March 29, 200916 yr I don't know if anybody his posted this link before or not: http://www.defendyoungstown.blogspot.com/ I was at O'Reilly's Pub in Columbus last night and saw a guy wearing a Defend Youngstown t-shirt and I asked him about it. He told me about the website. Ytown was already on my mind because I'm going up there this week with my brother and my 80-year-old father, who wants to vist his birthplace again.
March 29, 200916 yr ^He used to be a very prolific blogger--posting once a week or so. But, (and I say this with sincerity--not trying for sarcasm) I guess he's too busy with his new job with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. http://www.mvorganizing.org/
March 29, 200916 yr Yeah I have, through GLUE or Rustbelt Bloggers. From what I recall the guy behind it has been brought into city govt. as a downtown advocate. He's not a native Youngstowner, but went to YSU and stayed. I guess he someohow fell in love with Ytown and became a big online advocate. Ytown has a pretty good blogger presence (esp compared to Dayton). One of the Y-town blogs even links to mine.
March 30, 200916 yr ^He used to be a very prolific blogger--posting once a week or so. But, (and I say this with sincerity--not trying for sarcasm) I guess he's too busy with his new job with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. http://www.mvorganizing.org/ LOL, I don't know if Phil is following this thread or what, but he posted several new entries last night.
March 30, 200916 yr I believe Phil is originally from Pittsburgh and Y-town reminded him of home. I read the blogs occasionally, but not as much as i used to. Now i mainly stick with the Shout Youngstown blog.
March 14, 201015 yr The challenge of redesigning Youngstown Published: Sun, March 14, 2010 @ 12:01 a.m. By DAVID SKOLNICK [email protected] YOUNGSTOWN This is supposed to be a big year for the city and its mayor. Mayor Jay Williams was one of the main architects of the city’s Youngstown 2010 plan. Here we are in Youngstown in the year 2010. The plan, unveiled Dec. 16, 2002, has been profiled in numerous publications worldwide as a model for what an industrial city with a declining population should do. READ MORE AT: http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/mar/14/challenge-redesigning-youngstown/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
March 14, 201015 yr A sidebar to the above story....... As downtown rebirth continues, activists lobby for neighborhoods Published: Sun, March 14, 2010 @ 12:01 a.m. By DAVID SKOLNICK [email protected] YOUNGSTOWN While city officials get high marks for revitalizing downtown, there is plenty of room for improvement to Youngstown’s neighborhoods, community activists and organizers say. The Youngstown 2010 plan, which includes a detailed framework for improving the city, looks great on paper, but more of its proposals need to be implemented, they say. The Rev. Ed Noga of St. Patrick’s Church on the city’s South Side, a longtime community activist involved in the Youngs-town 2010 plan, said work needs to be done on enforcement of the housing code and landlord registration. Until there is a focus on those efforts, the city will continue to see its housing stock deteriorate, he said. READ MORE AT: http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/mar/14/downtown-rebirth-continues-activists-lobby-neighbo/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
August 23, 201014 yr City Allocates Another $600K for Demolition Aug. 20, 2010 6:48 a.m. By Dan O'Brien YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The city's Board of Control approved Thursday an agreement that would deliver another $600,000 in federal Neighborhood Stabilization funds to Youngstown for the purpose of demolishing condemned residential properties. Bill D'Avignon, the city's community development director, said allocation of the additional funds are "huge. Every vacant structure we can get out of here now is one less we have to deal with later." The Board of Control approved an agreement between the city and Mahoning County for $1,020,000 Thursday. Of that amount, $400,000 has been committed and the amended agreement calls for another $600,000 that the state awarded the county for demolition purposes. The county then transferred the additional money to the city. READ MORE AT: http://business-journal.com/city-allocates-another-k-for-demolition-p17252-1.htm "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
December 30, 201014 yr City's 2010 Plan Is 'Work in Progress' Dec. 30, 2010 6:48 a.m. By George Nelson YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown 2010 comprehensive plan might be a work in progress, but Mayor Jay Williams is convinced that his city is better off for having had a plan than no plan at all. Williams and William D'Avignon, Community Development Agency director, point to what has been accomplished under the plan as they allow not all of its benchmarks to make Youngstown cleaner, greener and a better planned and organized city have been met. Since 2005, when the city officially adopted the plan, Youngstown has spent $5.3 million to implement it, D'Avignon says. The funds were used to raze nearly 2,000 houses, refurbish the five bridges that cross Madison Avenue, and secure $4 million in Clean Ohio funds to remediate seven brownfield sites through 2009, including the former Youngstown Building Materials site. The city also put in place a landlord registration program, another goal in the plan, and secured a $355,000 Clean Ohio grant to preserve 200 acres on the East Side. http://business-journal.com/citys-plan-is-work-in-progress-p18240-1.htm
December 30, 201014 yr Since 2005, when the city officially adopted the plan, Youngstown has spent $5.3 million to implement it, D'Avignon says. That's not much of a commitment. I was hoping city officials would embrace the plan more fully. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
December 30, 201014 yr I'm not too familiar with Ytown's financials, but would they have much more funding to dedicate to this? Especially given the economy and their decreasing revenues...
December 30, 201014 yr One thing is certain...their will be plenty of available vacant spots upon which to build the new Youngstown. Let's hope that it does not lead to any old development at any cost, though.
January 2, 201114 yr I'm not too familiar with Ytown's financials, but would they have much more funding to dedicate to this? Especially given the economy and their decreasing revenues... It's the opposite. Their tax revenues are growing again. And with all the new jobs being created, I suspect we'll see even more tax revenues. The trick, as always, is to keep expenses from growing. Please skim the Youngstown-Warren business and development threads. There is a lot of amazing stuff happening there. I believe that part of Ohio is recovering from the Great Recession faster than anywhere else in the state except perhaps the University Circle area of Cleveland. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
January 12, 201114 yr ‘Shrinking’ the city cannot be the whole solution Author: Philip Langdon New Urban Network Starting about eight years ago, Youngstown, Ohio, once a city of fiery steel furnaces and sooty skies, decided to take a newly realistic attitude toward its dimmed economic prospects. http://newurbannetwork.com/article/%E2%80%98shrinking%E2%80%99-city-cannot-be-whole-solution-13849
March 4, 201114 yr MVOC released their 2010 vacant property report yesterday, and it's in the news today. Tax liens, foreclosures and vacancies plague Youngstown Published: Fri, March 4, 2011 @ 12:09 a.m. By David Skolnick [email protected] YOUNGSTOWN A study of the city’s 62,569 parcels by a community organizing group paints a bleak picture of Youngstown. But in issuing a vacant-property report, members of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative said Thursday there are ways to improve the city’s housing vacancy and blight problems. With 1,470 structures in foreclosure as of Nov. 30, 2010, Youngstown has a foreclosure rate of about 1 in 40. The national average is 1 in 139. The report states that 23,831 of the city’s total land parcels, 31.51 percent, are empty. That’s more than twice the national average of 15.4 percent. More: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/04/tax-liens-foreclosures-and-vacancies-pla/#c121329 Here is the full report: https://docs.google.com/a/mvorganizing.org/leaf?id=0ByhP4rHbj93SZDJjZDA3NTYtMTA5Yy00MDhlLThhNTctODg2NWQ0YjAxZDg2&sort=name&layout=list&num=50&ndplr=1 Since the image doesn't appear to work, check out the Defend Youngstown blog: http://defendyoungstown.blogspot.com/2011/03/report-4-march-2011.html
March 22, 201114 yr PBS comes to city to film documentary Published: Tue, March 22, 2011 @ 12:01 a.m. By Ashley Luthern [email protected] YOUNGSTOWN- Linda Jenkins snapped photos as a backhoe tugged down the roof of a vacant house at 3219 Firnley Ave. “No. 1, this was an eyesore, and No. 2, when houses are left open, you have young kids hiding in there. I was afraid to come home,” said Jenkins, who has lived on Firnley, across from that vacant South Side house, for 30 years. Jenkins wasn’t the only one capturing the moment on film Monday. A crew from Blueprint America, a PBS project that broadly examines America’s infrastructure, recorded the demolition for use in its upcoming feature on the city Read more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/22/pbs-comes-to-city-to-film-documentary/
June 1, 201114 yr Youngstown, 2010 plan feel absence of chief planner Published: Wed, June 1, 2011 @ 12:12 a.m. officials: money woes prevent hiring for post By Doug Livingston YOUNGSTOWN -- National and local urban planners say Rust Belt cities such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh have survived and flourished through comprehensive city planning. Well-staffed planning departments have revitalized post-industrial communities by transforming the stagnant business district in downtown Cleveland into a vibrant area for stores and eateries. Likewise, once languishing Station Square in Pittsburgh has been revitalized as a revenue-raking tourist attraction. READ MORE AT: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jun/01/city-feels-absence-of-chief-plannersflb/ "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 1, 201114 yr PBS comes to city to film documentary Published: Tue, March 22, 2011 @ 12:01 a.m. By Ashley Luthern [email protected] YOUNGSTOWN- Linda Jenkins snapped photos as a backhoe tugged down the roof of a vacant house at 3219 Firnley Ave. “No. 1, this was an eyesore, and No. 2, when houses are left open, you have young kids hiding in there. I was afraid to come home,” said Jenkins, who has lived on Firnley, across from that vacant South Side house, for 30 years. Jenkins wasn’t the only one capturing the moment on film Monday. A crew from Blueprint America, a PBS project that broadly examines America’s infrastructure, recorded the demolition for use in its upcoming feature on the city Read more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/mar/22/pbs-comes-to-city-to-film-documentary/ The final product just aired, last Friday. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/economy/video-youngstown-ohio-the-incredible-shrinking-city/9564/
June 1, 201114 yr I rode to Cleveland from Youngstown as a part of my "Northeast Ohio Tour" on Memorial Day, my gf didn't want to go, so I went by myself. I heard Youngstown was bad, but it was worse than what I expected. The sense of hopelessness and depression of the city is beyond words. Some parts of the East Side had streets where all of the houses appeared vacant, and looked as nothing had been maintained on the street for years. There where sections of the city where whole blocks were abandoned. Some of neighborhoods had so much of its housing demolished, that it a resembled a rural area. One street was so deserted and neglected, that most of the houses were screened by overgrown shrubbery and trees/ Out of the two houses that were left on the street, one house was hosting a barbeque, and some were looking at me wondering wth I was doing out there, and others seemed to have thought I was a guest coming to join the affair. The roads on most of the residentials streets were in such bad shape that it was comparable to off-roading (literally). I was seriously questioning my decision of not opting to get a rental car. Even though it was a holiday, downtown was virtually a ghostown, which can actually go both ways depending on if the city plans festivities or not. I probably saw no more than 15 people walking around downtown when I was driving. I parked my car and decided to walk around, and it was so quiet that frankly it was scary. The only thing I heard was wind, debris blowing across the road and faint sirens. And speaking of sirens, when I walked around downtown and the YSU vicinity, a cop on patrol kept circling around the blocks I was walking in a manner to make it known he was "watching me." I actually felt somewhat uncomfortable, but not scared during my visit there, and I consider myself to have a high tolerance for bad areas. I equate it to the anxious feeling you get when going into the woods by yourself, a kind of spooky and eerie feeling because of the absence of people and just you and the sounds of nature are present. It felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or some type of movie. It just felt unsettling that I was virtually the only person out on the roads, and there were hardly any cars or people to be seen. Idk, maybe the suburbs are vibrant (I didn't venture out to any of them), but I rode around the city for about 2 hrs, in and out, and the place felt like the epitome of a modern day ghost town. Even though Cincinnati isn't all that vibrant, the Mahoning Valley makes Cinci feel like NYC. I'm not trying to bash Youngstown, I even places as such interesting because of their historical importance, I'm just stating my observations. I thought Camden, NJ was depressing, but Youngstown takes the cake. Youngstown is located in an already depressed area, and a least Camden is located directly across the river from a major city. The semi rural feeling in a lot of the neighborhoods and desolate feel of the city makes it that much more depressing. As I stated before, I know it was a holiday, but I can't imagine it being drastically better during a normal functional day. Some might read this, and write off my opinion as an exaggeration, but like I said, it's what I observed and the impresssion the city left on me. And it was a hot, bright and sunny day, so I can only imagine what the place would feel like during the gloom of winter. I have no idea what it would have been like to live in Youngstown during its peak, but its sad to see a city that once attracted immigrants from all over, now be in such a state of disrepair that its currently in.
June 1, 201114 yr I rode to Cleveland from Youngstown as a part of my "Northeast Ohio Tour" on Memorial Day, my gf didn't want to go, so I went by myself. I heard Youngstown was bad, but it was worse than what I expected. The sense of hopelessness and depression of the city is beyond words. Some parts of the East Side had streets where all of the houses appeared vacant, and looked as nothing had been maintained on the street for years. There where sections of the city where whole blocks were abandoned. Some of neighborhoods had so much of its housing demolished, that it a resembled a rural area. One street was so deserted and neglected, that most of the houses were screened by overgrown shrubbery and trees/ Out of the two houses that were left on the street, one house was hosting a barbeque, and some were looking at me wondering wth I was doing out there, and others seemed to have thought I was a guest coming to join the affair. The roads on most of the residentials streets were in such bad shape that it was comparable to off-roading (literally). I was seriously questioning my decision of not opting to get a rental car. Even though it was a holiday, downtown was virtually a ghostown, which can actually go both ways depending on if the city plans festivities or not. I probably saw no more than 15 people walking around downtown when I was driving. I parked my car and decided to walk around, and it was so quiet that frankly it was scary. The only thing I heard was wind, debris blowing across the road and faint sirens. And speaking of sirens, when I walked around downtown and the YSU vicinity, a cop on patrol kept circling around the blocks I was walking in a manner to make it known he was "watching me." I actually felt somewhat uncomfortable, but not scared during my visit there, and I consider myself to have a high tolerance for bad areas. I equate it to the anxious feeling you get when going into the woods by yourself, a kind of spooky and eerie feeling because of the absence of people and just you and the sounds of nature are present. It felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or some type of movie. It just felt unsettling that I was virtually the only person out on the roads, and there were hardly any cars or people to be seen. Idk, maybe the suburbs are vibrant (I didn't venture out to any of them), but I rode around the city for about 2 hrs, in and out, and the place felt like the epitome of a modern day ghost town. Even though Cincinnati isn't all that vibrant, the Mahoning Valley makes Cinci feel like NYC. I'm not trying to bash Youngstown, I even places as such interesting because of their historical importance, I'm just stating my observations. I thought Camden, NJ was depressing, but Youngstown takes the cake. Youngstown is located in an already depressed area, and a least Camden is located directly across the river from a major city. The semi rural feeling in a lot of the neighborhoods and desolate feel of the city makes it that much more depressing. As I stated before, I know it was a holiday, but I can't imagine it being drastically better during a normal functional day. Some might read this, and write off my opinion as an exaggeration, but like I said, it's what I observed and the impresssion the city left on me. And it was a hot, bright and sunny day, so I can only imagine what the place would feel like during the gloom of winter. I have no idea what it would have been like to live in Youngstown during its peak, but its sad to see a city that once attracted immigrants from all over, now be in such a state of disrepair that its currently in. Sorry you had such a bad experience. I don't think there was any official Memorial Day celebration in the city, so everyone was probably at home cooking on the grill. (I know I was) Did you travel all over the city, or just the east side? The east side has always been the most "rural'/least developed quadrant of the city. I remember reading about the city's east side being underdeveloped in a turn of the (20th) century newspaper. But, this is the point of the shrinking city concept. Those rural-esque neighborhoods should be returned to nature, so that intact neighborhoods, like mine, can benefit from more concentrated resources.
June 1, 201114 yr ^I think I travelled over most of the city, but I'm not exactly sure since I'm not familiar with the area. I just remember the east side specifically because I saw a sign saying that's where I was, and the area seemed to be in the worst shape. There were probably a couple areas I missed though because I've heard Younstown does have a few upscale areas, but I didn't see that. In reference to what you said about the shrinking city concept, I guess I can see where old people are coming from, when they get nostalgic about their old neighborhood, town, etc. I would be pretty sad also to see a house I grew up in now look like its in a forest, or even worse, demolished.
June 2, 201114 yr I've been trying to watch the PBS video everyday and it keeps saying it's not available! GRRR!!
June 2, 201114 yr HHS78, my experience with the city is quite long, going back into the 1970s. Yes, it was much more active then as compared to now -- see my "We make/made steel" threads on this forum (make steel: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17134.0.html and made steel: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,17136.msg319267.html#msg319267). But it is much more active today compared to just 5-10 years ago. The number of new businesses downtown has seen a dramatic upswing. It is still mostly a 9-5, Monday-Friday downtown, but that's actually an improvement from the early 2000s when downtown was a ghost town on weekdays too. See some of my photo threads of how Youngstown looks on weekdays, and especially during downtown festivals. http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,23011.0.html http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,24160.html To compare, JRC took some photos of downtown in 2002. That was probably when it was at its worst. Today is a nice change from just nine years ago..... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,25235.0.html "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
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