Cuyahoga commissioners tighten the purse strings

Cuyahoga commissioners tighten the purse strings
EDITOR:
This negative naysayer (other people's words, not mine), about local government policies is very confused. Since the sales tax renewal levy passed, I have seen nothing but negative stories of the county officeholders either a) looking for more tax-money to operate their respective domain or b) saying there was no tax money to spare for the many excuses that we have heard in the past.
I am confused, because according to your paper's many front-page editorials, the office holders at election forums, and the advertising campaign run by the committee to raise my taxes (amongst others), the passage of this tax would solve all the problems that exist in our modern society. And, it would only cost us pennies! What a concept.
Now, only after a month, I read George Tablack's mea culpa. And I see the many elected and appointed officials going after each other like vultures picking at a dead carcass on the side of the road. Must be that none of them is up for re-election in 2003.
Well, here is some advice that will only cost them the price of buying your paper and reading this letter. The commissioners should hold back money from the over spenders, meting out funds in quarterly installments. State law allows commissioners to use quarterly budgeting as a way to control an out of whack budget. This is being done in Cuyahoga County, why not here?
SAMUEL M. MOFFIE
Boardman
City's high cost of parking will keep people away
EDITOR:
Recently my wife was in St. E's hospital for six days, it cost me $9.75 in parking fees to visit my wife and this so irritated me and set me to thinking about Youngstown and some of its problems. The cost of parking one's automobile surely must be at the top of the list of why people avoid going into downtown Youngstown.
Youngstown has the Mahoning County Courthouse, federal courthouses, YMCA, YWCA, YSU and a lot of other facilities for the citizens of the county and surrounding areas to visit. The leaders of Youngstown lobbied and applied other pressures to have all these facilities located in downtown Youngstown. To work at or visit these facilities, people for the most part, must rely on the automobile to bring them to these destinations and here is where the rub comes in ... they must all pay to park their cars. All of this county and federal (public) money spent to construct these units benefit only one small segment of the population, the parking lot operators. These people are a throw back from the days when past city administrations did their best to discourage traffic (cars) from coming into the city. They even closed of streets (E. and W. Federal streets) to create a pedestrian mall. Where the pedestrians were to come from is a good question.
Due credit must be accorded these administrations for their success in keeping Youngstown free of cars and, of course, people
Youngstown 2010, to succeed, must reverse the trend of this flawed philosophy. Streets must be opened and even widened. Traffic must be free to flow into and out of the downtown area from all directions, east, west, north and south.
To lure people to the attractions available in downtown Youngstown, including the future federally funded facility to be located between Market Street and South Avenue, provisions must be made to accommodate the cars that bring the people in. Free, accessible and convenient parking is the only viable option that can be considered.
In support of this argument, one only need to look into the success of the suburbs, where all parking is free, accessible, convenient and plentiful. There is no compelling reason, outside of the greed of certain interests, why Youngstown 2010 cannot match what the suburbs offer.
PAUL SLOVAN
Youngstown