Reconsider inmate bed tax at private prison in city

Reconsider inmate bed taxat private prison in city
EDITOR:
I'm writing to express my frustration in regard to the Jan. 6 article regarding the CCA prison in The Vindicator that said that the county was charging a $3 per-day per-inmate bed tax. I was privileged to be a former employee at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center and now work for a federal agency. I would have never been able to get the job I have now without the experience I received there.
In the troubled economic times that this Valley is in now, I find it appalling that the county is asking for a $3 per-day bed tax on inmates to be housed there. This is a prison, an industry, not a resort or hotel. There are factories mills, and shops closing their doors or moving out of the country left and right.
The Valley has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. People are moving from the city of Youngstown in droves. The steel industry, which was once the lifeblood for this Valley, has all but died. Then a young motivated new industry (private corrections) tries to move in and take advantage of the hungry work force here. Instead of being met with open arms, tax breaks and other incentives by local governments, they are brow beaten for every penny that they can get from them.
Why try to whip the $3-a-day out of a fresh young horse? Let it grow and mature with a little help. Then sit back and watch the returns when the 300 employees making $12 to $15 per hour start paying taxes and spreading the wealth throughout the local economy.
We wonder why more businesses aren't coming to the area. Let's try to see what we can do for business, not what can businesses do for us. It will pay off tenfold in the end.
CHAD McCONNELL
Youngstown
New homes in 2nd Warddraw committeeman's ire
EDITOR:
As a precinct committee person, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the hazards of low quality housing in the 2nd Ward.
In 2003, these homes were just beginning to be built by our councilman and the respective housing corporation without the knowledge of the community. We as concerned citizens took the time to look into this project, and our findings showed that there are simply no benefits.
At a city council meeting that a group and I attended, a verbal agreement was reached in which only 20 additional houses were to be build in the 2nd Ward: 14 in 2003, and 6 in 2004.
The reason the people are objecting to the building of these houses is that they say they're not as sturdy or well constructed as the other houses in the area. They are also being built by a company outside the Mahoning Valley, which is non-union, and the homes are being built too close to the other homes in the area.
As an example of the problems, one of the houses on Shehy Street has a sump pump that runs 24 hours a day, discharging water into the curb instead of being connected to the storm sewer. This brings mosquitos in the summer and slippery conditions in the winter.
We have tried to get in contact with the 2nd Ward councilman, to inform him of these problems, but he is not responding to our concerns. Low-income people who must live in them for 15 years are renting these houses, and are then given the option to move out if they so choose, so they are not concerned about how these houses are built.
We the people of the 2nd Ward have worked hard to get dilapidated houses demolished, and have cleaned out the empty lots to try to make our neighborhood a better one in which to live, only to have a new problem to contend with.
Have the city administrators who have allowed this to happen given any thought to what's going to happen when these houses start to fall apart? We the taxpayers are being given a rotten deal.
RAUL VALENTIN
Youngstown