Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr.

"We expect to see hundreds of people use this every single day," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. said at Friday's ribbon cutting. "We expect the concession stand/snack bar that used to do a hundred bucks [in business] a night to do thousands of dollars a night."

"The neighborhood's great," said Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. "The neighbors who own their homes and a lot of people want to stay here, and there's not a lot of upward mobility for homes or even downward mobility for homes. But this gives us new options."

"This is a signature real estate development tool we use in our city," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told the city council last week. "It's been successful. Thousands of kids have graduated from colleges all across our state under this program."

"Even though this is a challenging time, even though we're negotiating big contracts, I'm encouraged because it seems like our property taxes are picking up, our assessed value's picking up, and that's a healthy thing for our economy," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told council members.

Starting in 2026, residents will have to pay an annual tax of $25 per passenger vehicle and $40 per larger vehicle, under an ordinance adopted Tuesday by the city council.

"And that increment we get over there, we could use to beautify this area right next to City Hall, this area to the south of us right next to City Hall, so this is vital," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told the city council last week.

"The Hammond police have been sent on wild goose chases because of the internet news that's not right," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told the city council Monday.

"We've gotten to the point in Hammond now where the amount of maintenance we're doing on our roads is abysmal," Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. told the city council Monday.

During last month's Mayor's Night Out event, Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. said overdoses are Hammond's leading cause of death.

The proposed redevelopment of the Reaper's Realm site in Hammond has some residents worried about a possible increase in traffic.