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Trump’s Youngstown plug confuses Mayor McNally
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally said on CNN he was “a little bit confused” why President Donald Trump mentioned the city when explaining his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
“The U.S. withdrawal from the agreement is not going to create more jobs in the Youngstown area,” McNally said Friday during a four-minute interview. “It’s not going to create jobs in Mahoning County. So we would certainly urge the president to reconsider his decision. But at the same time we will take whatever help he can provide to us.”
McNally, a Democrat, said he felt “sort of funny criticizing the president” and thanked Trump, a Republican, for the mention as well as for a $200,000 brownfield redevelopment grant the city received Wednesday from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump said during a Thursday speech on withdrawing from the climate agreement: “A new deal is possible. It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; and Pittsburgh, Pa., along with many, many other locations within our great country, before Paris, France.”
McNally told The Vindicator on Thursday: “Nothing about the U.S. withdrawal would seem to indicate any form of job creation for the city of Youngstown. The Trump administration has never discussed how the withdrawal would better the lives of Youngstown residents. So while it’s nice to hear our city’s name, there is no substance to the thought of putting us with other cities before Paris.”
During his Friday interview on CNN – McNally’s first live national television appearance – he took the opportunity to tout the construction in recent years of three downtown apartment buildings and a hotel and city courthouse both under construction that are all “energy-efficient buildings.”
McNally said CNN contacted him about 6:30 p.m. Thursday to appear on the news network the following morning. He was on shortly after 10:30 a.m. Friday.
During his appearance, McNally said, “Youngstown is an economically challenged city. It’s been challenged since 1977 when we lost 25,000 steel jobs.” While “we certainly appreciate the talk about bringing back the steel industry in our local area, I don’t believe withdrawing from the Paris accords is the appropriate course to take.”
Late Friday, State Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, D-58th, released a statement ourging Youngstown’s city council to pass a resolution affirming the city’s commitment to the Paris agreement.