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Closing leaves East Side with one bank
East Side residents expressed their concerns about the poor condition of the plaza.
YOUNGSTOWN — PNC Bank’s decision to close its National City Bank branch in the McGuffey Plaza on Oct. 9 will leave the city’s East Side with only one bank.
That decision isn’t sitting well with some East Side residents.
Those same East Siders also are upset with the condition of McGuffey Plaza, a mostly vacant shopping center that will have only about a half-dozen businesses left after the bank closes. A post office, that the U.S. Postal Service is considering shutting down, is one of those businesses.
About 10 businesses have left the plaza in the past six years.
“The condition of this plaza is deplorable,” said Adele Luckey of Bennington Avenue. “The haven’t done anything to keep it up. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
The Rev. Roney Tucker of the We Walk By Faith Bible Church on Himrod Avenue said the plaza is in “bad shape” and in desperate need of improvement.
He made the statements standing in the plaza’s parking lot, filled with holes, and a short distance from what’s left of a sign listing the stores at the plaza.
The name “McGuffey Plaza” is not on the sign, and most of the stores listed are long gone. The plaza is owned by the Ohio Valley Mall Co., a division of the Cafaro Co., a Youngstown-based mall developer.
Luckey and the Rev. Mr. Tucker joined a small group of East Side residents, politicians and community organizers Friday to protest the bank closing.
“We have nothing on this side of town,” Luckey said. “I have a car and can drive to another bank. I’m standing for other people who don’t have cars. They’re going to have to get on a bus to go to a bank. It’s a big inconvenience. Nobody cares about this side of town.”
Gloria Drake of Scioto Street said the bank closing is going to be hard on seniors without vehicles in the neighborhood who will have to take a bus to go to their bank.
PNC purchased National City on Dec. 31, 2008. All National City branches in the Valley will be renamed PNC on Nov. 9, said Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman.
The decision to close the East Side branch was made after a review of the company’s bank locations, Solomon said. He wouldn’t comment on whether a decline in business at the branch was a factor.
The closest National City Bank branches for those on the East Side are in Campbell and downtown Youngstown.
There are seven National City branches in the Valley within 5 miles of the McGuffey location and 15 in a 10-mile radius, Solomon said.
After National City closes, the Home Savings and Loan in the Lincoln Knolls Plaza will be the only bank on the East Side, said Youngstown Councilman DeMaine Kitchen, D-2nd. His ward takes in most of the East Side.
Kitchen said he’s spoken to Cafaro Co. officials about what can be done with the McGuffey Plaza, but nothing’s been decided.
Based on the condition of the plaza, Kitchen said the bank closure comes as no surprise.
“Can you blame them?” he said. “We need Cafaro to step up in a big way.”
“The condition of this plaza is deplorable,” Drake added.
The Cafaro Co. tries to keep McGuffey in good shape, but “it’s difficult to maintain” because of “vandalism,” said Joe Bell, the company’s spokesman.
There’s also “wear and tear because of non-use,” he said.
The company is always looking for tenants for all of its properties, including McGuffey, Bell said.
But there have been more businesses moving out of the plaza than coming in during the past decade.
skolnick@vindy.com