steele pulled out of the city of gary indiana. since then they've been in an economic free fall and is desperate for revival. so desperate it is offering homes for sale costing less than a fast-food cheeseburger. >> it's an offer some would-be home owners find hard to refuse. a house for a cup of coffee. when $1 a house was available, it's a great opportunity. gary, indiana is offering a home for $1, you need to earn $35,000, money to fix it up, and the patients to live in it. it's an effort for a city to cope with unwanted homes. bankrupt detroit is tearing them down, about $10,000 each. gary doesn't have it. blight is everywhere. next to city hall and the post office. now an urban ash our. the church represents the heyday. it was built in 1925, abandoned 50 years later, and it's been allowed to fall apart. now the city can't afford to tear it down. inside nature is slowly reclaiming the graffiti splattered structure with vines and nesting burns. >> gary's fortunes sored and crashed with the industry that created it - steel. when

gary, indiana is offering a home for a dollar. you need an income of $35,000 a year, the money to fix it up to local building standards for six months and the patients to live in it for five years. >> like so much in this town, it's been allowed to fall apart and now the city can't afford to tear et down. >>> inside, nature the slowly reclaiming the graffiti structure with nesting birds. >> there's fortune that sword and crashes. the population had leaving 10,000 abandoned houses. it carries the most famous son, michael jackson and turning this air port. first she needs to make gary look more like a city, and less than a ghost town. we not only add value to the city but we add value to the adjacent homeowners and that has a rippling effect. >> the major should know. she bought this house in the 1980s when gary first tried selling homes far $1. >> i would rather take a dollar home, no mortgage, all i'm paying is my taxes and utilities demand five years i have the deed to the oh house. american dream. >> but it's like scooping the s

gary, indiana is offering a home for $1. you need to make $5,000 a year, the building to fix it up within six months and the patients to live in it for five years it's the latest effort by a left out city to cope with an unwanted bounty of abandoned homes. bankrupt of choice is tearing them down but that's expensive. about $10,000 each. and in tkparry it's everywhere next to city hall and at the old post office and now in urban harbor. >> this represents gary's payday and built in 1925 and abandoned and like so much in this town it's going to be allowed to fall apart and now the city can't afford to tear it down. >> inside, nature is slowly reclaiming the tkpr the tkpwra i structure. tkparry's forchildren soaregary. the dreams of a museum to gary's most famous son, michael jackson turning this airfield in to chicago and just 45 kilometers away. first she needs to make gary look more like a city and less than a ghost town. >> question will not only add value to to the city but we add value to the adjacent homeowners and that

. >> 40 years go, the city of gary, indiana went to the economic free fall after steel companies pulled out. the city is now desperate for revivele and now offering homes for selfor sale that is less. >> reporter: it's a house for the price of a cup of coffee. >> when the dollar house program became available that was great opportunity. >> reporter: gary, indiana is offering a home for a dollar. it's a latest to cope with an unwanted bounty of abandoned homes. that's expensive without $10,000 and gary doesn't have it. it's everywhere next to city hall and at the old post office now in you are pan harbor. it was built in 1925, abandoned 50 years later and like so much in this town it's been allowed to fall apart. now the city can't afford to tear it down. >>> inside, nature is slowly reclaiming the graffiti-battered structure with vines and nesting birds. the steel plant declined, the population has leaving 10,000 abandoned houses. one in three here. the museum's most famous son, michael jackson interning his airfield in chicago just 45 kilometers away. she needs to make gary look more l

down. >> inside, nature is slowly reclaiming the structure with vines and nesting birds. ♪ gary, gary, indiana >> when jobs at the u.s. steel plant declined, the population halved, leaving 10,000 abandoned houses, one in three here. >> the gary believes in a museum serving gary's son, michael jack san and an airport can help. >> we not only add value and dollars to the city, but we always values to the adjacent homeowners, and that has a rippling effect. >> the mayor should know. she bought this house in the 1980's when gary first tried selling homes for a dollar. she's bringing the buck a home deal back. >> i would rather take a a color home that may need $10,000 to $15,000 investment, no mortgage, all i'm paying is my taxes and utilities and then in five years, i have the deed to the house, american dream. >> but it's like scooping the sands of gary's lakeshore with a spoon. the city hopes to sell 50 a year. 10,000 are abandoned, making that a 200 year project. aljazeera, gary, indiana. >> that program was announced in june and quickly drew interest for more than 400 potential buyers. that w

. >> i'm john henry in gary, indiana where the city is selling blighted buildings for a dollar apiece. >> blow outs and blow ups, the grand prix coming up later in sports. >> let's get an update on the world weather now. >> the weather across north america is showing all the extremes we see across the continent this time of year. beautiful swirl of cloud on the satellite imagery, very active systems. huge rains in kentucky. they've got a big rainfall deficit, they need rain, but perhaps not that much in 24 hours. to the west, we have an e.f.4 tornado in nebraska, blizzard conditions across wyoming and south dakota. the weather conditions remain quite extreme just at the moment, along this frontal boundary. it's the beauty of north america, really. nothing to stop the cold air clashing with the warm air coming up from the gulf of mexico. torrential line likely down towards the south. still very warm, fine in washington, plenty of sunshine, that's going to change as the front works towards the eastern seaboard, some quite nasty weather here. by the time we get to thursday, turning consi

there is a lot of little detroit like youngstown, gary indiana, a cleveland, the title of my book is heartfelt but somewhat ironic the from the poet ted nugent. [laughter] a song called motor city bad house. but it refers to that moment i was describing in the beginning when i first arrived all eyes on these -- detroit. people imagined it as an enclave for artist that is what it became. urban planners who had it is to reinvent the city the unsolvable mass problem urban farmers, that is mostly what i meant. as far as a timetable for fixing. >> host: teeeight even over the course since there was there i have seen some amazing interest rations in the downtown and midtown. there are certain vintages being the worst with the reputation the most un fixable city a lot of smart people, ambitious people fake to take on that challenge. the big problem is is the city continues to languish it is the greenstone and the rest of the city has a lot of the same problems with that bankruptcy they're going through a and the absence of any federal aid aid, a state aid to cover that part makes me much mo

and today's cnn's ted row lens is in gary, indiana. >> reporter: good morning.an pretty much every other city in this country. so people here don't have a lot of patience for what is going on in washington. they're disgusted that our so-called leaders have got enthem into this mess. here a sampling of what we've heard so far in gary. what member would you send to washington? >> that they need to work for us and listen to us. both parties have to work together and quit blaming each other. >> reporter: what word would you use to describe what's going on in washington? >> disconnect. total disconnect from -- from constituents. >> i think it's all [ bleep ]. power struggles. money struggles. ridiculous. >> feel what the people feel. you know, put yourself in our shoes. especially low-class, you know, middleclass. you know, put yourself in our shoes. >> reporter: what word would you use to describe what's happening in washington? >> hideous. hideous. >> reporter: hideous. that's a new one. we've heard disgusting, embarrassing, hideous. they're all -- basically, you g

we grew up in the city, gary indiana. we had a mouse problem. remember coming down to the basement, and thereof a rat stuck -- and there was a rat stuck in the glue trying to get out. and i remember, ever since then, rats and mice and rodents, i think we will get into that, we will get into all of the various ways to prevent a rodent problem from occurring in your home, and more importantly, as physicians we don't look at rodents and say: ewww, gross! we think infectious disease. >> we think both. [ laughter ] >> i actually think they're cute. i genuinely look at a rat and think: yeah, i know they carry infectious diseases, and we will talk about the ones to be aware of, but they're cute creatures. look at this watch, watch. come guys. mm-hmm. [ audience oohs ] >> they just want some love. >> until they urinate all over the place and leave their droppings. they urinate every 10-15 minutes while awake. that's a lot of stuff being spread around. >> the is she not the astet -- the issue is not the aesthetics, it's that they're major cariers of dise

louis, kansas city, here in gary, indiana, they are saying the same thing. disgusted with lawmakers in washington. driving through downtown gary, indiana, you see how much the city is struggling. ravaged by the housing bust and high unemployment, people here have very little patience for lawmakers bickering in washington. >> i think it's all [ bleep ]. struggles, money struggles. it's ridiculous. people are suffering. what could you say? >> what message would you send to washington? >> that they need to work for us and listen to us. and work together. both parties have to work together and quit blaming each other. >> feel what the people feel, you know? put yourself in our shoes. especially low-class, you know, middle class, put yourselves in our shoes. >> what word would you use to describe what's happening in washington? hideous. hideous. >> this private construction crew is clearing a lot downtown. the project is with the county, but it's funded in part with federal dollars. a long shutdown means a possible delay in getting their paychecks. >> democrats a

there's lots of little detroit says you know there are places like youngstown, gary, indiana, cleveland. the title of my book is heartfelt, but also somewhat ironic. it's a line from a song ted nugent. the way the moment is describing at the beginning of the top when i first arrived in all eyes were on detroit and you could sort of project whatever you wanted unto detroit. so people -- if people wanted to a match in this artists, and that's what detroit became. urban planners, irving geary tapes who had ideas on how you could reinvent the city that is to cities for their field all coming to detroit to figure this out. urban farmers. so that's mostly what i meant by the title. si is a timetable for fixing detroit, it's funny even over the course of the four years that i was paired, since i started work in the book, i've seen amazing transformations, particularly the downtown and midtown core. i think there's certain advantages frankly with being the worst of having the reputation as being the worst, craziest, most unfixable city, a lot of smart people, a lot of ambitious people decide th