Council's arena plan disappoints Traficant

The congressman said there are officials in Washington, D.C., itching to take the $26.8 million away from the city.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
BOARDMAN -- U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. was unusually quiet as he talked about his disappointment with Youngstown City Council's decision to control the proposed convocation center project.
There was no yelling, no name-calling, no threats from Traficant, who has been doing just that during his guest-hosting stint on WKBN-AM radio's morning show in the days leading up to city council's vote Thursday.
Instead, Traficant of Poland, who obtained the $26.8 million in federal money to build the facility, said Friday he was "a little bit disappointed" and "saddened" by council's decision to give itself control over contracts and turn the arena board essentially into an advisory group.
What else he said: During and after Friday's broadcast, Traficant, D-17th, said he would do nothing to help Youngstown obtain further federal funding for the arena. He also warned Youngstown officials to get cracking on building the arena because there are officials in Washington, D.C., itching to take the $26.8 million away from the city.
"I wish them well," Traficant said after the broadcast about Youngstown officials. "Whatever they do, I hope they do the right thing. I just bring in the money. The city of Youngstown has it. What they do is their business. Good luck to them."
Before council's vote, Traficant was outspoken in his support to give control of the project to the arena board.
Traficant also said the ideal location for the arena would have been in Niles near Cafaro Field, the home of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor-league baseball team.
"That would have been the best location, but I felt Youngstown needed that lift," Traficant said.
Supports downtown site: When contacted Friday, Anthony Cafaro, president of Cafaro Co., which built the baseball field, said he strongly supports placing the arena in downtown Youngstown, to help with the city's revitalization efforts, and would have told Traficant that if the congressman had asked him.
"I'm not suggesting if they said, 'We have federal funding and [Niles] is where we want to put it,' we would have turned our back on it," Cafaro said. "But it belongs in downtown Youngstown."
Traficant said he is disappointed by city council's decision, but he is not sorry the facility is going to be built in Youngstown.
Traficant also warned the Mahoning Valley that it is going to have to start doing things for itself -- such as passing a regional income tax -- to revitalize the area and stop waiting for miracles to occur.
"Don't expect anybody to keep coming in and pulling rabbits out of their hat," he said. "I've done a pretty good job of doing that. That may be self-serving, but that's fine. We've got to start doing for ourselves."
On the radio: Traficant spent the final day of his three-day stint on WKBN's morning show revisiting and repeating many familiar themes.
Traficant took shots at organized labor, saying, "Some labor leaders are worthless. They run their mouths and let their international unions send jobs overseas."
Traficant was evasive about his upcoming federal trial on 10 felony counts including racketeering and bribery.
He criticized the FBI, saying, "I think they suck and have ruined this Valley. Before I'm done, I'm going to put a few of them in jail."
He said the country is run by career bureaucrats at agencies such as the FBI and the IRS.
Of course, Traficant couldn't resist calling himself the "son of a truck driver," or saying that he has "a train to run," a few times.