Candidates consider varied approaches to improvement

They offer ideas on how to mend struggling neighborhoods, safety and schools. By DAVID SKOLNICK VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER YOUNGSTOWN -- Demolishing dilapidated buildings, enforcing housing codes more strictly, and using the city's limited financial resources more wisely are among suggestions by the six Youngstown mayoral candidates to rehabilitate neighborhoods. The Vindicator asked the mayoral candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot to answer a series of written questions on important city issues. The issues include what can be done with the city's struggling neighborhoods, how to make Youngstown a safer place, and the mayor's role in improving the school system. Neighborhood rehabilitation As for rehabilitating struggling neighborhoods, Jay Williams, an independent candidate and the city's former Community Development Agency director, wrote that Youngstown must allocate its limited resources in areas where the investment on return is the greatest. Williams wrote that Youngstown should offer incentives to people living in "an area devoid of other investment" to use state and federal grants offered to them by the city to relocate to neighborhoods with "more sustainable living conditions." State Sen. Robert F. Hagan, the Democratic mayoral nominee, wrote the city needs to step up its housing code enforcement and make people clean up their messes. Hagan wants the city to enforce a zero-tolerance broken-window program used in other cities. Also, the city should purchase "big [abandoned] chunks of land at reduced prices" to be used for shopping centers, parks and recreation areas, he wrote. Maggy Lorenzi, running as an independent, said city leaders have done nothing to stop blight in some neighborhoods. She suggests the city go after property owners who don't take care of their properties, and use the federal Community Development Block Grant money the city receives for its core purpose: to address the needs of low- and moderate-income residents. Joe Louis Teague, another independent, wrote the city did nothing to force people who abandoned properties to continue to maintain them. He didn't offer any suggestions on rehabilitating neighborhoods on the questionnaire. Brendan J. Gilmartin, also an independent candidate, said rehabilitating neighborhoods in disrepair is the "ultimate challenge for anyone wanting to really make a difference." Gilmartin wrote the solution requires a community effort among the city, social service agencies, churches and anyone "willing to make an effort for change." But he doesn't explain how it would be implemented. Republican Robert Korchnak said the city needs to seek more federal and state grants for demolition projects, lead abatement programs and infrastructure improvements. His other ideas on the subject include hiring private landscaping companies to cut grass in the summer on vacant and abandoned lots and encouraging home ownership, although he doesn't explain how to do the latter. Safety When it comes to making the city a safer place to live and work, all but Gilmartin and Williams suggest restructuring the police department. Lorenzi wants to better use police personnel, address drug trafficking and youth crime seriously and provide strong support to neighborhood associations to make Youngstown safer. Teague wants to focus on fighting drugs and have all police officers on the street so people can be safe in the city. Korchnak and Hagan wrote that more officers are needed on the streets. Korchnak wants to put a police substation on Market Street in the Uptown area and eventually one on U.S. Route 422 on the East Side. As he did with the neighborhoods question, Hagan mentioned a zero-tolerance program and more aggressive housing code enforcement. Gilmartin wants to establish a gun awareness program pupils can take for credit in school. If elected mayor, Williams wrote his role would be to "help change our attitude toward crime in the city. In general, we have allowed our tolerance level to become much too high for even 'minor' crimes." City schools When asked about the mayor's role in improving the city school system, Hagan wrote that he would use the "bully pulpit" of the mayor's office to work with school board members to improve the school district and its image. Hagan wants to use the new schools being built throughout the city as community learning centers and implement a plan to get high school students to visit business managers and government leaders to receive hands-on work experience. Williams wrote the relationship between the mayor and superintendent "should be nearly inseparable." Like Hagan, Williams would use the "bully pulpit" of being mayor. But he would use it to lobby for the school system on the local, state and federal levels. "A city cannot survive without a strong middle class," he wrote. "A competitive school system is as basic a necessity to the middle class as is food, water and shelter." Gilmartin wants the mayor and superintendent, as well as city council and the school board to work closely to meet objectives to improve the educational system. Korchnak would enforce truancy laws and hold parents accountable for children when "gross negligence is involved." Teague wrote that he would keep a record of every school problem and that he wants to know how many school children are on drugs. Lorenzi didn't answer the question directly. Instead, she wrote that Mayor George M. McKelvey has no involvement in the school system, and the city knowingly reneged on a tax abatement that cost the school system $1.6 million in revenue. skolnick@vindy.com