YOUNGSTOWN City gets stricter with loud music

The mayor supports mandatory seizure of car stereos on second offenses.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Higher fines and judicial discretion didn't quiet loud car stereos, so city council is turning up the volume.
Violators soon will face jail time as early as their first offense, plus mandatory seizure of their equipment on the second offense.
Council's safety committee is having the law department draft a new loud-music ordinance with the stiffer penalties.
"We need to send them a loud message, louder than those stereos," said Mayor George M. McKelvey.
Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, the committee chairman, said Wednesday he wants the law to give judges the option of jail time even on the first offense.
"Sometimes you have to hit people in the head," he said. "Some people need to go to jail."
McKelvey at least talked council members out of mandatory jail sentences. Jails already are full and a financial burden, he said.
Seizure of stereos
But McKelvey's own voice got loud when it came to mandatory seizure of car stereos.
Higher fines and giving judges leeway with other penalties a few years ago haven't worked, he said. Offenders don't pay fines and judges aren't forceful enough to prevent repeat offenses, he said.
That's why McKelvey firmly supports a $50 fine on a first offense -- which he considers a warning -- and impounding a car and seizing the stereo on the second and future offenses.
Word will spread and radios will quiet down when people hear the city is towing cars and confiscating stereo equipment sometimes worth $2,000-plus.
"Music levels will go down in Youngstown, Ohio," he said. "Let's put some teeth in the law."
Quality-of-life issue
Some will complain the city is picking on young people and their music, but McKelvey said he doesn't care. Loud car stereos are destroying the quality of life in the city, he said.
Another blight on the city -- high grass and litter -- also got some attention.
Gillam got pledges from the Mahoning County Juvenile Court and Community Corrections Association, a halfway house, to supply help. The city just doesn't have the workers to keep up with mowing and cleanup, he said.
The juvenile court has five to 10 youths available five days a week for community service, Judge Theresa Dellick said. The youths are on probation for minor crimes or traffic offenses and none are safety risks, she said.
Representatives from CCA, which already works to maintain many properties in the city, said the agency would spend a little more time downtown. They also agreed the agency would do whatever else it could to help.
Gillam also pointed a finger at police. Officers who see littering, such as people throwing food wrappers out car windows, must ticket them, he said. People will stop littering when they know there are consequences, he said.
Gillam encouraged people to report police officers to the city who witness littering but don't cite for it.
rgsmith@vindy.com