Speaker: Report is your road map

By KATIE SEMINARA

Vacant property experts recommend community development to spur economic development.

YOUNGSTOWN — Working on community development and stabilization can be used to enhance the economy, said Alan Mallach.

Mallach was the Director of the Department of Housing and Development in Trenton, NJ, for nine years and was invited to speak to community leaders and residents about vacant property at St. Patrick’s Church Tuesday.

“Holding people in a community and attracting people to the community are as an important economic tool as industrial plants or recruiting companies,” Mallach said.

“Ultimately community development is economic development,” he said.

These rationalizations come from the report, “Regenerating Youngstown and Mahoning County Through Vacant Property Reclamation,” which details initiatives and recommendations concerning the vacant property issue facing Youngstown and its surrounding areas.

“This is more of an action agenda,” said Margaret Murphy, project manager for the Youngstown-Mahoning County Vacant Property Initiative, which commissioned the study.

The 18-month study utilized the concerns and ideas of public officials, members of nonprofit organizations, business leaders and citizens.

It will take years to implement all the strategies detailed by the report, Murphy said.

Some of those aims include, establishing a joint city-county land bank, improving code enforcement policies and programs and working vacant property recovery into neighborhood plans.

“This report is your road map to regeneration through vacant properties,” said Joseph Shilling, a founding member of the National Vacant Properties Campaign, who also spoke on Tuesday.

“It’s the road map for city staff, county staff and communities,” he said.

Youngstown’s 2010 plan should be combined with the vacant property strategies proposed in the report to develop green space, affordable housing, and livable communities.

“How you go about this plan of right sizing is extremely important for the future of this area,” Shilling said.

“We hope you’ll take the recommendations and roll-up your sleeves and get to work.

Now it’s all about action,” he said.

Although it will be a slow, ongoing process, a 24 piece “steering committee” has already been selected to follow through with the reports intentions and recommendations, said Murphy.