Prince slams current administration, says he wants change for Gary at event
Democratic mayoral nominee Jerome Prince lambasted current Gary municipal officials Friday for creating a financial proposal that he says will saddle the city with debt for decades during a listening event Friday to hear about what’s important to residents.
Prince, in front of 200-plus people packed into a humid and stuffy Glen Park storefront, said he is bothered that Mayor Karen FreemanWilson, who lost to Prince in the May primary, has presented her financial plan for the city as a done deal. FreemanWilson leaves office Jan. 1 and Prince is currently unopposed in the November election.
“What I want to do is study the issue so I can come up with an alternative financial solution, one that does not hit us with so much debt,” Prince said.
Prince said he remains upset with the sale/leaseback proposal approved by the Common Council in which the city will use its Public Safety Building as collateral, of sorts, to obtain a $40 million loan for the city.
Freeman-Wilson has said that Prince refuses to cooperate with city staff who have tried to bring him up to speed on what the city is trying to do with its finances. But Prince says what he has refused to do is listen to Freeman-Wilson’s financial advisers explain their plan as though it is a done deal he has no choice but to accept.
Prince says he objects to taking out a loan that would have the city making repayments for the next 20 years – and paying something along the lines of $27 million in interest in addition to the $40 million principle. “It’s just not a good deal for us in the future,” he said.
Current city officials have said the sale/leaseback is part of an essential plan by which the city’s financial coffers would be replenished, along with a deal with U.S. Steel to give the steel mill a tax increment finance district for their benefit – in exchange for payments into a fund for municipal government.
“The easiest answer I can give is to say ‘no,’ I don’t see a direct benefit between U.S. Steel and Gary,” he said, while admitting he’s not as strongly opposed to that portion of the city financial plan as the sale/leaseback deal.
“The city does need to come up with an infusion of cash,” said Prince. “Without it, (Gary) will not really have the resources to continue to exist.
“There are services people expect the city to provide, and we need to find the revenue,” he said.
Aside from the criticisms, Prince took questions from audience members who gave him suggestions on what issues were priorities for them.
But many of the issues brought up were responded to by Prince saying he’d be studying them, and hoped to have answers for them in the future.
Prince was rewarded with several rounds of applause from people who seemed impressed that the one-time Lake County Assessor was listening to their concerns.
Prince painted himself as a city government outsider and pointing out that only Councilwoman Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, who lost her own bid for reelection to William Godwin, attended the event. “That she is the only elected official who is here with us speaks highly of her,” Prince said.
Michael McGinnis, a retired firefighter, complained about what he says are deplorable work conditions in the Gary Fire Department. Prince agreed with him, saying that many city facilities in general are “the biggest code violators in the city.”
Gary resident Zina Litt complained about the quality of Gary public schools, an entity not associated with municipal government. Prince said he’d like to see creation of new educational opportunities in the city, including programs emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“If we’re seriously going to ask people to come to Gary, we’ll have to offer quality educational opportunities,” Prince said.