O’Brien speaks at breakfast

By Ed Runyan | April 16, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

WARREN

Mayor Michael O’Brien gave his eighth, and presumably final, State of the City address as part of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s annual “Good Morning Warren” breakfast.

O’Brien, who has served as mayor for 71/2 years, chose not to seek re-election this year. The breakfast was Friday morning at Enzo’s Restaurant.

As he did last year, O’Brien took the opportunity to list what he says is a large number of city projects that were either constructed or paid for in the past year by the state and federal governments, as well as private investment in the city last year.

The projects range from the $2.7 million bike trail through the city, to the $3.5 million for W.D. Packard Music Hall improvements, to the $6 million being invested in the West Market Street block of Courthouse Square, to the $5 million rehabilitation of the Southwest side Hampshire House apartment complex, O’Brien said.

There was $2.1 million for demolition of 318 abandoned homes, millions for road improvements on Parkman Road Northwest and South Street, and $5 million for the hiring and rehiring of 24 firefighters.

The cleanup at Mahoningside, the former Warren Electric Light and Power Co., at the corner of Mahoning Avenue and Summit Street Northwest, will be complete this summer and ready for new development after 10 years of work, O’Brien said.

“Thank God the end is near,” O’Brien said of the project, which cost $6.5 million.

The mayor said he believes Warren received a greater amount of federal and state assistance because officials could see how hard-hit the city was during the 2008-09 recession.

The city experienced the highest unemployment rate in Ohio during 2009 which resulted in a significant drop of income-tax revenue, O’Brien said.

Now that workers are back on the job at GM Lordstown and the former Severstal steel mill, the city’s future looks brighter, O’Brien said.

The city innovated as a result of the hard times, O’Brien said, such as changing police schedules from five 8-hour shifts to four 10-hour, including overlapping shifts during peak crime hours.

The city saved $1.5 million over the past 18 months through concessionary collective-bargaining agreements that will extend wage freezes into 2013, O’Brien added.