YOUNGSTOWN Official: Razing house is first step

Police won't ease up just because the house is gone, the councilman said.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The 3rd Ward councilman hopes demolition of a troublesome house is the first step in reforming the neighborhood.
Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, said he and two previous council members contended for years with problems emanating from 1225 Margaret St. on the North Side.
Atkinson said Tuesday's demolition probably wouldn't be the end of the problems. He pledged, however, that city police would keep pressure on the youths whose gunplay from the house frightened neighbors.
Atkinson pointed to Ayers Street on the East Side as an example. It took some time, but that neighborhood became safer in the months after a long police investigation took out an entire gang of drug dealers.
"It's a first step in a long process," he said.
Neighbor
James Easton, who lives next to the Margaret Street property, had complained about the location for years. He is relieved that the house is gone but still worries that the gunfire won't stop.
Atkinson said the youths who used the dilapidated house no longer have a place to hide. That should push them elsewhere, he said. Plus, police who raided the house in the past and regularly patrolled the street won't ease up just because the house is gone, he said.
Still, Atkinson acknowledged that the approach might just send the trouble-making youths to another neighborhood.
Tougher sentences
The councilman agrees with Mayor George M. McKelvey that problems such as those on Margaret Street persist, in part, because offenders don't receive tough enough jail sentences.
Atkinson said the youths responsible for the Margaret Street gunfire got out of jail recently, which brought an upsurge in problems. The police juvenile division knows exactly who to look for as soon as Margaret Street is mentioned, he said.
The same youths are responsible for gunfire in his ward on Elm Street, too, he said. "I don't know how you control that," Atkinson said. "These kids are mobile."
rgsmith@vindy.com