Neighborhoods

To the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., which renovated, upgraded and ultimately saved a beautiful, 19th century historic home on Old Furnace Road next to Mill Creek Park.

It’s the first home motorists see as they ascend the hill from nearby Pioneer Pavilion. The two-story Victorian home is now on the market. Without YNDC’s involvement, the historic home likely would have been lost. Now we hope it will be purchased as a residence by someone who will devote the needed love and care to preserve it well into the future.

To see the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

Adam Wagner is a Grass Cutting and Clean Up Team Member for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation. Adam collaborates with a team of professional and labor staff in the implementation of large scale grass cutting and clean up of vacant homes, boarding of vacant housing, vacant lot management, basic construction, and other field and maintenance projects to improve the quality of life in strategic Youngstown neighborhoods.

The city of East Liverpool is starting a new blight remediation project. Officials hope this will continue the city’s revitalization.

Demolition took place Monday morning at a house that is one of 16 abandoned homes on Erie Street. It’s also one of 450 abandoned homes in East Liverpool, according to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC).

A lot of work is still to be done with demolishing old homes, but officials say this is a step forward for the city.

The demolition was the start of a blight remediation and demolition project in East Liverpool. Several officials witnessed the demolition of the home on Erie Street — one of many that are expected to be torn down.

“They’re not all homes where we can just come in and foreclose on someone. We don’t want to do that, but we want to clean up the neighborhood so that the people that do want to live here have a nice place to live,” said Bryan Blakeman, treasurer for Columbiana County.

Vito Abruzzino, prosecuting attorney for Columbiana County, says they can be a threat to the community.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

When the Foster Theatre opened in 1938, it was the second movie theater on Youngstown’s South Side.

Its arrival made headlines in Hollywood, with studio heads like the Warner Brothers even writing to congratulate the theater’s president, Joseph Shagrin Sr. Those days were long gone by the time I was old enough to realize that the Foster Theatre wasn’t like the movie theaters we drove elsewhere to patronize.

It now stands as the last movie theater on the South Side and one of the last remaining landmarks of the once bustling Fosterville district. Until it was purchased by YNDC in 2021, the theater also had the distinction of being one of only 35 remaining adult theaters in the country.

Now, far be it for me to judge or malign the adult industry, but one thing that has held about adult theaters since they emerged in shared public spaces in the late 1960s is that they tend to be a little seedy.

Growing up in the 1990s, it felt as though every trip down Glenwood Avenue happened in the shadow of the theater. This hulking building takes up an amount of space commensurate with its long-lost status. The former glamorous movie house was an eyesore when I was old enough to notice it. And I had been sufficiently warned about it without being given details beyond my pay grade as a kid.

What I did realize, however, was that this particular building was constantly patronized by people who did not live in my community. An interesting thing happens when transient visitors frequent a neighborhood in transition or disrepair: They treat the area and its people in ways they would never consider on their side of town. Of course, this is not always the case. But we’re talking about Glenwood in the 1990s.

To see the full story from Mahoning Matters, click here.

The owner of Voyager Specialty Coffee & Teas acknowledged he is being optimistic when he says that Voyager and his new Trek Coffeehouse will be operating in new locations in December.

But Levi Smith of Canfield said he is also “somewhat of a realist. So I keep telling people winter, because in Ohio that’s a six-month time period.”

To see the full story from The Business Journal, click here.

And the city of East Liverpool is tackling the vacant homes crisis head on through its Blight Remediation and Demolition Project.

The project, a collaboration with several organizations around the state, works to not only tear down dilapidated homes, but to rehab and revitalize these areas.

East Liverpool Mayor Greg Bricker says there hasn't been a newly built house in the city for more than a decade.

"Through the YMDC Housing Survey, they found roughly 450 abandoned homes in the city. So that's what we're seeing here today," he said.

And he says these homes are so far gone, there's no choice but to tear them down.

Since the program started last July, they have worked to raise around $600,000, as demos can cost roughly around $8,000, and they have already torn down 35 vacant homes.

To see the full story from WTOV, click here.

City council plans Wednesday to approve $684,685 in American Rescue Plan-funded projects from the $14 million allocation it gave its members, but administration officials said they won’t authorize the work without first determining whether the expenditures are permissible under federal law.

“We have a lot of reservations,” city Finance Director Kyle Miasek said during a Monday council finance committee meeting. “We’re going to be thorough in reviewing these agreements to make sure how (ARP funds) are being expended.”

City council voted April 6 to give its members control over $14 million of the city’s ARP funding, which is $2 million per member.

For the first time, council will vote Wednesday on projects — four in all — from that $14 million.

The largest amount is $300,000, sponsored by Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, for small business assistance grants for the east end of Federal Street, where Youngstown Flea, Penguin City Brewing Co. and D.O.P.E. Cider House & Winery operate.

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, is seeking to spend $160,000 in ARP money to purchase the former McDonald’s at 2525 Market St., which closed December 2017, in order to convert it into a police substation and community center.

The amount doesn’t include any needed improvements to the building.

Councilwoman Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward, is requesting $130,685 from her ward’s ARP funding for improvement to Lynn Park while Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward, is seeking $94,000 for emergency home repairs and roof replacement project for low-income residents in her ward.

Miasek said he is working with council members on their requests and is urging them to use fiscal agents who have previously had success in handling community development projects for the city, such as the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. YDNC is the fiscal agent for the projects sponsored by Adamczak and McNally.

To see the full story from The Vindicator, click here.

The city of East Liverpool is cleaning up both the neighborhoods and downtown, tackling blighted homes, painting murals and securing grants for revitalization — all to attract more residents and businesses.

“You can live anywhere, why not East Liverpool?” Mayor Greg Bricker asked.

During a recent interview, Bricker highlighted some of the programs in place to improve the city, including some recent legislation approved by council, the continuation of the blight remediation and demolition project, and plans to make the riverfront and downtown a destination.

“The river’s our biggest asset,” he said.

The city already received $60,000 for a downtown revitalization project and Broadway Wharf revitalization.

“The vision is some sort of amphitheater to draw more people down there and make it a more usable space,” Bricker said.

He also said they need to make the area more boat friendly, have more events and added “we’re actually trying to get some pickle ball courts in downtown.”

The downtown already has some features to catch the eye, such as the murals near Giant Eagle and the one being painted on the Broadway overpass with the columns in Fiesta Ware colors and the word East Liverpool in Potter blue. The umbrellas along Dawson Way sponsored by the East Liverpool Calcutta Area Garden Club provide a colorful shady spot where shoppers in the downtown can relax.

To see the full story from Morning Journal, click here.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Keith is a veteran who has lived in his home for over 22 years.

Severe roof leaks were causing damage throughout his home. By replacing Keith’s roof, YNDC eliminated the leaks and prevented further damage. “My neighbor actually told me about this program, and I managed to go to one of the houses you guys were replacing the roof on and got the number. It helped me out a lot,” Keith said.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is being awarded to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation.

The program behind the grant stems from the Dodd-Frank All Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which helps agencies that support tenants and homeowners.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.