Thursday, March 31, 2005
The councilman also wants to annex Austintown and Boardman into the city.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Councilman Michael Rapovy, one of seven Democratic candidates running for mayor, wanted to cause some waves with his economic plan.
Mission accomplished.
Rapovy, D-5th, included several major proposals in his economic plan announced Wednesday.
Among them are dissolving the Youngstown City School District, and forcing Austintown and Boardman to be annexed into the city.
As for the first proposal, Rapovy admits that even if he was mayor, he couldn't force the school district to close. But he would do whatever he could to have the Ohio Board of Education shut it down.
Rapovy, who has two children in the Youngstown school district, said "it's a failing system," and it "sucks." He said the poor school system is the No. 1 reason why businesses and residents don't move to Youngstown.
Like the state's other larger-city school systems, Youngstown typically finishes near the bottom during state evaluations of school districts.
Rapovy said he wants Youngstown children bused to other nearby school systems, allowing them to learn alongside children who are receiving a better education.
Other candidates' responses
Several of Rapovy's Democratic mayoral opponents said the councilman's suggestion is a waste of time because it's not something a mayor can do, and because it would waste the more than $200 million invested by the state and city to build 12 new schools and improve three others in Youngstown.
"I'd never support dissolving the school system," said former council President John Swierz, one of Rapovy's six Democratic mayoral opponents. "I can't even fathom closing the schools."
State Rep. Sylvester D. Patton Jr., another Democrat running in the May mayoral primary, said he's disappointed Rapovy is attacking the Youngstown school system.
"I take offense to the suggestion that the school system is failing," he said. "It's showing improvement every year. I don't think it will get him any votes. In fact, it will hurt him."
Wendy Webb, Youngstown schools superintendent, said the district is making strides and shutting down the school district won't help anyone.
"We have challenges in the school system, but we do good things," she said. "Mr. Rapovy didn't bother to meet with us to discuss this. I choose not to get tied up in politics and rhetoric. I'm focused on academic and social achievement."
Rapovy's school closing proposal didn't take many politicians or political watchers by surprise. This aspect of Rapovy's platform has been known for weeks and was the subject of a number of postings on www.dems17.org/board.htm -- the message board of the Democrats for the 17th and 6th Districts, a local political club.
Annexation
Rapovy's second key economic component would force Austintown and Boardman to be annexed into Youngstown. Rapovy said there is a lawsuit in the Ohio courts to force annexation of suburbs of a city if the city provides utilities to the suburbs. Youngstown sells water to those two townships.
The addition of residents to Youngstown would allow the city to lower its 2.75 percent income tax -- the largest municipal income tax rate in Ohio -- to either 0.5 or 1 percent. Also, each community could share services such as police, fire and garbage collection, saving them all money, he said.
"I haven't made a lot of friends with this in the suburbs," he said. "But I don't care."
If those two townships were annexed into Youngstown, one joint school district would provide education to children, and the schools in the city could remain open, he said.
John Mahoney, Ohio Municipal League deputy director, said he doesn't know anything about the lawsuit mentioned by Rapovy, and annexation in Ohio only can be done if property owners petition to move into a city or village. The league represents 813 cities and villages in Ohio, including Youngstown.
Police Chief Robert Bush, running in the Democratic mayoral primary and a former city law director, said Youngstown can't annex townships against their will. But he gives Rapovy credit for trying to attract attention to his campaign.
If elected mayor, Rapovy said he would freeze the salaries of his administrative staff and department heads until the city runs at a large profit, and he would travel to states such as California and Nevada to attract businesses, such as those involved in heavy machinery, to Youngstown.
skolnick@vindy.com