Common Council - Regular Meeting

emergency request right from your smartphone. Need help dealing with unfair landlords? Use the app. Girl, I just don't understand. I'm paying rent and my landlord isn't fixing any of the issues in this apartment. What should I do? You know, you can report it on the Gary 311 app. Do you have it? What's that? Let me show you. Just go to your app store. Or maybe you need to request the birth certificate. Yeah, I can't find my birth certificate. Well, it probably just got misplaced during the move. Actually, we can request the new one through the Gary 311 app. Okay, new technology. I'm in. Let me show you. And guess what? You can even report illegal dumping. Look at him just dumping his garbage on private property. Well, called him in 4K. You know, we can report them on the Gary 311 app and to GPD's tasting tip. That's good. Never feel frustrated again about an issue. Use the Gary 311 app to report all your non-emergency needs. It's a free application that allows users to report community issues, pinpoint the location with GPS, attach photos, and more, all right from your smartphone. Download the Gary 311 app today. Available on iOS and Android. Get ready for a big adventure. Touch a truck is coming soon. This interactive event lets kids and kids at heart get up close and personal with the trucks, equipment, and vehicles that keep our community moving. Bring the whole family and get ready to climb aboard. Then join us as we honor freedom and culture at our Junth celebration happening June 21st at the Westside Theater Guild. Come out for a day of music, remembrance, and community pride. This is our infant classroom, and you

just can't go by without looking at the B. We're here to talk about something that truly shapes the future of our city, and that's early childhood education. All the curriculum is active and excite children about problem solving and learning. Today, what we are able to witness is the greatness of Gary and the greatness of Head Start coming together. We know that the success of our children directly influences the success of our city. In order to create big projects and deliver for Northwest Indiana, we have to have and must have an educational work force to be able to fill those jobs. will lay a foundation for stronger families, a stronger economy, and a stronger Y Indiana for generations to come. This isn't just about education. It's about building a stronger community. When we invest in our children, we invest in our community. Those students who have that early investment or intervention have a greater outcomes to be successful.

Let's celebrate America's birthday the Gary way. Our Fourth of July parade rolls out July 3rd at 5:00 p.m. Bringing excitement, community spirit, and plenty of red, white, and blue to the streets. And don't rush off. After the parade, head over to the Railcat Stadium for fireworks at 6:30 p.m. Then, gear up for a new school year at our back to school fest hosted by First Lady Crystal Melton and the city of Gary. Join us August 2nd at the Gary Railcat Stadium from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Get ready for free haircuts, free immunizations, free uniform vouchers, and exciting giveaways from backpacks and sneakers to gift cards and more. Plus, enjoy food, fun activities, music by DJ All Out, and free transportation provided by GPTC. Don't miss this incredible day of preparation and celebration as we send our students back to school in style. We just learned from the city of Gary that they activated their emergency response. But right now, the trees is the biggest issue. Uh general services is out moving those trees in the streets. A lot of trees are fell on homes and cars. So that's it's kind of like a recovery effort right now. So, what we do know um is that citizens in this neighborhood have identified and verbally articulated that they they see it a tornado that did touch ground in Gary. Multiple homes and businesses sustained wind damage and flooding as well as numerous trees and limbs down throughout the entire city. Our general service team, we've been working very closely with our utility company with NIPCO. We do know that NIPCO sustained over 13,000 power

outages throughout northwest Indiana. We're able to uh do a primary and secondary search on all of the residents and all of the houses in this neighborhood. Uh everyone is accounted for. We have found no other victims. Uh there are no reports of anybody missing. And thank God there were no fatalities that we know of at this point. I want to thank the Indiana Department of Transportation. I want to thank the Lake County Commissioner, Lake County Council from the County, the Red Cross again, the Gary Sanitary District. The Gary Chicago International Airport has provided additional resources and trucks, payloaders to help clean up the debris throughout the entire city. So, I want to thank all of our partners and corporate partners and a special shout out to the mayor of Hobberg who has also extended his team and public works department to help us eliminate the trees. Be patient with us as we try to address the trees as we clear our main streets and thorough affairs. If you see a power line down, assume that it is live. Assume that is live. So, we want to encourage you all to stay away from down power lines. And also, we want to encourage everyone to seek shelter because as you can see, the weather is unpredictable right now. And finally, look to the skies. The Gary Air Show returns August 8th through 10th at the beautiful Marquette Park. Get ready for breathtaking aerial performances along the stunning Southshore of Lake Michigan. Admission is free, so bring your family, your friends, and your cameras. There's something for everyone this summer in the city of Gary. For more event details and updates, simply scan the QR code on the screen to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Did you know the city of Gary has a 311 app? You can report any non-emergency request right from your smartphone. Need help dealing with unfair landlords? Use the app. Girl, I just don't understand. I'm paying rent and my landlord isn't fixing any of the issues in this apartment. What should I do? You know, you can report it on the Gary 311 app. Do you have it? What's that? Let me show you. Just go to your app store. Or maybe you need to request the birth certificate. Yeah, I can't find my birth certificate. Well, it probably just got misplaced during the move. Actually, we can request a new one through the Gary 311 app. Okay, new technology. I'm in. Let me show you. And guess what? You can even report illegal dumping. Look at him just dumping his garbage on private property. Well, called him in 4K. You know, we can report them on the Gary 311 app and to GPD's tasting tip. That's good. Never feel frustrated again about an issue. Use the Gary 311 app to report all your non-emergency needs. It's a free application that allows users to report community issues, pinpoint the location with GPS, attach photos, and more, all right from your smartphone. Download the Gary 311 app today. Available on iOS and Android. Get ready for a big adventure. Touch a truck is coming soon. This interactive event lets kids and kids at heart get up close and personal with the trucks, equipment, and vehicles that keep our community moving. Bring the whole family and get ready to climb aboard. Then join us as we honor freedom and culture at our Junth celebration happening June 21st at the Westside

Theater Guild. Come out for a day of music, remembrance, and community pride. This is our infant classroom and you just can't go over island without looking at the bait. We're here to talk about something that truly shapes the future of our city and that's early childhood education. All the curriculum is active and excite children about problem solving and learning. Today, what we are able to witness is the greatness of Gary and the greatness of Head Start coming together. We know that the success of our children directly influences the success of our city. In order to create big projects and deliver for Northwest Indiana, we have to have and must have an educational work force to be able to fill those jobs. will lay a foundation for stronger families, a stronger economy, and a stronger Yeri Indiana for generations to come. This isn't just about education. It's about building a stronger community. When we invest in our children, we invest in our community. Those students who have that early investment or intervention have a greater outcomes to be successful.

Let's celebrate America's birthday the Gary way. Our Fourth of July parade rolls out July 3rd at 5:00 p.m. Bringing excitement, community spirit, and plenty of red, white, and blue to the street. Gary Age Friendly Advisory Council meeting date June 16, 2025. Um, our time is 5:41. 5:41 p.m. Location is city hall. And we're calling this to order. Our roll call. We've got David here. Adriana here. Bert here. Don here. Maddie here. Pete here. Ricky, that's myself. And we have seven. And we have a quorum. Approval of the meeting agenda for 519 2025. So move. Second. It's been it's been second approved for 519 2025. Our old business age friendly survey update. We have we received 74 surveys. Thank you to everyone who participated. Our goal is to collect 250 surveys from Gary residents. Only 76 more to go. The survey link will be shared on um city social media platforms. Mayor Eddie Milton will discuss the

initiative on the upcoming podcast episode and that's to be determined. Um, our subcommittee recaps, our subcommittee roles, our age friendly event committee, our member leads, Adriana Garcia, David Wright, Maddie Fitzgerald, Chantel Johnson, Karen Jones, and Anna Engel. uh the plans and organiz organized exclusive accessible events that promote social engagement, wellness and community connections for older adults. Number two, um our age friendly resource committee members, our lead is David Wright, Pete Smith, and Engel and Dominique Smiley and Karen Jones. And we they're identifying developments and promote resources and services that support older adults health, independence, and quality of life. Um our top three goals for our council is number one is event committ community resource activities. Develop frequent engaging programs connecting seniors to wellness, social and educational opportunities. Number two, communication. Enhancing outreach to ensure older adults and caregivers and a are aware of available services and events. And number three is senior facility cleanups and beautifification.

organized efforts to improve senior senior s centers and housing facilities for a safer and more welcoming environment. Our new business, our age friendly event community report out bingo at Roosevelt Pavilion. Um, and that's the first Friday of every month and the dates are July 3rd, August 1st, and September 5th. Feature special guests and light refreshments. You have to register by calling the parks department at area code 219-8867099. So yes, any questions or comments? Oh, we haven't finished it. Um, number two was the um movie for grown-ups presented by as the presents the Karate Kid Legends. Um, Mrs. Lightfoot, when what day was that? So, it's already past. Okay. And we had the Gary Solar Energy Planning Forum which I attended last Thursday, Wednesday and Thursday. Um it

was quite an event. Um it was quite an event. We uh they talked about uh the solar energy and everything that um what they planning to do and where the hubs and the stations was going to be at. We had a nice crowd that Wednesday. Um Thursday they had something during the day which I could not come. We I came to Thursday evening which were it was very scarcely uh attended. We had just only three new people but they went through the whole um presentation for the um so they can bring everybody up to speed. What they want to do is they want to make um the Hudson Campbell um the Hudson Campbell the police station, the fire station, and they had a couple of other areas where they want to put solar panels on and just in case we have a dire emergency where the power is out, um they would have people can come there and have power. But the main thing is uh with the hospitals and everything that's going on there, they are pulling a lot of the uh they will be pulling a lot of the solar energy from that because they need it for different things that's going on in hospitals. Um Hudson Campbell was the best bet for right now because they already have showers. They have uh you know facilities where people could come and stay and they can you know they can use the facility and shower and do

activities there versus being at the hospital and being at the police station or the fire station. So right now everything is in the uh promotional stage and they're looking and everything. So, they took back the questions and the comments and everything and they're going to write up a proposal. So, that that was the um solar energy for um the new business. Right now, we have something with AARP knock out of the park with Gary Southside Rail Packs. AARP members and their guests can receive a single a free single game ticket and food voucher. Tickets will be picked up at the AARP Indiana booth prior to the first pitch on 710 July the 10th and it's going to be at the Steel year at the Steel Yard Stadium One Stadium Plaza in Gary W um Thursday July 10th and the first pitch is at 12:00 noon Central Standard Time. And the way you register we have a a a QR code and you can um you have to register through the QR code and up to four people can register with that one QR code. So you can't everybody can't register using the same QR code. It's only four people at a time, right? Oh, and um our representative from AARP is here and she said that they can go you can also go to a AARP dark.org under current events local current events and you can

register there. Madam President, I'm sorry. Also, um just to add the event on June 25th as well as July 10th, we do have a age friendly table for our group. So, if anyone is interested in bringing out information and um being a part of that day, we do have a table set aside for this group. So if two want to go out that um June 25th and then two members would like to go June July 10th then we are able to um house any information that we would like to share with the public on that day. Um where this is lo where is most of these events located? That's the same event at the um Steelard. Oh Steelyard. Yes. baseball stadium that you were just announcing. They'll have vendors and um we were able to secure a table for the age friendly group there. Perfect. Thank you. Now, do we have anything from the age friendly resource committee report out? Um, we talked about the resources at a um uh I guess you say a table discussion on the on the second my notes um on the 30th. Um and we were supposed to have as much information as possible submitted by the 9th last week. So, um, if you still have some information that needs to go into resources, um, please send it to us. Um, I wanted to know, uh,

Kiana, in addition to setting up a, um, community calendar, would that community calendar be on the age friendly page on the website or is it going to be something a bit more general? Do you know? Sorry for putting you on the spot. Hi. Okay. So, to answer your question on our age friendly um web page, so gary.gov/agefriendly, we can put all of the information from the council on there. So, when you do create that resource guide or community calendar with local events for older adults, we can put all of it on that page. And of course, we can always share like a singular flyer on um the city of Gary government Facebook page to say, "Hey, check out, you know, the age friendly council's work. Go here, see what we're doing." You know, we can always do that as well. Um Pete wanted to know if you'd be what your thoughts were on maybe setting up a an early July committee meeting. Um, bring in you basically everyone in this group. Um, maybe with the goal of having that page populated by the beginning of August at the very latest, we could start migrating some things in. I'm talking about Yeah. And creating that resource page. Yeah. Yeah. Um that way we're not putting I mean because we you know most of us have you know jobs outside of this table and things to do outside of this table. So if we can maybe have that as a goal um we can set up something send something out to all the committee members um subcommittee members and look at that as

our main goal is to have a resource base populated by August one. I'm open to that. Any Yeah. And usually Thursdays are the best days, okay, for me. And I can, you know, if the other committee members want to meet at a different time, but Thursday is the best day for me. Okay. Probably not the 10th because I think our CPTC board meeting is on July 10th. Um, but sometime maybe the following um following Thursday, maybe we can set up something. As far as I'm concerned, whatever whatever date uh or whatever time rather on Thursday is is fine. Just let me know. Okay. I have a question to ask. We were talking about events earlier. Can I share some events that we have? Yes. Can Okay. Thank you. Uh first of all, I would like to announce our very own Gary Citywide summer outreach in June Day of Fields this coming Wednesday, June 18 from 3 to 6 at 5,000 Madison Street here in Gary. That's Wednesday. Now on the 20th n this coming up uh this coming up Thursday Junth. So we have a Midtown Fest on the 20th. June 20th from 3 to 4 at East 26th Avenue and Broadway. I believe that starts at 3 pm 3 pm to 10 p.m. And Lynen House is hosting an health fair that same Friday from 11 to 2. And on Monday, since we're not going to be able to announce any more events until Monday evening, but Monday the

23rd, the Gary Public Library and Cultural Center is hosting Community Health Network and they are going to be doing vitals and blood glucose screening. It starts at 12. It's for an hour only from 12 to 1. And I'm sorry, Saturday. Last but not least, American Legion Post number 270 is hosting a fundraiser. They're going to do um pancakes and that's going to go for American Legion members and Buffalo Soldiers. It's going to be pancake breakfast from 8 to 10 at 113 Top Street in Gary, Indiana. And you're from Oak Street, right? I am from Oak Street Hill. So, yes. Anyone else has any new business um on the same vein um with events? Um uh beginning this Friday and then on Wednesdays and Fridays of um every week for a month, uh the Gary Arts Council and um Morning Bishop will be sponsoring um perfor uh performances at some of our main bus stops um throughout the morning um beginning at Metro and going all the way out into Miraville along the Broadway Metro Express. One of the locations for these events will be um at right outside of the Genesis House um the uh bus stop at Southbound 16 Broadway. Um McKenzy Dworth Smith is doing the organizing and she wanted permission from us to to do it and promote it. So u we released a press release last week on that. Um and again that's going to be Wednesdays and Fridays of every week um beginning

basically next week through um mid July. We also have two um baseball games uh that are going to be GPC themed. Um the 11th of July and the uh 1st of September are um no sorry the 29th of August will be uh what we call it trolley days when the trolley is going to be located at the at the steel yard. We'll have a table um I will work with Anthony to allow Ace Friendly to also have a table basically right next to us more information on those days. I'll get information out probably in the next couple weeks on all of this as well. I have a question for the council. Did everyone receive the um email from the United Way about the day of caring that day of carrying information? You did. Okay, great. Um over the weekend we had a popup and I just found out about it. Um every second and fourth Saturday downtown marketplace um will be at six and Broadway. Yeah. And it's June um we just uh passed the June 14th. So June 28th, July 12th and 26, August 9th and 23rd, August 13th and 27th. Um they had a lot of vendors out. The music was great. Um and they had a lot of uh food giveaways

uh free food from the pantries. And they they it was a nice turnout. It was a nice crowd. So we we are the seniors from Genesis Towers was over there and they just had a great time. So they sat down and you know they sat down across the street in on the um in our um sitting area and they just listened to the music and it was just something for them to do. So that was a good thing and we're looking forward to that one again on the 28th. And also I want to actually mention the 16 weeks of uh cleanup the citywide huh 16 weeks of summer. So we are already I thought I turned you off. We're already in the middle of June. So, they are going to be at Midtown um on June 23rd. On June 30th, they're going to be at Palasi Small Farms. June 7th, I mean July 7th, Black Oak, July 14th and 21st, Westside, uh July 28th, Brunswick. August 4th, Miller, Glenn, Ryan, August 11th, Talston, August 18th, Downtown Ambbridge, Horseman. August 25th, Taliston Midtown September 1st, Emerson September 8th, and Marshall Town September 15th. So, if anyone wants to come out and volunteer and help,

we will be happy to have you. Question, those are the neighborhoods, but what are the locations where these are going to be held? Um, the locations just say June 18th, Junell, 5,000 Madison. June 25th, Roosevelt Park, 22nd in Harrison. July 2nd, Ironwood Park, 2400 Tennessee. Um, July 9th, Patrick Park, 2300 Wickham Street. Uh, July 16th, Black Oak baseball field. July 23rd, Stagger Park, 2500 Bale Street. Uh July 30th, Terry Town Playground, 2000 Park, uh 2000 Lane Street. August 6, Brunswick Park. That's 725 Clark Road. Uh August 13th, Glenn Ryan Park, 4320 East 6th Avenue. August 20th, Talston Prey Ground, 1500 Ellsworth Street. August 27th, Horseman School, 524 Garfield. September 3rd, Frabel, West 15th Avenue and September 10th, Buffington Park, 200 East 7th Avenue. Do we have any other new business? Just a just a suggestion concerning the dates and locations. There was a list in that email that had all of the locations and the addresses. So, I think it would

be beneficial if we just sh just share that with the council members. So, we'll because you were I have so I know what you're talking about. But for those of us that didn't have them, I think it would be beneficial if we uh just share that information on on the 16 weeks. Yeah. Under 16 weeks or so. Oh, okay. Because that was that was in our in an email. It was exactly that was sent to us. Exactly. So, yeah, it should be there. And there was a question United Ways wanting to know if they have to register every time they uh they show up because there's they'll have United Way will have a resource table for the community, but do you have to register every time you show up or or you just um come with our resources and and share? Actually, an email was sent out where they were asking us the days that we were going to be there and you were able to select the days and it was submitted at the very beginning. I don't know if they can adjust that or send a email again if you want to change or amend some of those days. Um, yeah, I don't I didn't get that. I don't think I got that. But the director of our resource uh committee is asking uh because we won't make all 16 weeks. However, we're going to make as many as we can uh to share that information with the community. So, I'll be happy to look for the email and send it to you. Yeah, please. Sure. Thank you. Yes.

Okay. Uh, Maddie Lightoot, lead volunteer for ARP. In August, we are throwing a big celebration for the anniversary of Social Security. It will be 90 years. And uh, we've already hired a ice cream truck and we're going to be at Six and Broadway, the same vicinity that the vendors are going to be there. and we're going to be giving out ice cream all day until it's gone to celebrate this anniversary. We hope to have maybe the mayor, congressman Moran, and maybe other community speakers, but we're trying to throw this big celebration for social security. We have it in that section mainly because of the seniors and uh hopefully some of the other seniors will be able to get there. Hopefully we'll get our flyers out soon so everybody will know about this uh fest. I call it festival that we're going to be having. Thank you. What date and time was that? Is what time? We don't I I don't have time. Okay. I'm sure it's going to be starting in the morning. Yes. I was going to say I forgot. Okay. Uh, President Truman signed that bill August 4th, 1935. Social Security Bill. Are you looking for vendors? We're not planning on any vendors, but uh, I'll bring it up to Emily and see if she want to have some vendors. I don't see any problem with it. Okay. Okay. We'll let you know just more. I just want to throw that up so you all know what what's going to be coming. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Any other new business? Okay. Um, we've got the age friendly resource committee report out um event calendar the community resource directory also. I don't Yeah, we talked about putting that on the um web page. Any any more announcements? Yes. Okay. It's me again with Oak Street Health Centers. Just wanted to announce that Oak Street is doing nutrition classes for the community every Wednesday in both of our clinics, 4900 on Broadway and 1310 on Broadway. Um, we listen to the community. We knew that we know that nutrition is a big a big issue could be a big issue for some of our patients and the community members. So we are doing that like I said every Wednesday at 10 at 13:10 at 11:30 at 4900 in Gary. Thank you. Any other announcements? Our next meeting will be July 21st at 5:30 here at the uh Gary City Hall. Any comments?

Any comments from our public? July 21st at 5:30. Yes. At 5:30. Okay. From 5:30 to 7. Thank you. Just a comment, whoever did the minutes, thank you. I could not pull them up on my I could not print them on my uh on my printer at home. So, just want to thank you for having the the minutes for me. And I don't know if it was in a different format why it couldn't print, you know, and it was an operator error. I mean that was, you know, it wasn't me, it was the machine. Okay. Do we have do we have any other comments or questions or concerns? If not, the move to ajourn The meeting is the meeting is adjured at 6 what? 612 p.m. Thank you.