GARY — Marshalltown Terrace was rotting from within.
Houses in the subdivision, not far from the Lake Station border, stood empty and crumbling. Weeds ran amok along with crime and apathy. Even street signs disappeared, ripped away by scrappers who also boldly snatched aluminum siding off empty homes.
It was so bad long-time resident Sarah Taylor became ashamed to invite friends to her home.
Marshalltown Terrace seemed destined to a future of blight and despair like so many others in nondescript, forgotten urban enclaves.
Not this one.
Today, ride through this subdivision of ranch homes off 21st Avenue and Wisconsin Street and you’ll likely meet Florence Boquet wearing a tank top, shorts and sandals astride a Yard Man tractor. Or Mary Hampton toting a black garbage bag full of debris. Or sisters Elaine Motley and Sarah Taylor moving brush.
‘Somebody was crying’
In 2009, a new spirit came into the down-and-out neighborhood where the balance between criminals and residents had reached a tipping point.
“He’s our angel,” Taylor said of Apostle Marvin L. East.
East, a minister at the Truth Missionary Baptist Church on King Drive and 21st Avenue, listened to concerns of residents when he began spending time in Marshalltown Terrace to care for his elderly mother. Their fears and worries resonated with him.
Taylor still remembers the day they galvanized.
“April 15, 2009,” said Taylor. “He calls it: ‘Somebody was crying,’ ” she said of East.
East created a blueprint that appears to be working today. In fact, it might become a model for the troubled city.
“He came in and took back the community,” Taylor said.
Democratic mayoral candidate Karen Freeman-Wilson’s transition team visited Marshalltown Terrace and talked about ways to formalize their organization and to recruit volunteers.
“There was crime and debris everywhere and they couldn’t get anyone’s attention,” East said.
“I went to work changing the image. We took it back from those who had a criminal intent.”
Raising a ruckus
First off, they began with police.
“People were trying to make the abandoned homes drug houses,” Taylor said.
Initially, some of Marshalltown Terrace’s male residents walked the streets at night, calling the police if they saw wrongdoing. Gunshots were common sounds, residents said.
East contacted the Gary Police Department and asked Deputy Chief Michael Mallett for help. And he pressed City Councilwoman Carolyn Rogers, D-4th, for assistance.
“Thank God for Deputy Chief Mallett,” East said. “He put together a task force.”
Mallett, who lives near Marshalltown Terrace, answered the call.
“I sent units, we increased patrols. We started identifying subjects causing the trouble. Once identified, they were apprehended and arrested,” Mallett said. Intruders were picked up on old warrants and fresh charges.
He said some people had began squatting in abandoned houses and had set up makeshift living quarters. “We booted them out,” said Mallett, who says he still drives through Marshalltown Terrace occasionally. “The citizens know my vehicle, They’re appreciative of what the Gary Police Department has done. We have so much to do and so little resources.”
Grass and roots
Once secured from crime, the sprucing up began — largely with a determined cadre of women with organizational skills of four-star generals.
Florence “Sassy” Boquet, 33, once ran a landscaping business and she’s happiest driving her Yard Man tractor. Others have different skills.
“I was a secretary,” said Taylor, 67, who’s retired from the Gary Community School Corp. She has compiled a block-by-block assessment of houses in Marshalltown Terrace, taking note of which ones are boarded up, demolished or need yards cut. About 300 of 420 are occupied.
“Most of us grew up out here,” said Elaine Motley, 64, Taylor’s sister and the widow of a former Gary Police Chief Virgil Motley. “A lot of kids who inherited these houses didn’t care.”
East initially focused on the subdivision’s main entryways — Wisconsin Street and Marshalltown Drive.
“We cut trees down where you enter and exit. You could tell the difference right away. You could see people smiling,” East said.
The small group of volunteers has been vigilant in mowing and clearing away debris. Once they started piling up debris, other residents added to the piles. Now, they need help hauling it away. Councilwoman Rogers has promised help from General Services to pick up the growing debris mounds.
“We’re out there literally every day,” Boquet said. “We’ve appointed block leaders to take care of abandoned homes.”
Many residents park vehicles in the driveways of empty homes. “Houses that are empty and not lived in — we want them to look lived in,” said Boquet, who has lived there just three years.
She and her fiance, Tony Williams, have a park behind their house that was once overrun with weeds. “The mosquitoes were so bad the kids couldn’t get out there,” Boquet said.
Now, Boquet mows it regularly and youths have returned to play at the basketball court, as nice as any in the city. She said the park once had playground equipment but it had deteriorated so badly it was hauled away.
The group even created its own park on an abandoned lot. They hold committee meetings there and neighborhood barbecues. Resident Anthony Williams made the park’s table and benches.
The education
East believes Marshalltown Terrace residents should understand there’s a new pride in the community. “We’re trying to educate them. If you’re committing a crime, the task force will be out.”
It’s common for residents to call East before they call police.
There’s a focus on children, too. “Every home with a child, can that child read and write and are they ready for success?” East asks.
He has signed a contract with a small rundown church in the community to rent space for a community center. Once the church itself is rehabilitated, East envisions community dinners and events for youths such as a movie night.
Butting into neighbors’ lives and backyards isn’t always easy.
“We get a lot of thank-yous and we get a lot of ‘what do you think you’re doing?’ ” East said.
“I think it’s great when you have citizens who take back their community and who organize and come together and do the work; I applaud them for that,” Rogers said.
Others have noticed, too.
On a warm August day, Boquet navigated her Yard Man across tall grass at the corner of Wisconsin Street and 21st Avenue. Taylor, Motley and Mary Hampton picked up debris. The area borders Bethune Early Learning Center, a Gary Community School Corp. preschool.
Principal Ava Ligon couldn’t believe it.
“I believe it will help the children to understand that people care about this community and if we work together, especially around our schools, we can have a climate of excellence.”
Keeping the faith
At least one of the five men in the orange jumpsuit from the Lake County Jail grew up in Marshalltown. On this hot September day, Albert Walton, 38, was back wielding a weed cutter. Another offender pushed a mighty lawn-and-brush mower across knee-high weeds.
Walton was part of a Lake County work-release offender crew taking on the overgrowth at nine abandoned houses.
Taylor, Motley and Boquet relished the help made possible by contacting Lake County Deputy Chief Willie Stewart, who oversees the work-release program.
“We’ll rake this up next week,” Motley said.
Resident Lisi McClain, who grew up in Marshalltown Terrace, emerged with an armful of water for the work crew.
“For them to do what they’ve been doing makes me feel good,” McClain said.
Taylor, armed with two pairs of gloves, a visor and a bandanna, just hopes their work can continue.
Next up, they’re meeting with police to form a crime watch program.
“I’m hoping everybody stays aboard. We need plywood, nails, lawn mowers, trimmers. We had no control over people moving in and out of houses, but we take pride in our own.”