Councilman urges mayor to do more to help evacuees

The city is actively involved in helping, the mayor said.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Councilman Artis Gillam Sr. wants the city to do more than have council say it supports relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Gillam, D-1st, sent a letter Wednesday to Mayor George M. McKelvey urging him to "begin an assertive campaign toward opening the city to the evacuees of this disaster."
McKelvey said a local effort to help hurricane victims began a week ago.
The mayor said city officials are actively involved in a coordinated effort with Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The counties are part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a mutual-aid system among states to determine the best support recovery operations for those affected by the hurricane.
Officials from the three counties will meet at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency offices on Industrial Road to coordinate the local effort for housing for those displaced by the hurricane.
For the city to act on its own without the involvement of other government entities would be wasteful, McKelvey said.
"The duplication of services is inefficient and ineffective," he said.
Looking for housing
Discussions are ongoing with the owners of the closed Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital, formerly known as the Cafaro Memorial Hospital, to see if it's feasible to use the facility to house evacuees temporarily, said McKelvey and Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County EMA director.
Also, discussions will begin shortly with officials with Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Southside Hospital, about the same scenario, Duzzny said, and with the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna to use that facility as a potential temporary housing site.
If using the facilities is viable, Duzzny said he would contact state officials to see if people affected by Hurricane Katrina want to relocate here.
"To believe that nothing is being done by the city couldn't be further from the truth," McKelvey said.
Impatient for action
Gillam said he is frustrated that the process of helping hurricane victims isn't moving faster.
"I don't see why we can't accommodate 300 to 400 people," he said. "I don't know if we could do anything permanent, but we should invite these people to our house and do something for a while. They need to go somewhere."
It isn't known at this time if the federal government would pay to relocate people from the Gulf Coast to Youngstown, Duzzny said.
State Sen. Robert F. Hagan told Youngstown City Council last week that there are many vacant but livable homes in the city that could be offered to those who lost their homes and possessions in the hurricane.
At that meeting, council voted to express its support to assist with disaster relief for those affected by hurricane.
skolnick@vindy.com