grow, tend, harvest and package these crops live in the Golden State. That’s about 500,000 to 800,000 workers. Astonishingly, 75% of them are undocumented.

Published

3 weeks ago

November 6, 2024

Oakland Post

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By Edward Henderson

California Black Media

About 99% of the commercially grown crops consumed by people across the United States come from California, according to data compiled by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

Between half and one-third of the farmworkers who help to grow, tend, harvest and package these crops live in the Golden State. That’s about 500,000 to 800,000 workers.

Astonishingly, 75% of them are undocumented.

“People are very afraid,” said Manuel Ortiz Escámez, a sociologist, audio-visual journalist, and co-founder of Peninsula 360, a news organization based in Redwood City.

“I hold interviews with people who later call and say, ‘Please do not publish anything, because I’m afraid of what could happen,’” he added.

Escámez spoke last month during a news briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services (EMS) that addressed the plight of migrant workers in California, particularly those who live in the United States without legal status.

During an election year when immigration is a polarizing issue with strong opinions on all sides, Escámez says the lives and critical contributions of farmworkers have been reduced to soundbites or barbs in Left vs. Right talking points.

The fervent anti-immigration rhetoric these debates generate can brew hate and motivate hate crimes and hate incidents against migrants, creating an atmosphere of fear and danger among California’s farmworkers, advocates warn.

In these situations, the debate shifts from the virtues of legal vs. illegal immigration to politicians scoring political points by finding a group to blame for the country’s problems.

“Power in politics needs to invent a physically and morally repugnant enemy who wants to take what’s yours because the feeling of emergency creates unity and the need of a savior,” said Escámez. “That’s why migrants have always been the ideal enemy of some U.S. political campaigns … and the data shows that it works.”

No matter where Californians stand on immigration, the contributions migrant farmworkers make to California’s economy and the country’s food supply are undeniable.

In February 2024, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to gross domestic product over the next decade. A vast majority of these contributions come from immigrants like California’s farmworkers who perform jobs and endure conditions many Americans choose not to.

“I’m undocumented with a sliver of privilege. I’m still in a precarious position, but millions of people would love to be in my shoes,” said Gustavo Gasca Gomez, immigration outreach specialist and a Stop the Hate coordinator at the Fresno-based Education and Leadership Foundation.

“I can work, and I have social security. But I can’t vote or leave the country and return without express permission. And before I was a DACA recipient in 2012 I was a farmworker right out of high school,” said Gomez. “The work is difficult. It’s hot, dirty and tedious. It makes your mind numb in many ways. But it’s a job that the entire country depends on.”

This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate. 