Strickland, Fisher go to bat for the Valley

Add Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher to the list of those urging a federal agency to help the Mahoning Valley after a $32.4 million housing proposal for the area was rejected.

The two Democrats sent a letter to Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, expressing disappointment that the nine-community Valley application will not receive any funding under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program II.

“Ohio has been hit particularly hard by the ongoing economic crisis and devastating decline in the housing market,” they wrote. “Communities in the Mahoning Valley, as in much of Northeast Ohio, have worked for many years to stem the erosion of their neighborhoods.”

“The city of Youngstown, in particular, has done an excellent job demonstrating the area’s need for assistance while partnering with over a half dozen other cities and villages to address the advancing decay.”

That’s subjective, but there’s no disputing that no matter how the job was done it wasn’t articulated on the HUD application.

HUD rejected the Valley application for funding for a variety of reasons.

One key reason was the application “does not demonstrate any experience with demolition,” a requirement to be considered for funding, according to a seven-page summary compiled by two unnamed HUD employees who reviewed it.

“The applicant does not expressly detail the number of demolished units over the past 24 months,” one evaluator wrote in the review. “With demolition such a significant portion of the application, this could be an issue.”

And that was the evaluator who gave the Valley application the higher score of the two.

Youngstown demolished about 200 houses in the second half of last year, but included no historical information on demolition on its application.

The application only sought evidence that the nine communities had demolished at least 75 units in the past two years.

The Valley request also failed to show that there was the capacity and ability to carry out the $34.2 million proposal.

Those two reasons killed the Valley proposal.

“Regardless of the standards, [the Valley needs] assistance to rebuild,” said John Collins, spokesman for Fisher’s Senate campaign. “Of all the communities [in Ohio] Youngstown really needs this.”

In addition to the letter, Fisher spoke to Barack Obama when the president was in Lorain last week about Youngstown’s failed proposal. Fisher appealed to Obama to help Youngstown.

Obama told Fisher he would “look into the process,” Collins said.

That sounds like don’t call us, we’ll call you.

But a Valley contingent met last week with White House urban affairs officials who are looking at other ways to provide federal financial assistance for this area.

“In particular, we believe an investment into the Youngstown, Canton and Akron regions would foster economic development activity, creating jobs and improving the quality of life for the people of these regions,” Strickland and Fisher wrote. “If no action is taken we fear that some of the areas in Ohio that need the most assistance will be in great jeopardy.”

HUD officials called the Valley’s application incomplete, unclear and flawed.

When asked if Youngstown deserved the money even with the application problems, Collins said, “It’s not making Youngstown a special case. It’s an effort to work together and help get Youngstown the assistance it deserves. The process needs to find ways to help Youngstown.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, has criticized the process saying, “HUD discriminated against smaller cities.”

Ryan wants HUD to establish a program to help cities such as Youngstown be able to compete with more populated areas.

We’re going to have to wait to see if the pressure put on federal officials by those at the local and state levels will result in actual help for the area.