Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Mayor Of Gary, Indiana Eddie Melton Talks '2300 Jackson Street Block Party,' Trump, Joe Budden +More

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INTERVIEW: Mayor Of Gary, Indiana Eddie Melton Talks '2300 Jackson Street Block Party,' Trump, Joe Budden +More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Don't know every day waiting clicks up the breakfast club
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: finish for y'all done.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Yep, it's the world most dangerous. Wanting to show to
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: breakfast club charlamagea god jess hilarious and we had to
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: step out. But we got a special guest in the building.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: He is the mayor of Gary, Indiana. Mister Mayor Eddie Melton.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: How you doing, brothers.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: I'm blessed. I'm blessed. Thanks for having me, Thanks for
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: having me today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Man, I gotta get right to it. Is the Trump
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: administration targeting cities with black mans, man?
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's clear based off the reports
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: that we're seeing. You see what's happened in Chicago, Baltimore,
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: and the threasts in DC. As a black mayor in
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: a Republican state, you know, it's definitely a concern to
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: see something like that happen. When I look at the facts,
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: you know that the military has no arresting powers and
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: it's a waste of resources to put military on the
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: ground and it's dangerous. So I agree with what's taking
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: place from the pushback, but I think the conversation has
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: to shift what type of resources we need to invest housing,
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: mental health, you know, just to help reduce overall crimes,
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: like in job training programs, the entire gambit. Cities like
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: Baltimore and Chicago, Birmingham, reduction of crime is happening. We
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: had a fifty five percent reduction of homicide this year,
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: something that we're extremely proud of. So shout out to
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: the Gary Police Department Chief Derrek Cannon for his leadership.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I'm against it, but we have to have
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: the conversation about what do we do as a United
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: States to invest in our people, not just in policing.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Can ask you question what matters more right? Data are feelings?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is, you know, we
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: hear these numbers about the crime statistics going down, but
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: there's people who live in those cities will be like,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: we don't feel it, you know what I mean? And
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I always say, just because somebody was five hundred pounds
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and they lost two hundred, they're still three hundred, So
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: they're still kind of fact, you know, they're still fact.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: That's the real thing. Feelings is a real thing what
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: you see and what you engage in feeling. But the
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: data speaks to is there a trend in what are
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: we doing that's helping.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Is it getting better?
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Is it getting better?
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: If if we know that we've invested more into summer programs,
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: after school programs, workforce development programs, then we should be
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: looking for additional funding to fund that more. So I
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: think it's a balance, right, But you have to be
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: aware of what the people are saying, what the people
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: are feeling. You know, being a mayor is a very
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: difficult and challenging but most rewarding job, especially when you
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: grew up in the city that helped raise you. So
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: I have family that have struggled and experienced some a
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: lot of these heartaches. So I'm just proud of the
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: progress that we're making. But we just get to start.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: We got a long ways to go.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Why is it so fulfilling to be a man.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: Man growing up in Gary in the nineties and the
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: negative stigma that you all probably already heard of. We're
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: transforming at We're changing that narrative, We're changing the way
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: people are thinking and feeling about the city by investing
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: in the people, but also raising the awareness what people
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: don't know about the city. Of course, you know, we've
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: about thirty five minutes from downtowns that's great, But folks
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: don't know we have an international airport that we share
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: in collection with Chicago. Myself and Brandon Johnson, Mayor of Chicago,
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: we talk often about how we can grow that international airport.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: A lot of folks don't know Gary sits right on
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Lake Michigan. We have five miles of beachfront property. The
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: individuals come. We had a quarter of a million people
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: just two weeks ago in Geary, Indiana at the Gary
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Chicago Airshow at the Geary Airshow, So that was something
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: that we brought in.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: More revenue.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: More people are coming to see the positive things that's
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: taking place. I can go on and on. It's a
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: lot of these we'll probably get weave into the conversation.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: But to grow up in the city that made you
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: to the person that you are. I was able and
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: blessed to have great mentors, able to go to college
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: when to Kentucky State University, shout out to the Thoroughbreds.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: And to come home.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: You know of a state senator for two terms for
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: eight years in Indiana representing Gary in Northwest Indiana. So
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: it's a blessing and it's truly blessed. I give God
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: the glory for that.
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: I never heard anything bad about Gary Indianda it's good,
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: you know, other than my guy Jackson coming from there.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I never heard anything other than that.
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: And I heard you say that, you know, we probably
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: know about some of the things that's been said.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: That's the only thing.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: I've heard that's a blessing. I'm glad that's never heard.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Right Well, Jackson's and Freddy Gibbs, Michael Jackson, Jackson, Freddy Ye.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I was with Freddy last night. Yeah, okay, he said,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: what's up, Denise Williams. It's so many big dog. Glenn Robinson,
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: So the list goes on in terms of the history
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: and the culture that Gary has. Gary was founded by
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: US Steel nineteen o six. So we are a steel city,
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Steell Town. We've seen the ups and we've seen the downs,
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: just like a lot of russ Bell cities across America,
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: like Detroit, Flint, Yeah, Sagging, all these cities that live
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: and work around industry, and when the industry had a downturn,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: it was an impact that rippled throughout the country. Right,
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: So I'm glad to hear that. It's not the negative
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: stuff that you hear, but you know, we got so
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: much to celebrate. Yes, Michael Jackson, the Jackson Five, Janet Jackson,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: all of them are born and raised, and Gary Denise Williams.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: But this weekend we're going to be celebrating all those folks,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: celebrating all them.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: What is going on this weekend.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: August twenty ninth is Michael's birthday. So we've reached out
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: to the family, just worked with them very closely, built
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: a very good relationship over the years with the brothers,
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: Marlon and Jackie be in town. Building a great relationship
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: with that next generation of the Jackson So shout out
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: to Siggie Jackson, which is Jackie's oldest son, Prince Michael's son,
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: who had been in supportive to figure out, how do
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: we change that narrative about Gary, let people know the
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: positive things that's happened. So for several years, a little
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: bit over a decade, there was no formal celebration or
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: acknowledgment that the world's most famous entertainment family was from
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Gary and Michael Jackson from Geary. So I worked with
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: the governor at that time. We got the highway signage
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: set in place to let people know from a tourism perspective.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: But now we're going to have a formal event to
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: let the world know you can come in.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: We got Chris Tucker coming in. He's going to DJ.
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: Kid Capri is going to be there as well to
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: have a good time with us. Denise William's going to
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: host one day. So we got a lot of folks
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: local DJ's, DJ all Out, djk C's or DJ chies Beat.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: So we're bringing the community together. But people from around
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: the world are reaching out from Australia London to say
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: they want to recognize and celebrate Michael at twenty three
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: hundred Jackson Street. You remember that song. You remember that song?
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: You got to google that.
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: Song to explain the nipp partnership.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I mentioned about US Steels. US Steel is
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: one of the largest steel producers in the world at
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: the At one point they were the number one still
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: produce in the world. Over time, they slipped down a
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: low twenties. Nippon is from Japan, this Japanese company. When
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: I came into office in twenty twenty four, there was
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: a threat that US Steel would actually close plants. I
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: keep in mind when Gary's height, US still had a
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: thirty thousand employees right now, we got four thousand employees.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: That's automation, that's technology that and that's the down turn
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: of the industry. But the steel production happens. So the cans,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: the can goods that you have, the washing machines that
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: you use, all of that is from steel production, and
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: most of that have probably come from the US steel
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: from Gary Works. Shout out to Marko Watkins's here with me.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: He's still working. That's right behind me. So the Pond
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: still knowing that US security.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Security outside.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: No, but the Pond still made an offer to purchase
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: US Steal, which was very controversial in the beginning. When
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: I came in, I was skeptical, just like many people,
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: to have a foreign entity seek to buy a US
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: company like US stell of that magnitude. So there was
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: a lot of concerns and issues. So I did the
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: due diligence. I met with US Steel, I met with
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: Nippon Steele to learn what type of investments.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: They want to make. When you work, when you live
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: in cities like.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Gary that have pollution, you know, from a legacy perspective
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: in the still making process, the community is always going
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: to be concerned of the impact to the environment. So
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: that was a concern of mine, ensuring that jobs were
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: staying in place. Those three thousand workers, many of them,
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: well most of them, some of them live in the
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: city of Gary, and that's something that we're going to
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: address as well, make sure that the employment abilities is there.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: So this deal was closed. We worked with.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: Congressmen Benny Thompson, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Congressman Jim Clodburn.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: Was extremely helpful both in Biden and Trump administration for
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: us to have this conversation to say, this deal has
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: to go through fourteen billion dollar investment that Nippon has purchased,
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: well not a purchase, they partner with US Steel. Three
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: billion is going to go directly in the city of
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: Geary works.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Plan seventy thousand jobs.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: I think I saw well nationwide nationwide, but there's going
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: to be at a minimum of one thousand new jobs
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: in the city of gear That's dope, all right. So
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: we're working within upon right now as we speak. They
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: get ready to reline the blast furnace blast Furn's number fourteen,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: which is the largest steel producing blast furnace in US
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Steel's portfolio. So when you think about re lining the
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: blast furnace and increasing steel productions more jobs, is protecting
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: national security and everything like that. So it's a good
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: deal from an environmental standpoint. The Japanese are bringing their
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: technology to make the still making process a cleaner process
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: for the community, so that's something that's extremely important. So
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: those investments are going to soon trickle down into the
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: specific community, so we can invest in our infrastructure, paving streets,
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: street lights, stop you know, stop lights, all those type
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: of things that need to be fixed right now that
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: historically Geary has had issues doing because we didn't have
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: the revenue. But now we're working with our corporate partners
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: to make that happen.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I'm much credited to Trump get for that because I
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: saw when he announced back and made that you know
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: that US still was going to remain American owned, and
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: he talked about the partnership. So how much credited to
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Get for that.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: I mean any president has to say so, so he
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: definitely has the credit in terms of approving the deal.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: So I'm grateful for that. But now it's trying to
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: make sure the deal happens. All of that investment that
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: three billion has to be invested by twenty twenty eight,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: So that's a very small window to spend and invest
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: three billion dollars. So those tax dollars of that investment
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: is going to be reinvested back into the city. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: we're working right now with US Steal in the Pond
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: to figure out what's the best method to deploy those
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: dollars into the streets.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going to ask that like where did that money go,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: because you know, people hear these numbers and they're like
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: three billion dollars into our town, into our city, right.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: That three billion goes into the infrastructure, into the plant.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: The way that is assessed though that infrastructure enhancement is assessed,
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: is going to relate to some tax dollars locally, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: that's where we're going to work directly with UPON and
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: US still to figure out what's the best formula that
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: we can divest directly into paving the streets, the street lights,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: traffic lights, public safety, right making sure that we could
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: pay our police and fire EMS workers the adequate ways,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: because right now our police and fire is getting siphoned
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: off from other communities. They're the best trained, but because
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: we can't pay them that wage, that's changing right now.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: So a lot of folks are applying to become firefighters,
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: shot out three five nine Local three five nine Area
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: Firefighters and GFD the local police union. But it's a
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: lot of good stuff happening, man, in terms of just
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: what the potential and the direction that we're going into.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: What other plans do you have to revitalize the city,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: you know, following the success of the deal with it.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: When we first came in, we had to stabilized finances.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: That was extremely important. So right now, for the first time,
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: I'm like close to a decade, we have a surplus,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: so making wise decisions. When I came in, I spent
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: you know, the eight years that was in in Indiana
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: Senate speaking to my staff to say, hey, we have
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: to reserve at least ten percent of your budget every
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: year before we make significant purchases or in investments. Investing
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: in people is going to be number one. So we've
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: tripled the amount of investments into our infrastructure, paving streets
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: just like you say, a lot of people say you
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: ain't paying my street right because it hasn't happened, But
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: we're paving major third afaares. When I came into office,
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: significant amount of street lights.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: We're out right.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: The city owned a little bit over two thousand street lights.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: I let's say nine hundred were almost either malfunction or broken.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: By the end of this year, every single street light
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: is going to be energy efficient led. So that investment
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: is happening right now. It's going to make it safer,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: it's going to be making it more enjoyable. But we
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: have a new deal with the hard Rocket scene. You know,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: harn Rock just was built in around twenty twenty one.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: So when I would stay Cenator, I passed center built
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: four thirty four, which allows us to enter into a
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: public private partnership to build a new convention center. Eighty
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: ninety four is probably the nation's busiest highway and that's
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: what take you from Chicago to Detroit. Gary Smack Dad
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: right in the middle of that. Nearly three hundred thousand
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: cars a day. So Harrock. Before Harrock, we had another
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: casino that was on a lake front. I helped pass
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: the law to move gaining from waterfront to land base
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: in twenty nineteen. Now that they've broke ground and built
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: the harr Rock, we were the lowest revenue generator in
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: the state.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Now we're number one. Wow.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Right, So now that investment. We're going to build one
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: one hundred and forty million dollar convention center right there
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: on eighty ninety four in conjunction with har Rock. Harrock
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: is going to build a new hotel. We have a
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: private developer that's getting ready to build two new hotels
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: and new restaurants right at the gateway of Birth Street
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: in Gary, Indiana.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I love that is That's dope. How do you plan
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: to ensure that Gary doesn't see another decline similar to
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: what happened after the first collapse of.
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, we got to look at diversifying just
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: our whole economic base. Transportation logistics is something that I'm
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: very passionate about right now. And I'm not talking about
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: putting truck stops and things like that. We're talking about
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: international flights again. With the Geary Chicago Airport we have.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: If you pull up a map of Gary, Indiana or
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: state of Indiana, they say Indiana is the crossroads to America.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure you've ever heard that slogan. Most transit
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: or highways and rail traffic go through Indiana.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: And when you look at a map, much of that
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: intersect between Chicago and Gary. So three class one rail lines.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: Most commerce is moving east and west is going to
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: go through the city, So how do we maximize and
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: build off of that from warehousing distribution fed X. Working
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: with fed X and a private developer, they're getting ready
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: to break around now on the three hundred thousand.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Square foot facility.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: That facility is going to hire six hundred new employees.
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: So within a year and a half have been in office,
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: we have close to two thousand jobs that has been
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: confirmed over the next four to five years or two
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: to five years as we just got started.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Question is it because of the nip on No? Okay, okay, no,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just wonder if other people want to
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: be there now, because.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: It's a buzz, it's a vibe and energy right now
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: because of the investments that we're doing from a very
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: grassroot level, from individuals as investing in their own homes
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: to people investing in properties and flipping properties. Now for
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: the first time in fifty years, and this is based
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: off of study that Indiana University Northwest has done. Gary's
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: population has grown for the first time in fifty years.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Right, So although it's just a few hundred people, that's
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: still the significant trend that we're tracking. So now that
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: we know, okay, somewhere on to something here, making it cleanup,
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: making it safer, making it more energy efficient, making it
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: more resilient, because I believe in the next ten years
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: more folks are going to be moving to the Midwest.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: You know, you look at climate change that's happening. You
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: look at all of the you know, tornadoes and hurricanes
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: and wildfires. Gary sitting on Lake Michigan, which is a
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: part of the Great Lakes. That's the world's largest fresh
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: body of water. So you're gonna need water to survive
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: and have life.
• 16:24
  Speaker 5: You're accomplished so much with it only being a year
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: and a half you being in office. How long did
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: you have this vision of changing Gary before you became
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: the mayor.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Being mayor was never the goal, the gold objective. I
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: just wanted to serve it. I just thank God for
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: having a heart and desire. But it's a lot of
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: folks that play a part in kind of mentoring me
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: and helping me. Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher one of the nations,
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: the nation's first black mayor that was elected. I'm not
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: sure if you guys know him. That's something from a
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: history book. Lesson and we encourage folks to know that Gary,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Indiana at the first black mayor in the.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: United States that was elected. Wow.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: Now we go back and forth with Mayor Bibbs in
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Cleveland in terms of Carl Stokes was also elected at
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: that's around that same timeframe who was sworn in first.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: But Mayor Richard Gordon Hatcher was very instrumental. Nineteen seventy two,
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: Gary hosted the Black Political National Black Political Convention. I
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: knew that a lot of folks don't realize that.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: And I knew that because Angeler I always talked about it.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because you wants to do stuff like that,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: something like that.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: We have to do something like that again to make
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: sure what is our agenda? What is our policy? Collectively?
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: What do we want to go to Congress? We can
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: go to the White House as a collective body to
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: say here are our priorities. But going back to your
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: point in terms of being mayor, was never the golden objective.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: I was on a state Board of education.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: First.
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: Then that's someone on the state board educational. Look, if
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: you want to know what's going on, follow the money.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: When I started following the money, I started realizing, wait,
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: a minute. We're not getting our fair share of resources
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: on the educational system because it was going into private
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: interests groups. If you want to make change, at that time,
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: my mind says, you got to change policy, you got
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: to change laws. So that's when I got more engaged
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: on a political aspect and ran for Indiana State Senate.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: We won, So thank all of the Senate District three folks.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: And here we are today.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: What would you say to the Garer residents who got
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: concerns and they're pushing back against the Environment Protection Agency?
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's rightfully.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: So we have a phenomenal advocacy group by the name
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: of GUARD that has helped me. They sit on an
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: advisory panel that I have. When we talk about the environment.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: When you take away certain standards and you will allow
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: corporations to emit certain toxins into the air, somebody's gonna
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: have to pay that bill from a health perspective. So
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: I stand with them in their regards. So how do
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: we make and that's what I'm advocating for in this
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: process with the pond, Will you make the investments to
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: make this a cleaner process. We know we need that
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: industry to stay there. But now that over the last
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: hundred years things have changed, there's a cleaner way to
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: make Still, do you.
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: Fear at all what's happening in DC? Do you feel
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: at all what's happening in DC will happen in Gary
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: with everything that Trump is doing.
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: No, I'm always watching what's happening around the country. Right now,
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: I'm so locked in and focused on where we are
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: in the progress that we're making. I have a great
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: working relationship with our governor, being in the center, that
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: helped me kind of understand how to navigate downstate and
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: work with the Republican Party across party lines. So right now,
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: I think Gary is in a very good position. However,
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: I still know things can change any given moment. Right
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: I'm not naives to think that it can't. So I'm
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: trying to make sure that we invest in the right things,
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: we use our resources. In our mission statement, I saying
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: we need to be one of the most resilient cities.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: To your point, how do we not repeat things that
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: we know that has happened in the past, And That's
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: where I'm trying to protect us from going down the
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: same cycle.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: This is my last question. You're not the first person
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: I've heard say that there's an attack on black mans.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Mayor Adams came up here maybe a year ago and
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: said that, or I said it was coming.
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: The real focus should be on our national government. That's saying,
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: why you're doing this to New York while you check
• 20:23
  Speaker 6: out what they're doing. They're doing it to New York,
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: They're doing it to Chicago, they're doing it to Los Angeles,
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: they're doing it to Houston. What is the same in
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: all those cities? All black mens, all black mens, and
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: so with we're saying same thing that I'm going through here.
• 20:41
  Speaker 6: My brother Johnson is going through, my sis Sebastian is
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: going through, my brother Turner is going through. So our
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: folks are what they wanted to happen. Governor Appen wanted
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: to happen. We're gonna turn these of cities against their mayors.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: We're gonna create this environment where they're all.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Going to go. It's their myth. Why. Well, I don't
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: know if I say there was an actual attack on
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: black marriage.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: I think it's obvious what's going on.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's clear what's taking place.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: I don't know the why, right, And I don't try
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: to get into the national politics that deep to understand
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: the why, because I just want to stay ready, right,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: shout up.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: Dame Dash told me to tell you what's up to.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: So one of the good sayings that Dan would always
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: take tell me, if you know the fight is coming,
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: brace your face, right. But you also got to be
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: ready for war as well at the same time, And
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: I'm saying that in a peaceful term. I'm not saying
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: prepare for war specifically, but being prepared knowing that what
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: type of fight was going to come in hand. Right now,
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: we are in a very good stable position to make
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: the enhancements and investments in the city, and we're going
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: to continue to do that with the investments that we're
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: talking about with the Pond, still with the Convention Center,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: with so many other things that we're working on.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, my last question, what should be the messaging of
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: the Democratic Party moving forward to combat trap to combat
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: Trump and Maga. I just called that man a tramp.
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: It might, but I don't want to be tweeting about
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: me like he tweets about. It's a combat Trump and Mega.
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: You know, we need to have a sit down conversation
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: within the party because I think cities like Gary need
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: to be heard communities that voices have not been heard
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: even within our own party. That we got to make
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: sure our issues are at the table, and that just
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: rises up to the forefront to make sure it's going
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: to be addressed. We can't assume that people are going
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: to vote for us because we are one political affiliation.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: Uh So, I'm not prepared to answer that question right
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: now because I think there's still a lot of work
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: to do to strengthen the party in an organization. But
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: I'm extremely focused as mayor on what do I do
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: for the seventy thousand plus people in the city of
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Gear and how do we improve the quality of life
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: of them every single day? And that's extremely important.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Respect miss man Eddie Milton, thank you for coming.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: Brother. I appreciate what opportunity man, God bless.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: And I can't wait to hear about how it goes
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: down this weekend.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: You should stop through there? Yeah?
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Can we stop through?
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: Why tell you what?
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Man?
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: We can? Yeah, I didn't even know it was thirty
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: minutes with Chicago. Yeah, I didn't know that.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: We had a Look, we had a train that will
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: get you from Gary to downtown Chicago.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: In thirty minutes. Wow, flat period.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so you next time you're in the area, stopped through, Well,
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: well let's give you a tour, and let me tell
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: you say this real quick about it. In my mind, absolutely,
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: I want to talk about one of our friends, brother
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Joe Buttons, the situation Joe Butden, I'm sorry. I want
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: to make sure because the brother invited me on the show.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: It was a situation that occurred. He tried to call
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: out Gary. I wasn't even gonna go here, let's go there.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: You looked that up to continue.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: And I'm saying that in the in the in the
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: sense of, let's have that kind of conversation. You invited
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: me on the show. Let's have a conversation about the
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: city of Gary, just like you just He was like, look,
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: I don't know anything about it here, never heard anything.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: He may have had an experience once. With the platform
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: that you guys have, you can't just recklessly say something
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: about a city that you don't know anything about, especially
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: a predominantly black city, right right. So I called him
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: Jarru gave me his number, drop me and job chopped
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: it up.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: By the way, this is the most random conversation I
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: did not know that man. I didn't know. I didn't
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: know anything about him.
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: I couldn't miss the opportunity to address it, though, But
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: I say it and all love. But you know, let's talk.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: I'm willing to come on.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: The show, he said. Joe said, there's like three traffic
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: lights in Gary. Gary is six blocks of wind and tumbleweeds.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: If I had to go to Gary, I'm not going
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: to Gary. Gary was so interesting. I got up and
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: looked out the window on the tall bus, like, are
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: we lost?
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: That probably was like fifteen to twenty years ago, But
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: don't say in twenty twenty five, right, So put some
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: respect on the city.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: If not, And you said, someone just send me a
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: video from this guy named Joe Budden talking about my
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: hometown like a dog. You don't know what you're talking about.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: You have no idea what is going on in garytt
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: this moment. Don't you ever run your mouth about my city?
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: And you called in.
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: That's what I don't like about it, Okay, So John
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: put us on the text together say I need to talk.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Called him.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: Then they asked, I'm the type of cat I'm calling
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: you two or three times. It is what it is
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: at that point. So the last time I called him,
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: he picked up the phone and puts me on the show.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: He didn't know that.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, got you.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: Well, he quickly said, you want the Joe Button podcast.
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: Don't say anything incriminating. I just called to have a conversation.
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: But it's all of man, just invite me on the show.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: Let's clear it up, the opportunity just kind of share
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: the positive things that's taken place. Man's some beautiful people
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: in the city of Gary. I just want to tell
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: that story in terms of our history, our culture, what
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: we've contributed to this country, to this world. Because we're
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: growing as a community. So I'm grateful. I thank God.
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: I thank you guys for giving us this platform to
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: talk about the positive things that's happening.
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: Because it's a greater Gary that's moving.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: How does that hurts my last week? How does that
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: hurt when somebody says something like that about the city.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: How does that hurt Gary?
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: Think about the conversation we were having about troops going
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: into a community. Right, So, as a mayor, I got
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: to deal with.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: A crisis.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: Then I got to deal with my own people with platforms,
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: be it if it's big or small. Running a city
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: that's on the rise in the mud right when we're
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: already trying to dig ourselves out of a hole where
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: people think they know somebody that's been helpful. Mike app
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: has been extremely helpful for putting Gary back on the map.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: Mike has beencoming.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Mike has been investing in the city, buying properties and
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: things of that nature. So we invite folks to chains.
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: All the folks men have been looking to come in.
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: But I said, before we open the floodgates, it's a
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Gary first thing. So we're creating a program right now,
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: thirty thousand dollars down payment assistance for police, for fire.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: We're going to open that up to teachers to let
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: them know. We're going to give you the lot, the land,
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: We're going to connect you with our banking partner.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: We're going to give.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: You directly the builders and the design and templates has
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: already made so you don't have to invest in designing
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: the home. And with that down payment assistance, now you
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: can be a home own.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So that's those are the things that I want
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: to talk about.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: We're you know, people are gonna swear now that you
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: said that told that story, They're gonna swear we had
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: you on because you and your buddy we don't even
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: have no issue.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: An issue with Joe.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: I'm just saying, but I want to say the reason
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I wanted you on because I want more black mans on.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: We had Mad Brandon, this guy on before. Because to me,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: all of the blueprints for what this whole country should
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: be doing. You know the fact that y'all are getting
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: these resources and making these investments into the community, seeing
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: the crime rates reduced, You're seeing people have opportunities to
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: have jobs, You're making the right investments, like y'all are
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: a blueprint that everybody should be following.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: So that's brand and Scott Man.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: I watch mayors around the country African American Mayor's Association.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: I'm watching as a new mayor, what folks are doing,
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: you know, in Baltimore and in DC, in other cities
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: and even in Chicago. Brandon Johnson has a very tough job.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: I'm right next door to him, So whatever happens in
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Chicago is going to eventually trickle over into Gary. So
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: I want him to be successful no matter who.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: The mayor is.
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: But he's the mayor right now, so I got to
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: support him. But I'm like a sponge. Right, I don't
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: know everything. As a leader, you can't assume you know everything, right.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: So I'm looking to folks.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: That have great ideas. Is an innovation around violence prevention
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: and things that I need a right.
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: It's Mayor Eddie Melton, don't be a stranger man.
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Mayor Gary, Indiana. It's the Breakfast Club.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Hold up every day I wake click your ass up
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: You know I'm finished for y'all dumb