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Four of Youngstown’s seven council seats don’t have incumbents running
YOUNGSTOWN
Because of the city’s term-limits law, races for four seats on council — 1st, 5th, 6th and 7th wards — don’t have incumbents seeking re-election.
The Democratic primaries May 5 are wide open with five candidates running in the 5th Ward, four in the 7th, and three in both the 1st and 6th.
Of those 15 candidates, only Michael Rapovy in the 5th Ward has served as a council member. Three others have unsuccessfully run for city council, and one lost the council president’s race two years ago.
1ST WARD
The 1st Ward primary candidates include Michael Write, a former Youngstown school board member who failed in his 2007 bid for this seat; local businessman Julius Oliver; and Jose A. Rivera.
The ward includes downtown along with portions of the East, North and South sides.
“Neighborhood revitalization is the No. 1 issue in the city,” Write said. “We want our neighborhoods to be safe. I’d like to see more [police] patrols in the neighborhoods. There needs to be a mind-set of constant law enforcement in the neighborhoods.”
Write said city officials need to involve themselves in the local education system, and the successes of downtown need to be applied throughout the city.
Oliver, who works and lives downtown, said the economic growth of that area is “undeniable and the potential is vast.” Like Write, Oliver said he wants that economic success to spread to the neighborhoods.
“From the perspective of a city resident, there are areas of the city that look like a bomb went off,” said Oliver, who specifically mentions parts of the lower South Side. “There are trees leaning up against houses, there are vacant properties. It makes me wonder what members of council are doing. People shouldn’t accept this as the norm.”
The city should allow entrepreneurs to use vacant buildings that can be rehabilitated in the neighborhoods and let them use the structures to house businesses, Oliver said.
Rivera declined to fill out a candidate questionnaire or come to The Vindicator to be asked about his campaign.
5TH WARD
The candidates in the 5th Ward are: Cynthia McWilson, a registered nurse who’s unsuccessfully run for this seat twice and lost the Democratic primary last year for the Ohio House 58th District position; former two-term councilman Michael Rapovy, a union official who lost the 2011 primary for this seat; Kevin E.J. Salata, who works for a local manufacturer and also lost the 2011 primary for this position; wholesale food store owner Michael Santisi; and Lauren McNally, who does marketing and public relations for a local business.
The ward takes in the lower West Side.
McWilson said “blight is one of the biggest concerns in the city. If you stabilize a community, you can bring in families and businesses and revitalize the area.”
People are leaving the city because they can’t find employment, she said. City officials must find ways to encourage businesses to locate to Youngstown, and families won’t leave, McWilson said.
A major problem with the city, Rapovy said, is its inability to properly monitor out-of-town workers being paid as independent contractors and thus not paying the city’s 2.75 percent income tax.
The city needs to “put in place legislative safeguards to ensure proper collections for years to come.”
Rapovy also wants the city to “work better and closer with our surrounding communities” to share resources and services and employment opportunities.
Salata suggests using vacant properties for police substations and wants to reduce the number of council members to save money.
He also proposes the creation of “The Partner Connection,” a program that would connect city residents seeking to start a business getting connected with local entrepreneurs who would invest $1,000 to $100,000 for part ownership.
Santisi wants to use his business experience to help grow the city’s economy.
“Economic development isn’t just about bringing businesses here, it’s about keeping businesses here,” he said. “I want to be involved in the direction the government needs to go to create jobs. I’m not a politician. I’m a businessman.”
McNally wants the city to find more grant money “toward rehabbing buildings. You can use it toward repurposing them for office space needs for businesses.” The money could also be used to repair street signs and technology upgrades, she said.
The city needs to create a better and updated brand for the city in order to better sell Youngstown, McNally said.
She also wants to help develop a communitywide vision for what the ward and the neighborhoods will be like in five, 10 and 20 years from now.
6TH WARD
Running in the 6th Ward, which includes the central portion of the South Side, are Christine Silvestri, an office manager for a local dentist; retired police officer Anita Davis; and Dario Hunter, an online university paralegal instructor who practiced law in Israel and Canada.
Silvestri lived in the 7th Ward until citywide redistricting moved her into the 6th. If elected, she wants to help create neighborhood citizens groups in the ward as there are only two in the 6th.
Silvestri said the city needs to do a better job with code enforcement, and wants a quality-of-life ordinance to be passed by the city as it will help stop the number of people moving out of Youngstown.
The city should work closely with the Youngstown Business Incubator and Youngstown State University to help create more small business and manufacturing jobs, she said.
Davis wants a police substation in the ward as the city adds a community police officer in each of the seven wards.
Davis also wants to increase demolitions in the ward while saving houses that are inhabitable and “putting good people in” those houses.
“You can do more with vacant lots than use them for gardens,” she said. “You can make them into chess parks or have jazz performances on Sundays.”
Hunter, who moved to Youngstown about a year ago, said the city needs “to trim the fat out of the budget,” and mentioned items such as reducing the salaries of city council members and the mayor, reducing nonessential travel, and removing “discretionary funds,” which is money given to city council members to help offset the cost of community events of their choice.
The city needs to come up with a long-term financial plan, he said.
“We also need to look at each department to cut costs, but need to generate more revenue,” Hunter said. “We have to invest in local entrepreneurship. It’s not just putting money into it. We have to invest in adult education, job training classes and computer literacy” that can be coordinated with Eastern Gateway Community College.
7TH WARD
The 7th Ward, the eastern portion of the South Side, has four candidates running for council: Holly Lynn Hanni, who works at Lariccia’s Italian Market; Chris Travers, a floral delivery service provider who unsuccessfully ran for council president in 2013; Basia Adamczak, a consulting specialist for Jon Thomas Consulting; and John Vivo, who owns a floral shop.
Hanni — not to be confused with her aunt by marriage of the same first and last name — also wants to reduce the size of council.
“This may mean that in the future I may find myself without a position, but my main concern is that the taxpayers get what they deserve and we make progress,” she said.
Hanni said council needs to get more involved in the Youngstown school system, and that only demolishing vacant houses “won’t improve the neighborhoods. I’m willing to work with anybody to make the city better.”
That includes helping neighbors work to create a close bond, and have an environment where businesses want to stay and new ones want to locate, she said.
Travers said he’s seen council make some poor decisions — such as not having all 17 charter commission-review committee recommendations on the ballot in 2012 and privately meeting with Cardinal Mooney High School board members a year later — and he would do better.
“Meaningful progress in the city will come about if its legislative branch of government has members capable of clear, unbiased and critical thinking,” he said.
The city can stop its declining population by investing in riverfront development and working closer with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp., Youngstown Business Incubator, YSU and EGCC.
At her job at a consulting firm, Adamczak said she specializes in grants and development, and can use that experience to help attract businesses into her ward.
Education problems in the city could be helped with the creation of after-school programs, she said.
She says the city is “at a crossroads” and “constituents need a leader that will be their voice, the willingness to make tough decisions, a desire to manage the taxpayers’ money as if it were their own, and the principles, trustworthiness and integrity” to represent them.
Vivo declined to comment to The Vindicator about his candidacy after the newspaper reported Feb. 26 that he owed $14,176 to Mahoning County in unpaid property taxes and penalties, and has a dozen cases filed against him for failing to pay state taxes, state tax liens, and certificates of judgment related to other unpaid bills.