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Board OKs Obama banner on downtown building
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s Design Review Committee allowed the President Barack Obama campaign to put up a vinyl banner on its downtown campaign headquarters — the same sign it used four years ago with a ’12 sticker covering the ’08 year.
The 16-foot-by-4-foot banner will be placed between the first and second floors of 25 W. Federal St., Obama’s Youngstown headquarters, in a week or so, said Colleen Lowry, the campaign’s regional director at Tuesday’s Design Review Committee meeting.
The banner will be taken down shortly after the November general election.
The committee approved the request to allow the group to post the banner on the building Tuesday.
The Obama campaign placed a ’12 sticker [signifying the year 2012] over the ’08 on the original banner. The ’12 sticker is a different color than the rest of the banner.
Also, exterior work at that building, owned by Denise Powell, that has been an issue between her and the Design Review Committee dating back to September 2008 is finally resolved.
Powell received permission that month from the DRC to use Hardie board, a hard fiber-cement siding, on the building’s exterior. But she did nothing until June 2011 when she had vinyl siding installed. That led the city to file a minor misdemeanor charge against Powell for violating the exterior-design code.
The case was dismissed in October when Powell agreed to comply with the code.
Last week, Powell had the vinyl siding removed and replaced it with Hardie board.
The city gave $100,000 to Powell four years ago after she agreed to spend about $568,000 to purchase and improve the vacant structure.
Powell purchased the building for $191,000 in July 2007.