Wednesday, March 20, 2002
The money was about to be recalled and redistributed.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Set to expire today, a $1.5 million state grant for a downtown arena project appears to be headed instead to Youngstown State University.
A bill to reappropriate the money within the state's capital budget is scheduled for a vote today. The money would be sent to YSU's administrative computer program, said Youngstown businessman Bruce Zoldan, who originally secured it.
The money he got two years ago in the last capital budget for his own arena project was about to be folded into the bill and spread across the state, Zoldan said.
With no clear outcome in sight for the proposed arena project now in the city's hands, Zoldan said he chose to try to keep the cash in the region. He had warned late last year that the funding was in jeopardy of being recalled.
"We are happy it was able to be saved and used in our Valley," Zoldan said.
Help from Meshel: To keep the money local, Zoldan enlisted close friend and adviser Harry Meshel. He lobbied state Senate President Richard Finan to send the money to YSU. Meshel is a former state Senate president. The computer center is inside YSU's Meshel Hall, so named for him.
Zoldan called the computer center a worthwhile cause.
Little progress: After the city got $26.8 million in federal money for a downtown civic center, Zoldan planned to direct his $1.5 million grant to that project. He is convinced that the project could have drawn up to $4.5 million more from the state.
Two years of political squabbling later, however, Zoldan said the lack of a finished project in sight left chances for keeping the money slim.
Two weeks ago, the city signed a six-month contract with a consultant to take the project from concept to groundbreaking.
rgsmith@vindy.com