YOUNGSTOWN ACTION outlines goals at its annual gathering

The group urged members to protest to Giant Eagle, and voiced opposition to a proposed Super Sam's Club.
YOUNGSTOWN -- From grocery stores to local government, ACTION is forging ahead, its leaders say.
About 2,000 people from ACTION-affiliated congregations gathered Sunday at Stambaugh Auditorium for the group's annual meeting. Leaders talked about more than a dozen topics on which the group is focusing its efforts.
ACTION, the Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods, is a coalition of city and suburban churches.
Grocery store
One primary goal is to re-establish a grocery store on the South Side. Phar-Mor went bankrupt this summer, closing its Newport neighborhood store. ACTION had persuaded Phar-Mor to open in that location in 2000 to fill a need after Giant Eagle left the location.
A local grocer wants to open a full service store there, ACTION leaders said. The building owner -- Giant Eagle -- wants $1.3 million to sell, they said. That's too steep a price for the local company, they said.
ACTION is urging members to call Giant Eagle and demand the company set a lower sale price for the property.
Meanwhile, the group voiced its opposition to a proposed Super Sam's Club store on South Avenue in Boardman. That area has a multitude of shopping.
Other topics
ACTION also is tackling a number of other topics involving business and government.
Among those discussed Sunday:
Creation of an urban-suburban roundtable to discuss economic development.
Creation of a committee to monitor the number of women and minorities who are hired to work on the massive city schools construction project.
A commitment from Mayor George M. McKelvey that a city charter review committee would be appointed by year's end.
Changing the name of its good government committee to the crime and corruption task force to better define its work.
Seeking seats on downtown's redevelopment agency, the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp., and urging old buildings be renovated instead of leveled.
Supporting the creation of a consumer affairs advisory board to focus on predatory lending in the city.
The group also endorsed the half-percent Mahoning County Sales tax renewal on the Nov. 5 ballot and pledged its support for the city's long-range planning process, dubbed Youngstown 2010.