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Residents and neighborhood group voice support at Jacob Square public hearing
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Summary
At a public hearing on the Jacob Square Residential Housing Development Program, the commission received a support letter from United Neighborhoods Inc. and testimony from a longtime resident endorsing the project’s neighborhood revitalization goals.
The Hammond Redevelopment Commission opened and closed a public hearing Tuesday on the Jacob Square Residential Housing Development Program (RHDP) under IC 36-7-14-53 and received written and in-person endorsements.
Staff read a letter from Andrea Lewis, executive director of United Neighborhoods Inc., dated Nov. 18, 2025, expressing full support for the Jacob Square RHDP and the city’s commitment to revitalizing a historically significant neighborhood. The letter said the initiative would strengthen the neighborhood’s health, safety and economic stability.
Local resident Jake Jacobs told the commission he grew up in the neighborhood and described its earlier period of violence and blight. "I would just wholeheartedly endorse the improvement in this neighborhood," Jacobs said, and urged the commission to proceed. The chair noted that proximity to downtown Hammond and the train station could help prospective buyers and then closed the public meeting with no further speakers.
What’s next: the hearing record will be part of the commission’s consideration of the RHDP. Staff identified the item on the agenda pursuant to IC 36-7-14-53; no formal vote on the RHDP was recorded during the meeting.
