Saturday, January 28, 2006
Challenges of homelessness are a bit more complicated
EDITOR:
I very nearly didn't read your feature article last Sunday. Staff writer John W. Goodwin Jr.'s lead line, "For two days I felt virtually invisible," offended me because my family has been homeless. Maybe it was being in the company of an attractive female (my wife of 25 years.), our grown son and our appealing dog, Buckeye, but I always felt the opposite. I felt that everyone was staring. More, I felt exposed and ridiculous. After cooling down a bit, I read it and was surprised at it's accuracy. However there are a couple of points that my perspective may help to clear up.
First, and of this I am sure, people are kinder and more generous than Goodwin imagines. Panhandling is a business, and as in all businesses, location is everything. The people who work downtown are inundated daily with requests for spare change. Had he tried Struthers or the West Side, he would have been far more successful. Also St. Vincent de Paul is not the only place to get a meal. The Mission serves at 6:30, 12:30 and 6:30 -- 365 days a year. Plus the Salvation Army on Glenwood serves lunch on Wednesdays. Also, "the Greater Youngstown Point" on Wick across from the library offers a place to stay during the day. The Point also offers showers and laundry facilities.
Goodwin's conclusion that after two days and a night he couldn't really feel the experience is correct. We are currently staying in a warm house due to the kindness of the landlady, but eventually she will either find tenants who can afford rent or sell it. Meanwhile without transportation we still struggle. Sometimes we walk a nearly two hour round trip to St. Vincent de Paul's, other times we hold up a sign.
By my experience the biggest cause of homelessness is lack of transportation. For a person with a marginal income a single DUI or a couple of speeding tickets can put insurance out of reach. Also I know people who had licenses expire while under suspension. You might say it's their own fault, but this is a problem only the poor or lower middle class face. The upper middle class and rich simply pay their fines and get on with their lives, hopefully to sin no more. The poor do not have that option which widens the gap between rich and poor.
WILLIAM A. DeCOLA
Youngstown
Boardman could use some new direction from trustees
EDITOR:
In response to last Sunday's letter on the first meeting of the "bold new" Boardman township trustees, I'd ask if the writer has a selective memory or an agenda to mislead? The Vindicator editorial of Jan. 13, which was the focus of the author's diatribe, was right on the money with its praise for the new trustees' direction. The writer's not so subtle negativism regarding the movie filming prospects and the junk/swap day was a feeble attempt to undermine support for the new leadership and a prelude of things to come. The writer then continued to mislead or alter facts to justify her preconceived and incorrect assertions.
The antagonism that transpired at the meeting came more so from the department heads and the former board chairperson, Elaine Mancini. Mrs. Mancini was the culprit who aired the township administrator's personal problems in that public forum after Mrs. Gallitto and Mrs. Miller had voted to rescind the raise which was given "early" to circumvent normal procedures by former trustees Tom Costello and Mancini. They also circumvented the normal budgeting process by pushing the vote to their last lame duck session at the end of 2005 to bypass the fiscal responsibility that Miller and Gallitto had based their campaigns on and won. Mancini and Costello in one last misdeed thumbed their noses at the voters by passing out raises and budgeting dollars like candy thereby shirking their duties to the taxpayers and voters of Boardman.
The other antagonistic point in the meeting dealt with some North Side citizens asking the board whether the new police substation was going to remain open. Apparently a former trustee had spread the rumor that the "bold new" trustees were going to close it. That was simply another lie to subvert the new trustees. Mrs. Gallitto was simply making sure the lease was above board and legal which given her law background is a welcome addition.
The writer praised the department heads for their professionalism under such an antagonistic atmosphere. I suspect she didn't see the note passing, the eye rolling, the groans and moans, and the times when the administrator and police chief left the room together. That's not how professionals act.
Credit should be given to the "bold new" trustees for challenging the status quo factions who benefit financially from unfettered spending. Handing out cars to employees who are rarely called out is a waste of taxpayer money. The excessive overtime in the police department, lack of employee contributions to health care, excessive raises in comparison to the private sector are just a few of the many spending issues that need to be evaluated and cut back where possible before the township requests more tax dollars from its citizens.
BILL JOHNSON
Boardman
Ohio Legislature undercuts 93 years of charter rule
EDITOR:
While a letter last Sunday criticized The Vindicator's Jan. 15 editorial ( & quot;Residency is a local issue & quot;) as being & quot;insubstantial, & quot; neither The Vindicator nor the letter have addressed the true battle at hand for Charter municipalities in Ohio.
The General Assembly's recent passage of a ban on municipal residency restrictions constitutes a direct attack by the Legislature on a charter municipality's ability to govern itself through the exercise of Home Rule powers found in Sections 3 and 7 of Ohio Constitution, Article XVIII. For charter municipalities in Ohio, express charter language proscribing the form, make-up and methods of operation for municipal government, including residency requirements (in whatever form of restriction they may hold), constitute the wishes of the local citizenry.
While last week's letter writer believes that local residency rules constitute & quot;an arrogant exercise of power & quot; by cities such as Youngstown, the real arrogance of power lies in ignoring home rule powers delegated to Ohio charter municipalities since 1912 and in attempting to override popular votes which established residency requirements in the first place.
If the citizens of charter municipalities like Youngstown no longer want to require their employees to be subject to residency requirements as a term and condition of municipal employment, then so be it. That decision, however, is best left to the citizens of charter municipalities in the state through local charter amendment processes. I applaud Mayor Jay Williams, other charter city mayors and the Ohio Municipal League for their forthcoming efforts to take the Home Rule battle back to Columbus, not to the General Assembly, but to the Ohio Supreme Court.
JOHN A. McNALLY IV
Youngstown
The writer is a Mahoning County commissioner and former Youngstown law director.