GARY, Ind. (AP) – Gary's mayor is seeking the public's input on what the northwester Indiana city should do with a vacant lot that once held the city's downtown Sheraton Hotel.

The 135-room, 12-story hotel opened in 1978 as part of a plan by former Mayor Richard Hatcher to revitalize downtown Gary. But it closed just seven years later, and last year it was demolished.

Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson is hosting a public meeting Monday evening at the Genesis Convention Center, directly across from the former hotel site, to solicit ideas on what the city should do next with the downtown site.

Freeman-Wilson tells the Post-Tribune of Merrillville (http://trib.in/1AKjOHx ) she hopes people turn out for the meeting because it's “an opportunity for the public to express its ideas.''

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Information from: Post-Tribune, http://posttrib.chicagotribune.com/