State approves funding for Federal Plaza project

The money is now in place for the Federal Plaza restoration project in downtown Youngstown. Construction specifications are ready. Contracts should be awarded in July, and the work completed by mid-2004. It's about time. More than five years have passed since U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, secured a $2.08 million federal grant to tear up Federal Plaza and restore vehicular traffic on Federal Street.
The city needed to match the federal grant with $946,000 -- and that's when things fell apart. Although former Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro had tried to come up with the local match, there never was a big enough pool of money to meet the federal requirements. Ungaro left office in 1997, and shortly thereafter the city took a financial nosedive. Mayor George M. McKelvey came into office having to deal with the collapse. Things got so bad that the state auditor placed Youngstown under fiscal watch.
As a result, the Federal Plaza project was put on the back burner. McKelvey's first priority was to keep city government afloat.
Through the years, the administration has explored various funding sources, but to no avail. Earlier this year, the city thought it had found the answer when it applied for a $946,000 grant from the State Issue 2 program. However, the District 6 Public Works Integrating Committee concluded that tearing up Federal Plaza wasn't as regionally significant as some other projects.
Encouraging news
McKelvey threatened to file a lawsuit against the District 6 committee, but changed his mind after he learned from Julie Michael Smith, the governor's regional representative for Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, that Youngstown stood a very good chance of securing a state grant for the project.
Smith has earned the thanks of Youngstown city government officials for her diligence, persistence and creativity in making sure that the application for the $500,000 grant did not get stalled in Columbus or lost in the bureaucratic maze. We have no doubt that her efforts and Gov. Bob Taft's continued commitment to helping the Mahoning Valley in its economic revitalization endeavor prompted Ohio Department of Development officials to put the application on a fast track.
On Tuesday, the State Controlling Board approved the state grant. That will enable the city to secure a $446,000 loan to get to the $946,000 local match.
It is noteworthy that in presenting the application to the controlling board, state officials contended that the removal of Federal Plaza and the restoration of vehicular traffic would be a boost not only to the central business district but the entire Valley.
"These improvements are necessary to allow existing and prospective employers to expand business operations in downtown Youngstown and to create corresponding employment areas in the [region]," a memo from the state development department to the controlling board notes.
The approval of the state grant makes it clear that members of the District 6 Public Works Integrating Committee need to adopt a new vision as to how State Issue 2 money should be used. They should start looking at the big picture.