Beyond the blight: Valley residents issue pleas for help

There is desperation in the voices that speak through the letters and e-mails.
"We need help in this neighborhood now!"
The South Side resident isn't exaggerating.
Scorch marks from a long-ago fire, holes in the red tile roof and tree limbs strewn across the driveway dominate one vacant home on her Princeton Avenue block.
Three other boarded-up, but falling-down, houses rot on the two blocks off Market Street. A boat labeled "Chester's" lies across the open, shabby garage behind one of them.
In March The Vindicator asked readers across the area what eyesore they most wanted to see cleaned up. The newspaper wasn't sure what was on readers' minds or if anybody even cared.
Nearly 200 pieces of correspondence flowed in, among the strongest responses ever to a Vindicator readership query. The message was clear: People do care, and they want a greater priority put on erasing those eyesores.
More than half the letters came from Youngstown. The rest came from smaller cities, suburbs and rural areas across Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
Youngstown or Struthers, Boardman or Austintown, Kinsman or Milton townships, it didn't matter. People sent address upon address, sometimes pages of them. They sent pictures, maps and even drawings.
Most significant, they sent their stories.
Pleas: Overwhelmingly, those stories were about people pleading for significant attention to what plagues the place they live.
They've talked to mayors and administrators, trustees and council members. They've called zoning and health departments, housing inspectors and police.
Public officials give lots of reasons, many legitimate, for why there's been no progress. No money for cleanup, no people to enforce the law. No teeth in the laws, where they even exist. No backup from the court system when an issue gets there.
Sometimes, people say they never hear back from government at all.
None of that is good enough, readers say. The problems remain. The people are frustrated. The sense of hopelessness is clear.
"Youngstown will get worse because people and politicians don't work together. I don't think it will get better. I hope city hall listens to you. Help us!" an East Judson Street woman pleaded.
"Please help our neighborhood! The city of Youngstown does not care. I pray you can help our neighborhood," said a Bon Air Avenue resident.
Fearful: Most of the people wouldn't give their names or asked they be withheld out of fear.
Suburban readers were as fearful of retribution as their city counterparts. No matter where they live, readers say wayward neighbors have been uncooperative at best. Sometimes people who dared challenge some eyesores have had damage done to their own homes.
"I am afraid they will set the houses on fire. I don't sleep well at night thinking they may. Please send someone out to take a look at it," asked one East Side woman.
Among the eyesores in her neighborhood is a short block on Springdale Avenue. A couple of well-kept homes sit between a couple more that have the wiring and other metal stripped away, curtains blowing through open windows.
"Please, please somebody do something. I'm too afraid to sign my name," said one resident who lives in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood behind Youngstown State University. Many homes there are in disrepair.
Others were afraid to say anything.
Struthers: "You have given me the courage to speak up," one Struthers resident said.
One day last month a lawn service trimmed the grass at one of the many newer, and well-kept, homes on Como Avenue in Struthers. In the middle of the neighborhood, however, is a dirty white and pink occupied house with peeling paint and no gutters. Bricks, metal and car parts were piled in the yard. A block down, a garage once painted white is weather-beaten almost gray.
Safety: Some property owners are begging for help to protect other people.
"I fear tragedy is in the offing," said one North Side man, referring to a vacant red brick home at Juanita and Alameda avenues.
The boarded-up home has a door in place, but the panels that flank the entry are missing. Children have easy access, and the writer worries about what can happen if they get in.
"I would appreciate any help in making a safer, cleaner neighborhood for my children," said a Boston Avenue parent. A home on that street features junk, trash and barely restrained dogs.
Campbell: Mary Ann Slaven of Youngstown has relatives in similar circumstances in Campbell. The sense of pride that used to carry neighborhoods isn't there among the younger generations, she said.
Neighborhood deterioration dominates the thoughts of older people who should be enjoying where they live, not worrying about it, Slaven said.
"I feel so bad for the good and decent people," she said. "I have to speak from my heart. No one should have to live that way."
The pleas cross neighborhood, city, township and county lines.
Rusting cars, boats and trailers litter McClosky Road in Unity Township in Columbiana County.
The former Essence Lounge at McCartney Road and Woodland Avenue in Campbell -- red roses painted on the front -- is nearly masked by a couple of feet of brush. Windows are missing, the inside is destroyed, and heaps of brick, metal and wood are piled under a "no dumping" sign.
"This is a long-standing eyesore in our area for too long. Please help us maintain our community!" a Campbell resident asked.
Purple, pink, yellow and white flowers fill an island at the entrance to a subdivision off Lockwood Boulevard in Boardman.
Just feet away, however, is an otherwise average, occupied house that features a rusting, '50s-era car, a small pickup truck with a garbage bag for a window and a rusted backyard fence.
"Any help you could give those of us concerned would be greatly appreciated," a Boardman woman wrote.