Mayor Brown says city is 'making progress'

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

While Youngstown faces many challenges, it’s making progress and improvements, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said during his State of the City address.

The Thursday speech at the DeYor Performing Arts Center’s Ford Family Recital Hall focused primarily on the positive aspects of Brown’s nearly 15 months as mayor, including working to get the city’s finances under control and a $10.85 million federal transportation grant to make significant improvements to Youngstown, particularly the downtown area.

The theme of the speech was “Why not Youngstown?” when it comes to economic development, removing blight, improving education and focusing on making quality-of-life issues better.

“We know the problems,” he said. “We just need to come together to solve them.”

Brown said the city needs to develop a comprehensive strategic plan that focuses on making substantial improvements to Youngstown.

After the speech, he told The Vindicator: “We need to talk about where we see ourselves in the next five years. We’re talking about housing, economic development, where we can be as a community. But we also have to have private-sector partners at the table to help with operational efforts.”

While the city has conducted studies to identify problems over the years, those reports haven’t provided clear ways to implement solutions, he said.

Brown said he wants to get such a plan done this year that “talks about some actionable pieces that we’ll

focus on.”

Brown said he’s “working to change the culture in city hall.” He added, “You don’t have to know anyone [or] be related to anyone” to do business in Youngstown.

Brown defeated then-incumbent John A. McNally in the 2017 Democratic primary for mayor, which came after the latter had pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors in connection with the Oakhill Renaissance Place corruption investigation during his tenure as a Mahoning County commissioner.

Also, Charles Sammarone, who served as mayor before McNally, is under indictment on allegations he solicited and received recurring cash payments from a vendor in return for steering projects to the company. Sammarone has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“If there’s political corruption, businesses are less likely to invest,” Brown said.

He said the city still “faces challenges” such as the closure last year of Northside Regional Medical Center and the idling of the General Motors Assembly Complex in Lordstown as well as a 40 percent poverty rate and a high infant-mortality rate, particularly among African-Americans.

He also joked the city made national news when “zombie raccoons” were spotted in the city. Police shot six raccoons described as wobbling and stumbling while out during the daylight hours. Some tested positive for distemper.

On a serious note, Brown said the city also has taken steps to clean up dump sites and increase the amount of LED lighting in neighborhoods.