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There are races for five of the seven seats on Youngstown City Council
YOUNGSTOWN
No matter what happens in the election, a majority of city council members will be newcomers come Jan. 1.
The city’s term-limits law for council means Councilwomen Annie Gillam, D-1st, and Janet Tarpley, D-6th, as well as Councilmen Paul Drennen, D-5th, and John R. Swierz, D-7th, couldn’t run for re-election this year. Council has seven members.
Two of the races already are decided with newcomer Julius T. Oliver, who won the open 1st Ward Democratic primary, and Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th, who also won his party’s primary, having no opposition in the Nov. 3 general election.
In the 2nd Ward, T.J. Rodgers, the Democratic incumbent, is being challenged by Cecil Monroe, who’s unsuccessfully run for mayor and city council over the years. The ward includes most of the East Side.
Rodgers said his top priorities during a second term would be reducing crime, eradicating blight and economic development.
Adding a community policing department, he said, will improve quality-of-life issues and help prevent small nuisances from turning into big problems.
More than 150 houses in the 2nd Ward were demolished in the past four years, said Rodgers, who added he will continue to work with the city administration to find money to strengthen the demolition program. As for economic development, Rodgers said his focus is on developing the corridors first.
Attempts by The Vindicator to contact Monroe were unsuccessful.
Councilman Nate Pinkard, D-3rd, is the only other incumbent seeking re-election who faces a general-election challenge.
Steven M. Carter is running against Pinkard. Carter declined to fill out a candidate questionnaire sent to him by The Vindicator.
The 3rd Ward includes most of the North Side.
If re-elected, Pinkard said he will place more focus on economic development, business incentives and job development.
A retired Mill Creek MetroParks’ police chief, Pinkard also wants to improve public safety and take down vacant properties, and rehabilitate those that can be saved and made available to first-time home buyers.
The 5th Ward race pits Lauren McNally, who won the Democratic primary, against Harry Turner. The ward is on the lower West Side. McNally is distantly related through marriage to Mayor John A. McNally.
McNally said pressing issues include the city’s finances as the next four years could be financially difficult.
The city needs to evaluate every dollar spent with retirement and departures of staff helping to keep costs down, she said, but she wants to focus on increasing revenue. That includes doing a better job of finding and applying for state and federal grants to be used for items such as repairing street signs, building new office spaces and upgrading technology, McNally said.
Also, instead of focusing on demolition, the city needs to find ways to repurpose buildings and support organizations that rehabilitate houses, she said.
Turner has 33 years of experience in federal and state government, including 17 as a business administrator with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
He wants an overhaul of city operations including a reorganization of the street and law departments, and wants to restructure the city’s income tax with an immediate reduction from 2.75 percent to 2.5 percent for city residents and a reduction to 1 percent for those who work in the city, but live elsewhere.
Turner also wants the city to borrow $100 million to construct a natural-gas electric station/hub, create a tax-free retail and industrial zone along the Meridian Road corridors with the possibility of annexing portions of Austintown.
The 6th Ward race has Democrat Anita Davis, a retired police officer, facing Victoria Allen, who works for State Alarm Systems. The ward includes the central portion of the South Side.
Davis wants police substations in her ward, to strengthen the corridors to promote more business growth, and increase the number of demolitions in the ward while rehabilitating houses that can be reasonably saved.
Allen wants to bring a pharmacy and grocery store to the ward, increase neighborhood block watch participation, and collaborate to bring grant dollars to the ward.
There are three candidates running in the 7th Ward, which takes in the eastern portion of the South Side.
Those seeking the open seat are Democrat Basia Adamczak, Lauren Johnson and David Shaffer III.
Adamczak said she is running to bring city hall what it desperately needs: a leader willing to make tough decisions, manage taxpayer money as if it was their own, and the principles, trustworthiness and integrity to be a true representative legislator.
The city must hold violators of its blight-abatement and code-enforcement laws accountable, she said.
Johnson wants police officers to be required to wear body cameras to foster accountability and transparency as well as protect officers from false allegations and cultivate a strong police-community relationship.
She also said the city’s infrastructure is the most-visible failure to properly use tax dollars, and pledged to personally help fill potholes throughout her ward.
Shaffer said the city needs to focus on community and economic development, and if elected, he would be a leader who would fight to make sure the concerns of residents are addressed.
He wants to implement revitalization programs to enhance future development of the neighborhoods and the educational system.