Newspaper and administration should heed Ohio’s chief justice regarding municipal court

EDITOR:

The thrust of The Vindicator’s Sept. 28 editorial was that newspaper, the mayor and his administration want to obfuscate the need for safe, adequate accommodations for the Youngstown Municipal Court (YMC) by injecting red herring issues that would delay this project for another 10 years. These issues are faulty because they are based on hypocrisy and not principle. These issues will also have the effect of creating political dissension and division among the citizens of Youngstown and the subdivisions of Mahoning County. Ten years ago, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Moyer condemned the YMC facility. Ignoring this observation is disrespectful of his judgment and the image of the city of Youngstown.

To avoid the real issue, providing a safe and adequate court facility, The Vindicator, mayor and his administration are promoting a metropolitan court system, reducing the number of judges to two, promoting failed economic development projects, and, refusing to adequately fund the operations of a co-equal branch of city government. All of these obstacles and resistance delay the inevitable.

The Vindicator quoted me correctly; I do not have a problem with court restructuring, however, there is a better idea than what is being proposed. I will, however, resist the attempts by The Vindicator, mayor and his administration to make it difficult for African-Americans or other minorities to serve on the bench in Youngstown/Mahoning county or frustrate efforts to have a safe adequate court facility to administer justice.

The principle here is justice and respect for the value of the administration of justice. It means justice fairly administered in a safe adequate facility by judges who fairly represent the people in the community. The value judgments the opponents appear to be operating on is that “community criminals” do not deserve a safe and adequate court facility and/or that justice can be administered in a “warehouse.”

The Vindicator incorrectly noted that I succeeded Judge Lloyd Haynes. Andrew Polivischak did by winning over African-American opponents. The governor appointed both Judge Haynes and myself. I succeeded Judge Luke Levy. We were able to win elections with the benefit of incumbency. Eliminating a judgeship reduces that potential advantage. Creating county judicial districts may dilute the African-American vote for judgeships in a metropolitan system. The mayor, his administration and The Vindicator will need to answer to the citizens of Youngstown. A review of history with former Mayor Pat Ungaro and a reading the Armour v. Ohio case would be helpful.

If The Vindicator, the mayor and his administration cannot respect the Court where justice is administered, how can the citizens of Youngstown and other county jurisdictions support their agendas? Compared to every court facility, on every jurisdictional level, in all surrounding communities, including Western Pennsylvania, the Youngstown Municipal Court is a total embarrassment. A metropolitan court system or a two-judge YMC won’t change that.

Finally, the citizens of Youngstown have been paying anywhere from $1 million to $1.5 million annually, specifically for city capital improvements (i.e. court facility), over these past 10 years. City council, by resolution, in 2002, expressed its intent to allocate future capital improvement funds to support the construction and amortization of debt to build a city justice center. It appears, to date, at the direction of the finance director, the mayor (and past mayor) have funded pet economic development projects (convocation center, parking deal, etc.) from those funds and other non-tax revenues, while spinning their mantra “providing for a safe adequate court facility will bankrupt the city.” Hyperbole and hypocrisy.

Judge ROBERT A. DOUGLAS Jr.

Youngstown