URBAN BLIGHT Court to handle housing issues

The court is using the Cleveland program as its model.
YOUNGSTOWN -- City officials acknowledge that Youngstown has plenty of houses either vacant or in desperate need of repair.
"We want to put a stop to the housing problems," said Councilman Mark Memmer, D-7th. "We want to eliminate blight and abandoned houses, and help people maintain their property. This is one of the city's key issues."
Judge Robert P. Milich of Youngstown Municipal Court said the city has a housing problem, but hasn't been able to resolve it for years.
The judge now sees light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.
Beginning next month, the judge will preside over a housing/environmental court modeled after one created in Cleveland about 20 years ago. Judge Milich will hear cases once a week that specifically deal with housing and zoning code issues.
"It has to be a citywide effort," he said. "It will take the whole community to do this."
About 20 city officials and 40 tenants and landlords met Friday in city council chambers to discuss the housing/environmental court.
Judge Raymond L. Pianka, presiding and administrative judge of Cleveland Municipal Court's housing division, spoke via telephone to the audience.
The judge said the court focuses on neighborhood nuisance problems and relationships between landlords and tenants. Last year, the court handled 17,000 housing and zoning code cases -- 6,000 criminal cases and 11,000 civil.
"The goal is to try to avoid abandoned or vacant property," Judge Pianka said. "It brings down the property value of surrounding homes. You need to work with people to prevent homes from getting that bad."
Volunteers sought
Memmer said he is grateful that Youngstown can use Cleveland's model for its own court, but much work is needed.
"Volunteerism in the city of Youngstown needs to be at an all-time high," he said. "We need to get out there and knock down the blight. But it's also important to maintain the city's housing quality."
Councilwoman Carol Rimedio-Righetti, D-4th, said the No. 1 concern of city residents is housing issues.
Rimedio-Righetti and Judge Milich are establishing a citywide task force of interested public officials, organizations and citizens focusing on the housing/environmental court's goals and ways to fund it.
The court will be similar to the city's mental health and drug courts, and the drivers' license intervention program, the judge said. Education, financial assistance and counseling are the first options for violators of building, housing, sanitation, health, fire, zoning and safety codes.
Criminal sanctions are an option for those who fail to make a good-faith effort to comply with the codes, Judge Milich said.
"If it doesn't work administratively or through other city agencies, then it will come to me," he said.