Working together will make Lowellville a better place

Working together will make Lowellville a better place
EDITOR:
This is to let residents of Lowellville know that beginning on or about May 16, the mayor, members of council and me will be doing a "walk around town." The purpose of this walk is to identify properties that need cleaned up to beautify our community. If your property is in violation of our ordinances, you will be notified of the violation and be required to clean up, paint or repair your property.
This program will be done in three stages:
Step 1, you will be sent an informative letter notifying you of the violations giving you reasonable time to correct the problem.
Step 2, citations will be issued giving mandatory time and consequences for failure to proceed.
Step 3, you will be summoned into Mayor's Court where fines will be levied for code violations. Hopefully this step won't be necessary. Court costs are $55 and fines can be up to $150 for each offense.
As an administration, we feel that the condition of our homes reflects on our community. We all want to work together to bring our town together as a nice and neat community to live in. If you notice any conditions which you feel need to be brought to our attention or want to discuss anything concerning your property, council or I can be reached through city hall at (330) 536-6415.
This is not a vendetta against any individual. There are times we all need to spruce up our properties. If anyone feels it is a financial burden, we will do everything in our power to help. The bottom line is it's time to clean up our town. We all live in Lowellville and should be proud of it. We razed six properties in 2004 and they will all be completed this spring with grading and grass planted and properly maintained.
This year we are working on five more structures. Two are on East Liberty Street, one is on West Liberty Street, one is on West Water Street and one is on East Water Street. It's time consuming but if we work together this will be accomplished.
We are going to spend time on our downtown area. There is still room for improvement. Since this is the focal area of our town it should give a great first impression. Water Street and First Street will be paved this summer. With a little bit of work and patience our goals can be achieved.
The village does offer its dump truck to be dropped off at 9 a.m. and picked up at 3 p.m. This can be scheduled by village Administrator Phil Alfano, subject to availability.
NICK RUOZZO
Building and Zoning Inspector
Lowellville
What's the difference?
EDITOR:
After reading Mr. de Souza's May 1 column, I was impressed with his concern for the taxpayers of the 33rd District. Point well taken was the alleged hypocrisy of candidate Bob Hagan's refusal to attend the mayoral debate (in respect for the lone striking union) because Bertram was a panelist. After all, how could Mr. Hagan elicit support from the nonunion Warren Tribune while absent from the taped YSU debate? Hypocrisy, indeed.
Then I flip the next page and take note of The Vindicator primary election endorsements and, lo and behold, there was the approval of six Trumbull County school levies and all five Mahoning County issues on the ballot, not to mention support for the Mahoning and Columbiana sales tax issues.
According to my last property tax statement, the bulk went to the local school system, whose budget comprises mostly of wages and benefits to ,,, teachers unions.
Why is Bob Hagan a hypocrite for supporting a strike that doesn't remotely affect my pocketbook, but The Vindicator encourages me to pay more in taxes which mostly support Unions? Hypocrisy, indeed.
MICHAEL ADLER
Liberty Township