Youngstown builds a case for help from Washington

What does it take to win a federal "renewal community zone" designation and the advantages that go along with it pertaining to job-creation and other economic activity? In a word, "poverty." The poorer the community, the better its chances of securing Washington's help.
That is why the city of Youngstown has adopted a new strategy this year in its attempt to persuade federal bureaucrats that it is deserving of the government's help. Rather than trying to have the entire city labeled a federal renewal community, which was the approach taken when Youngstown made a bid for empowerment zone designation under the Clinton administration, officials have identified a specific area on the North Side that contains the levels of poverty, unemployment and income that the federal government should find persuasive.
For instance, the target area -- west of Youngstown State University and St. Elizabeth Health Center, downtown and the Smoky Hollow neighborhood -- had a poverty rate of 65 percent, according to the 1990 census.
By focusing on the worst census tracts, the city of Youngstown hopes to improve its chances of being selected as one of 28 communities the Bush administration believes would benefit from federal employment tax credits, small-business deductions, commercial real estate accelerated depreciation, zone capital gains tax incentives and special bond financing for schools.
Political pressure: We would urge President George W. Bush not to be swayed by the political pressure that will be brought to bear on his administration from the large metropolitan areas. Bush should recall that he told Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey and other political and community leaders during last year's election that his tax-incentive program would be more beneficial to the city's economic revitalization effort than President Bill Clinton's empowerment zone program.
Youngstown and Warren, which had applied for empowerment zone designation individually and jointly, were ignored by the Clinton administration even though the Democrat had promised this predominantly Democratic region during the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections that he would not forget the Mahoning Valley.
But once in office, Clinton allowed the pencil-pushers in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to call the shots -- which they did, to the detriment of Youngstown and Warren. The bureaucrats refused to consider the extraordinary circumstances confronting the two cities in judging the empowerment zone applications. Such a designation would have brought in $100 million over 10 years.
In developing the target area for the renewal community designation, Youngstown officials have again highlighted what the Clinton administration refused to recognize: there are problems confronting Youngstown that demand the attention of the federal government. With 65 percent poverty rate, 45 percent unemployment and 89 percent of the households considered low income, how can anyone say that the city does not deserve help from Washington?