Law enforcement officials have suggested that one way to reduce crime and violence in Gary is to eliminate the number of decrepit buildings that exist in the city; in part to reduce structures that could be used for criminal activity.
Yet a city official said Wednesday there are limits to the number of buildings the city can tear down at any one time.
Cedric Kuykendall, the city's demolition coordinator, told a Public Safety Committee hearing held at City Hall there are time-consuming procedures that must be followed before the city can tear down a structure. There also are financial costs the city incurs when it demolishes a building.
"With the level of money the city has, we don't have the funds to do all the demolition we'd like to do," Kuykendall said. "We could lose money if we don't do it right."
Kuykendall said the city expects to receive titles to some 95 properties during the next week, which would allow demolition to proceed.
For the year, there are two sources of funds that can be used by the city to demolish structures.
Those covered by Hardest Hit Fund could total some 336 structures by year's end, while the city's Capital Development Block Grant funds could be used to cover the cost of some 81 properties being demolished during 2015.
Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she sees how demolition of decrepit structures could help improve the city's image, but she said the real key to reducing crime in Gary is to get the public more involved in watching out for criminal activity and cooperating with police.
"The best thing to combat crime is a block club and a neighborhood watch," the mayor said, saying she thinks Gary residents ought to think to themselves, "What can I do on a daily basis to make the city safer?"
Wednesday's hearing was meant to be a follow-up to a hearing held in early June with law enforcement officials from the Lake County Sheriff's police and the Indiana University Northwest police, along with the Gary Police Department.
Officials at the time were concerned with the rising homicide rate in Gary. Police Chief Larry McKinley said the reality is that there were spikes in the city's rate both in May and again in late July/early August that drove up the murder total.