Youngstown mayoral primary is rematch of close race 4 years ago

By David Skolnick | April 23, 2017 at 12:06a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

When they ran against each other in the Democratic primary for mayor four years ago, only 142 votes separated them.

John A. McNally, who won that primary and then the general election in 2013, again faces Jamael Tito Brown, director of operations at the Mahoning County Treasurer’s Office and a former city council president, in the May 2 Democratic primary.

The winner moves on to the general election. The deadline for independent candidates to file for this race and others is May 1.

During his three-plus years as mayor, McNally said he’s succeeded in improving the quality of life in Youngstown.

“We’ve got a cleaner city with road improvements and vacant houses demolished,” he said. “We’re trying to focus on the physical appearance of the city, and it will be the focus of the next four years. It never ends. We still have a significant amount of demolition work that needs to be done, but we have taken down about 1,100 houses during my time as mayor.”

McNally said he will also continue to focus on safety if re-elected to another four-year term.

“The homicide rate is down, and we’re getting guns off the streets,” he said.“We’re improving the perception of the city. There’s still the perception that Youngstown isn’t a safe place to be, but crime statistics show that to be otherwise. Crime dropped 15 to 20 percent in major crime categories. Also, the number of demolitions we’ve had caused a 35-percent drop in the arson rate from 2015 to 2016.”

If elected, Brown said his focus would be on job creation.

“People need to work, and we’re not doing enough as a city to create job opportunities,” he said. “We need to go out and put a recruiting and marketing team together. Akron has had success doing that. We need to be more competitive with Akron, Cleveland and Canton.”

If Youngstown is going to get better, city officials must go out and recruit companies to come here to create job opportunities for its citizens, Brown said.

Also, because Youngstown is within 500 miles of several major cities, it’s the ideal location for distribution centers for major companies, he said.

Brown pointed to McNally’s conviction on four misdemeanors last year related to his time as a Mahoning County commissioner as a reason the mayor shouldn’t be re-elected.

“Once you violate the public trust by being convicted [of crimes] while performing your elected duties, you should be disqualified as an officeholder,” Brown said. “Never in this community have we had a person violate the public trust like this and then run for re-election.”

McNally said he “made mistakes” related to the Oakhill Renaissance Place scandal and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors. But he said voters aren’t concerned with the convictions and are focused on the good job he’s done as mayor.

“The city has made progress during my administration,” McNally said. “I’m looking forward to continuing that progress for another four years. I know we can continue to make our city safer, we can continue to make our city cleaner and I know we can continue to make our city more open and transparent.”

Brown said Youngstown is at “a critical point” and voters “have the power to figure out what direction we want to go. We can go back or we can go forward. It can’t be ‘Oh, that’s just Youngstown. That’s how they operate in Youngstown.’

“Youngstown residents want what other communities want as well,” Brown said. “They want better jobs, better neighborhoods, and they want better schools. At the end of the day, they want their government to be honest.”