MARION, Ind. (WISH) — The mayor of this north central Indiana city on Wednesday said the way to bring the city back is to make it a place where people want to live.

In the year since Mayor Ronald Morrell, Jr. took office, he’s launched several projects. A park near downtown was redeveloped with new workout equipment and a Little Free Library to encourage people to exercise both their bodies and their minds. Morell, Jr. also launched blight removal programs and plans to extend the city’s riverwalk. He said his goal for all of those projects is to promote health, cleanliness, safety, and quality of life.

“All of those things coming together, I believe, will help us to go on an upward trajectory and attract more people to live, work, and play in our city,” Morell, Jr. said.

Marion was hit hard by deindustrialization. Twenty-eight percent of the city’s residents live below the poverty line, according to the most recent census data, and the city’s population has dropped by nearly 2,000 people since 2010, a decline of more than 6%. Last November, Morrell defeated incumbent Jess Alumbaugh, and became the city’s first Black mayor and the first Black Republican mayor anywhere in the state. He’s one of a record nine Black mayors in Indiana.

Morrell, Jr. said he’s excited to be part of that group, and he’s not surprised by the number of Black mayors voters have elected.

“I think Indiana is moving forward in electing more minorities,” Morell, Jr. said. “When we get people of color into positions of power that are qualified and doing great work, it shows that this next generation, that anybody can be what they want to be, regardless of race, gender, color, any of those previous barriers.”

Morrell, Jr. said investing in quality of life issues will help the city turn around. Although Marion still has some industrial presence, he said the city has to make the investments necessary for people to want to live there. Morrell, Jr. specifically pointed to the city’s riverwalk, a project that has grown off and on since it was launched more than 30 years ago. He said he wants to complete it during his administration and extend it, eventually creating a citywide walkable trail network. Among the connections will be a segment linking the park system with a planned development at 1st and Branson streets that will feature restaurants and 45 market-rate apartments.

Morell, Jr. said he wants to get that development approved by the end of the year.

“People love water, right? So if you get people a waterfront anything, they’re attracted to that,” Morell, Jr. said. “And we’ve seen this work in different cities around the state of Indiana. So, we’re not reinventing the wheel, we’re just scaling it to the appropriate size for the city of Marion, Indiana.”