Youngstown council, mayor in heated debate over racial bias in grass-cutting

YOUNGSTOWN

Members of city council and the mayor engaged today in a sometimes heated debate — which included concerns about race and preferential treatment given to certain parts of town — over a contract to have an agency oversee a grass-cutting and property cleanup program.

During council finance committee meeting, Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, who is black, accused the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. of “giving the shaft to certain people all along and I don’t want to be shafted again.”

The agency will be paid $102,168 a year to supervise and manage the program.

Mayor John A. McNally, who is white, said, “We have to put to bed this notion that YNDC is treating certain wards, certain areas of the city, unfairly.”

He added: “It gets to other issues about race. We all talk about it,” but “YNDC has helped all wards. This [program] will help every side of town.”

Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th, who is black, told McNally: “We can’t act like race isn’t an issue when it’s an issue,” and “YNDC has a history with some of the council people. It’s up to them to change it, not you. That’s the way we feel.”

Reached late Wednesday by The Vindicator, Ian J. Beniston, YNDC executive director, who is white, said, “I think [the accusations] are just totally false and not correct. Our staff, board and clients are representative of the city. Resources are equitably divided by wards.”

There wasn’t enough support for a vote from council Wednesday to approve the hiring proposal.

Read more of the remarks in Thursday’s Vindicator or on Vindy.com.