Neighborhoods

A restaurant on Youngstown’s South Side is celebrating its first year of being open and the revitalization of businesses in the area. Savannah Joe’s is on Glenwood Avenue.

Owner Joseph Bowers opened the restaurant with family recipes inspired by his hometown of Savannah, Georgia. Bowers says he grew up visiting family in Youngstown and says it’s great to see the continued development along the Glenwood Avenue corridor. “It’s great to see the Youngstown area coming back. I live in this neighborhood, and it’s good to see the Youngstown area revitalized and coming back to its former glory,” he said.

Bowers adds he’s grateful for all his customers and the support that’s kept him in business over the last year.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

Monday, April 1, 2024. 

On Friday, February 9, the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation awarded a $10,000 grant to the Glenwood Neighbors Community Safety Program.

The safety program will engage residents and business owners in the neighborhoods along Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown in a coordinated effort to prevent crime by using evidence-based practices for crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED), including installing lighting and doorbell security cameras on homes, businesses, and in public spaces that are in the vicinity of hotspots of violent crime. YNDC will work with resident leaders, business owners, and the Youngstown Police Department to implement the program.

Many thanks to the Thomases Family Endowment of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation!

City council agreed to increase the amount of a remediation and partial demolition of 20 Federal Place by more than 22% to correct a mistake when the initial legislation was approved and to cover additional costs for the work. The initial ordinance, approved Nov. 15, 2022, had the project’s cost at up to $6.25 million. Charles Shasho, the city’s deputy director of public works, said he made an error in the initial proposal. Council agreed Tuesday to increase the project’s cost to up to $7.65 million.

The city received a $6.96 million Ohio Brownfield Remediation grant, announced in June 2022, for the project. So the $6.25 million in the November 2022 legislation already was too low by about $750,000. The city hired Daniel A. Terreri & Sons, a Youngstown company, in March 2023 for the work at a cost of $6.98 million. The price went up to $7.07 million in October because of the need to remove additional ceiling and floor tiles, Shasho said. While the administration is asking council to increase the price to $7.65 million, Shasho said he expects it to cost just under $7.5 million, but wants a little cushion in case of unforeseen issues. “Once they started the project there were things uncovered in the walls,” city Finance Director Kyle Miasek said. “There were unknown costs we learned about as they did the project.”

Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said once the project is finished, the environmental concerns at the city-owned building will be resolved. That will make it easier to sell the building at 20 W. Federal St., he said. In addition to the $6.96 million state grant, the city provided $2.32 million of its own money for the work at 20 Federal Place. That includes paying a portion of the Terreri contract as well as about $500,000 in architectural designs and costs related to seeking additional grants for the building. The project, which started in April 2023, has been delayed repeatedly. It was supposed to be done in November, then February and just a month ago, Shasho said it would be finished April 1. Now, Shasho said the “substantial completion” date is April 15.

But demolition work to the rear of the building requires masonry work to close that space and that won’t be finished until May 31, he said. Deputy Law Director Adam Buente said Tuesday that Desmone Architects, the Pittsburgh firm that is involved in planning the redevelopment of the building, took a potential redeveloper on a tour of 20 Federal Place last week. The city is looking for a company to redevelop the building. A Desmone umbrella organization, 20 Federal Place LLC, has a 40-year lease on the building, Buente said. But there are benchmarks in the lease that Desmone must achieve at specific times, he said. If they’re not reached, the city can rescind the lease, he said. Without the city’s knowledge, Desmone reapplied and received a $10 million state historic preservation tax credit for 20 Federal Place, announced Dec. 21. That also comes with $14 million in federal historic preservation tax credits. Under historic tax credit rules, a government entity, like Youngstown, isn’t eligible for those dollars and the money must be awarded to a private group. Desmone’s application for the tax credits states an $82,137,690 project is planned at 20 Federal Place though no project has been finalized and the search for a redeveloper is ongoing. The city purchased the building in November 2004 after Phar-Mor, a national retail store company, went out of business. The property was the Phar-Mor Centre, the company’s corporate headquarters. Before that, it was the flagship location of Strouss’ department store for several decades. The city has unsuccessfully tried to sell the building in the past. There were 19 tenants, taking up about 20% of the 332,000-square-foot building before eviction notices were sent in July 2022.

CITY BUDGET

Council also voted 7-0 Tuesday to pass a $209.7 million budget for 2024. The city plans to hire 11 more police officers and three more firefighters this year and would seek to add more hires in both departments should current employees leave, Miasek said. The city also wants to add three employees this year to the community planning and economic development department including a chief planner, a position that has been vacant since March 2009. The city went through the process last year of testing for the job and four people met the requirements. But the administration decided not to hire any of the candidates. Among the larger purchases planned for this year are $600,000 for a new sanitation truck and $1.2 million for the street department, including two new snowplows for about $300,000 each as well as $600,000 for new police vehicles. The city ended 2023 with $52,481,100 from its 2.75% income tax and business profit tax. That’s an increase of 3.15% from the $50,879,800 the city collected in 2022. Miasek had predicted a 2.4% increase. It was a record high income tax collection amount for the city. Miasek expects an increase of about 1.5% to 1.7% in 2024 though that could change.

ARP SPENDING

Council voted 7-0 to spend $48,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to have MBH Construction upgrade the wooden walkway and steps to the deck at the Spring Commons Park to concrete.

It voted 5-2 to give $52,000 from Councilwoman Antia Davis’ 6th Ward ARP fund for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to do renovations and improvements to Beyond Expectations Barber College on Glenwood Avenue.

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

With Youngstown Councilwoman Amber White again seeking Wednesday to repeal $1.3 million in American Rescue Plan spending her predecessor got approved in her last meeting for a park project, the board of control called a special meeting for earlier that day to vote on signing the contract. The request by White, I-7th Ward, for council Wednesday to repeal legislation it approved Dec. 20 at the request of Basia Adamczak during her final meeting on city council is almost certainly going to fail as it did during White’s first attempt Feb. 21.

White’s request to repeal the $1.3 million for the Youngstown Foundation to serve as fiscal agent to turn Ipe Park into the city’s first all-inclusive park was included in council’s legislative package, distributed last Wednesday, for its 5:30 p.m. meeting this upcoming Wednesday. The board of control on Monday afternoon called a special meeting for 9 a.m. Wednesday — eight and a half hours prior to council’s meeting — to enter into the fiscal agreement with the Youngstown Foundation for the $1.3 million park project.

Attempts on Monday by The Vindicator to reach White and Mayor Jamael Tito Brown were unsuccessful. But the move is an obvious attempt by the Brown administration to kill White’s second effort to repeal the ARP expenditure despite its near-certain rejection. White posted Thursday on Facebook that she “had to make a very tough decision” to again sponsor the repeal “due to the continued lack of information regarding” the Ipe project. She added, “We are now into the second quarter of the new year and even after the one year of previous work, I still have only vague details about the project to show the residents.”

White contends people were misled about a matching $1.3 million and recently a resident told her Ipe on East Midlothian Boulevard was never researched for how an all-inclusive park specializing in autism would fit at this location. White added “There was never any documentation of questions asked by the residents of what they would like to see done at the parks. We do not even know how much this park will cost. I have asked, residents have asked and still nothing.” She urged people to request to speak in front of council Wednesday in opposition to the park. “When all I hear continuously is upset residents about this chosen location and lack of information, I have to do what the majority wants,” White wrote in the Facebook post.

Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, said, “I stand with the mayor and the citizens of the 7th Ward. What’s going on is ridiculous. Let it go.” White has also again requested that council repeal $52,000 for neighborhood block watches through the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

To read the full story from the Vindicator, click here. 

Green spaces not only provide recreation and natural beauty but stabilize property values of nearby neighborhoods. Green spaces like parks offer assets that attract people and development. Hunter Morrison is an urban planner who worked on the Youngstown 2010 plan 20 years ago and still works as a city consultant. As part of the development of the 2010 plan, community members were asked to list community assets. Mill Creek MetroParks topped the list. “It’s an asset from a variety of perspectives,” Morrison says. “It’s quality of life, but it’s also an asset in terms of holding real estate values.”

NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION

A well-maintained park stabilizes the neighborhoods around it, he says. “It’s pretty clear that the West Side neighborhoods in Youngstown are stabilized because of the presence of Mill Creek,” he says. Morrison and John Bralich, the director of the Center for Applied Geographic Information Systems at Youngstown State University, did a study a few years ago of city parks and the areas around them. “The literature suggests that one or two blocks away from the park are the blocks that are stabilized, particularly true in the case of Mill Creek but also Crandall Park on the North Side,” he says. “People like those parks. One of the values of having a legacy park system is that it’s something that is shared, acknowledged as an asset. There’s usually a strong desire to preserve it and enhance it.” It’s an anchor to a neighborhood, a value-generating asset for the community. “In a place like Youngstown, which is 200 years-plus old, it’s a legacy of the urban parks movement,” Morrison says.

Bill Willoughby, an associate professor in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University, says some people call green space the commons. During the pandemic, for example, green spaces became psychological respites from being inside, he says. “I think that green space is expressive of a social life,” he says. “I think it takes on many forms.” There can be active spaces for sports and physical fitness, social spaces for outdoor activities including theater or music performances. “One example in Warren is the amphitheater which is clearly that,” Willoughby says. Passive spaces, like parks or walking paths through green spaces, also fill another category. Passive green spaces require less maintenance and therefore lower costs “but I think that they’re worthwhile and vital to making a community or a region more accessible.” Mill Creek was the first metropolitan park district in Ohio, established in 1891. “When you build housing, start with where your assets are,” Morrison says. “Do your infill where you’ve got something to work with.”

VALUE OF GREENSPACE

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. followed that idea, renovating homes on the east side of Mill Creek Park in the Idora neighborhood.

To read the full story from the Business Journal, click here. 

Wednesday, April 3, 2024.

YNDC is proud to announce the publishing of its performance report from the 1st Quarter of 2024!

The performance report highlights the work of YNDC from January to March 2024.

An electronic copy can be downloaded below. 

City council again rejected Councilwoman Amber White’s request to repeal $1.3 million in American Rescue Plan spending for a park project sponsored by her predecessor. The 4-2 council vote against White’s legislation Wednesday was essentially pointless as the board of control earlier in the day voted 3-0 to enter into a fiscal agreement with the Youngstown Foundation to turn Ipe Park on East Midlothian Boulevard into an all-inclusive park using the ARP money. White, I-7th Ward, said there’s been “little to no transparency, questions over funding, there’s no data to back up what little plan there is to show that it is a viable project,” and it should be repealed. White said people were lied to about matching money for the park and the location was never researched as to how an all-inclusive park would fit there.

Except for Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd, who voted with White, no other council member at Wednesday’s meeting said anything about the request. White unsuccessfully attempted Feb. 21 to repeal the legislation for the park approved by council at the request of Basia Adamczak in her final meeting on Dec. 20 as the 7th Ward councilwoman. Turner and White were the only council members to back the repeal. Asked about calling a special board of control meeting to be held before council, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, the board’s chairman, said: “We’ve been working on this since December with the Youngstown Foundation. It was finally ready to go.” The total cost of the project isn’t known, with Brown saying: “It will be done in phases.”

White questioned the location of the park as it’s near a fire station, Interstate 680 and on Midlothian Boulevard — which she said isn’t conducive to children on the autism spectrum. Three residents of the 7th Ward, with children on the autism spectrum, spoke in support at Wednesday’s meeting of White’s efforts to repeal the legislation. Also, Nyasia Lewis, secretary to the parks and recreation director, spoke against repealing, saying the concerns aren’t about the project but who controls the $1.3 million. During the Dec. 20 meeting, council voted on ordinances sponsored by Adamczak to spend the remaining $1,443,074 left in her ward’s $2 million ARP allocation. At that Dec. 20 meeting, Adamczak said she worked on the ARP projects, particularly Ipe, for a long time and plenty of money was going into the neighborhoods. She also said the decision was made after talking to ward residents. But White said Wednesday that the vote among 7th Ward residents is 20-to-1 against the project being located at Ipe.

White also tried Wednesday to repeal legislation approved by council on Dec. 20 – and sponsored by Adamczak – to have the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. serve as the fiscal agent with specific allocations for specific neighborhood organizations.

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

Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

In April 2024, YNDC sold a fully revitalized Newport Neighborhood home to a new homeowner. 511 Mistletoe Avenue sold for $120,000. Congratulations to the new homeowners and thank you for your investment in Youngstown’s neighborhoods.

The Rotary Club of Youngstown will award four Valley nonprofits grants totaling $30,000 at a Wednesday luncheon. The Rotary Club of Youngstown and the Youngstown Rotary Foundation have selected four local non-profit organizations as recipients of funding from the Club’s Community Grant Program.

Recipients and awards include:

The English Center – $20,000 for operational support of adult English language classes during the 2023-24 academic year.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation – $5,000 for Glenwood Neighbors Community Safety Program.

To read the full story from WKBN, click here. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today announced nearly $70 million in grants across the country that will help transform communities by fixing older housing, preserving affordable housing, and improving the health of children and families in these communities. Grants are also being awarded for studies on housing-related health hazards to support the health and the safety of the residents by finding better ways to help maintain homes.

Moreover, in commemoration of National Healthy Homes Month and HUD’s ongoing efforts to foster resilient communities, HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman released the following statement.

"Housing is the foundation on which we live, grow, and thrive. Access to healthy affordable housing is a priority of this Department. This National Healthy Homes Month, HUD reaffirms its commitment to protecting families and children, supporting research and community efforts to ensure homes are healthy.”

The grants awarded today include funding through the Healthy Homes Production Grant Program, the Healthy Homes and Weatherization Cooperation Demonstration Grant Program, the Older Adult Home Modification Grant Program, the Lead Technical Studies Grant Program, the Healthy Homes Technical Studies Grant Program, and the Lead Hazard Reduction Capacity Building Grant Program.

Matthew Ammon, Director of HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes added, “Housing is as essential as health care, and these grants expand HUD’s commitment to providing safe and healthy homes for all.”

Awarding these grants contributes to HUD achieving its strategic objective to strengthen environmental justice by reducing exposure to health risks and environmental hazards, especially for low-income households and disadvantaged communities. You can read the Fiscal Year 2022-2026 HUD Strategic Plan on HUD’s website.

To read the state-by-state breakdown of the funding announced today, click here.