Governors Letter

Good Day Governor Daniels 

Let me begin by thanking you, specifically your staff for responding to my request, your assistant Ms Susie Sparr was amazing, compassionate and most helpful in directing me in making this request of you.

Governor Daniels, I need your help and request your support!

My name is Roger Hayward, Co-Founder of the “Gary's Time” Initiative, www.garystime.com. Also buyingreos.com (which is how it all started)

Mr Governor, I have been investing in the great city of Gary Indiana for well over a year now and have helped several folks move into homes that they perhaps may not have been able to afford. I have been able to allow some of my buyers to create income for themselves by helping them purchase more than one property, live in one and rent the other and pay the difference between what they collect and their monthly payment to my investors. I have also helped some of my buyers by allowing them payment credits (monthly payment reduction) for performing certain services as they relate to my on going investments in Gary, IE; boarding up, basic maintenance and the like. I have created a unique opportunity for one of my buyers to share his “credits” with a local licensed electrician who I introduced to network and help him and his electrical needs, this gentleman also became a buyer. I allowed those credits to “pass through” as a down payment for the new buyer. My point is Sir that I am thinking outside the box as it applies to helping folks get into homes they can afford to keep by seeing to it that the payments in every case are far less than rent. I do not extend past 12 to 18 mos for my buyers to become a home owner. I also help my buyers locate qualified folks to help them with work to their properties and help keep the goal close enough that my buyers can stay focused on the prize. At the end of the day, properties are becoming occupied, communities are becoming safer as a result and properties are returned to the tax roles, I know that you get me on this.

This started as an opportunity for me and my investors to make a difference in the lives of folks that may not be quite as fortunate as some. Buy keeping our returns to a minimum, I have been able to carve out a niche market where folks can afford a home, properties are renovated, local business gets a small lift and my investors also see a return. I have just in the last week brought another investor into the mix. Everyone is winning here Governor!

 My first visit to Gary came about 8-9 months ago, Sir, it tore my heart out, plain and simple. On one side of the street you see a beautiful home, nice sidewalks, fenced in back yard complete with a Jungle Jim and a cat in the window, on the other side of the street stands a burnt out shack, inviting crime and risking the health of the community. The kicker for me Sir was the two beautiful children in front of the burnt out shack pushing a muddy beach ball back and forth, laughing, and sharing one pair of shoes, not even aware that there is much more available to them. Honest to God Sir, it stopped me in my tracks and brought me to tears. I thought how can this be?? This is America, this was once one of the greatest cities in our great land, this was Gary Indiana!! The same Gary Indiana, so proudly sung about in the hit musical The Music Man. The same Gary Indiana that was once as I understand a leading Steel Producing Region, the same Gary Indiana that gave so much to so many good folks. At that very moment I realized that this is much bigger than I, that I am being called here to make a difference.

 Governor Daniels, I have decided to pack up everything I own here in the lovely Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania where I reside in a beautiful 1800's farm house complete with a fireplace and a deck, surrounded by about 23 acres of cornfields and just out the back a babbling brook, yes I am moving to the area to see my Vision through. My offer on a home has been accepted and I will be living there around the first of April, 2010. I plan to officially kick off Gary's Time on April 10th

 I have affectionately dubbed my Initiative, Gary's Time. Sir with all due respect, I believe that it is Gary's Time!! Gary's Time to be heard, Gary's Time to be seen, it is time for the folks in Gary to be understood. It is time to help the good people of Gary Indiana have a reason to be hopeful of a Great Gary on the horizon. A Gary that can promise a safe place to bring up a family, a safe place to send their children to school. A Gary Indiana full of the feeling of community full of the resources necessary to facilitate the many needs of a starving community. Sir I am not talking starving in the sense of “I'm hungry”, although there is enough of that as well, I am talking starving in the sense that we need to help Gary become a community not divided, but standing on a singleness of purpose and that being, that one block at a time Gary Indiana will be restored to a place where business will begin to grow, investors will begin to come, and where as one fellow pointed out, “ya can eat a pepper sandwich on 25th” and where this starvation will cease to exist.

Sir I know it can happen, I have been where many of the folks I deal with either are or have been, I can relate to many folks in Gary. Sir, I am a product of restoration, recovering from a family of dysfunction, physical and mental abuse and alcoholism. I know personally that a new direction is possible. Willingness is the next step, folks in Gary are and so am I.

 I have over the past several months developed a plan that can systematically help the folks in Gary turn the corner. I have since about June of last year driven over 8,000 miles back and forth to Gary from my home here in Pennsylvania to establish ground crews in Gary to help with my on going efforts there. I have presented my plan to the folks at the IHCDA, Mark Young and Larry Grubbs, who have been amazing I might add, as well as the folks at the local level in Gary, both sides have received me very well and have offered support. Last month I was invited by a Professor of the University to present my plan to the folks at IUN, which I did gratefully accept and do. The presentation went very well, with attendance by classmates as well as interested outsiders coming in, there was a good healthy flow of cross talk and questions, my theme was for this to work was we must trust and forgive.

 I have put together a web site for the cause at www.garystime.com as well as a Facebook page keyword “Gary's Time”, which by the way has grown to over 300 fans in a very short time. Sir I have spent thousands of my own dollars driving 11 hours in each direction to and from Gary, lodging in hotels while there, which quite possibly is the best money I have ever spent in my life. I have even started (just yesterday) a “Call to All Young writers in Gary” offering 10 runner up prizes of $50 and five grand prizes of $100 for the best poem / short story about Gary, only requirement is that the winners donate ½ of their winnings to a local charity or local concern. I hope to share these stories when I move to town, during my kick of of Gary's Time. I have many, many plans, incentives and initiatives for local business to contribute. We hold in our grasp one of the best opportunities to create many jobs, affordable housing and help return homes to the tax producing roles, (which I have already done) and we both know Gary desperately needs. I have been asked to begin my work in 3 separate areas by 3 separate people, at this time I can tell you the areas I have been asked to begin in are the Emerson Community, around the Stadium, and the Midtown Historic District, which may offer the best promise as a starting point. I have not decided which area to designate the official kick off to Gary's Time, aside from what I have already been doing.

 Governor, I respectfully request a few moments with you to show you my face, help you understand my heart, and most importantly let you hear my plan, and how my plan can work. Sir if you will agree to a meeting with me, I would request that this meeting fall anytime between March 20^th and April 3^rd 2010, between 6am and Midnight, I will come to you, or meet you in Gary.

Thank you for the time you took to read this,

Respectfully,

Its Garys Time Inc
2600 W 93rd Ave (Mail only)

Lake County Community Corrections Bldg
Crown Point IN 46307

Office / Cell (219) 775-6898
Conference Line 305-848-8888
Room code 2484859961#
roger@garystime.com

http://www.garystime.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/learnwhatyoudontknow

"Lets Get Busy"

In this World, It is not what I Take Up, But, what I Give Up, that makes me Rich

In the interest of accountability, transparency and full disclosure, I have promised my supporters that I would publish this note on the site, www.garystime.com


* To the reader, to avoid confusion since the writing of this letter, the addresses and phone numbers have been adjusted to align with what is current, all else is original