Gary Mayor Rudy Clay declined to clarify the current state of the ever-evolving plans for a Jackson family museum, monument or performing arts center in Gary, but Clay insisted Friday that a version of the proposal survives.

"We have moved forward with some particulars on that," Clay said.

"The plans that we're working on includes the house that they were raised in."

Plans for a Jackson family-related performing arts center first were announced in summer 2003, when Michael Jackson accepted the key to the city from Mayor Scott King. He said Friday that Jackson was "hands-on" with the plan when he was available. But the plan stalled when Jackson became less reachable, King said.

"I still think it's a good idea. Tragically, even more so as a fitting memorial to him," King said.

By the time family patriarch Joe Jackson visited Gary in summer 2008, the plan had shifted to involve a museum at the old family home at 2300 Jackson St. Clay and others were vague about the plan and its financing then, and the mystery endures.

Clay said he and others have "moved forward with some particulars" of the plan. He said he would wait to explain more about the plan, but he invoked Graceland, the enormously popular Memphis tourist attraction that once was Elvis Presley's estate.

"If it's good enough for Elvis Presley, then it's good enough for Michael Jackson, too," Clay said.