Neighborhoods

What can be done to stem the tide of absentee landlords and property owners who know little about what they have bought — or simply don’t care?

Too often, people from out of state buy land in the city with little or no oversight, which in many instances sets the stage for neighborhood neglect, abandonment and blight.

That was a concern several people brought up during Tuesday’s Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. meeting at the Covelli Centre.

The final of several such sessions throughout the city was to examine data based largely on input from the previous meetings, noted Thomas A. Hetrick, a YNDC neighborhood planner.

The YNDC is to use the information gleaned from residents’ concerns, positive assessments and priorities for a report it will compile that will contain strategies for improving and stabilizing then city’s neighborhoods.

The effort also will take into account the city’s limited financial resources, he noted.

Hetrick began the one-hour session by reviewing several demographics pertaining to the city, such as population trends, residents’ median income, age and level of education and neighborhood rankings related to housing.

He also categorized neighborhoods as stable, functional, constrained, weak and extremely weak based on their housing stock and marketability.

According to the data, people’s top assets pertaining to their neighborhoods included strong neighborhood associations, community facilities and historic homes.

Main challenges were housing and property issues such as lax code enforcement, a greater need for housing demolition and tighter regulations regarding rental units, Hetrick noted.

Residents’ top priorities were maintaining roads and sidewalks, increasing community policing, encouraging greater economic development and improving aesthetics in the city’s corridors, he continued.

One attendee said she wanted to see more efforts to market the city and its neighborhoods, and another woman expressed frustration regarding what she contended was the same topics being brought up at the meetings followed by too little action.

“I feel your frustration because I’m frustrated, too,” said Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th.

“We’re trying everything we can to make this happen in the neighborhoods.”

To read the full story at Vindy.com, click here. 

City residents have had a chance to voice their opinion about issues and changes they would like to see around the city through a series of neighborhood meetings.

Tuesday was the 10th and final neighborhood meeting, where data and trends were outlined in a neighborhood conditions report.

Ian Beniston with the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation said there were a variety of responses from people in different parts of the city. Now they will take the data they have collected and present it to city leaders.

Some of the biggest concerns include safety and infrastructure.

“One neighborhood may need a demolition strategy while another neighborhood that has a higher level of stability might need a targeted code enforcement strategy,” Beninston said.

The group plans to meet with people around the community again after they present the data. It is expected some changes may start taking place later this year.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. had a citywide meeting at the Covelli Centre on April 8th, recapping their meetings throughout Youngstown’s neighborhoods. Neighborhood characteristics and community facilities such as churches, schools and parks were among the top assets, while crime, poor infrastructure, housing and property issues topped the list of concerns. Rick Pollo has more.

That’s YNDC Neighborhood Planner Tom Hetrick addressing about 40 residents in the Community Room of the Covelli Centre. He outlined some of the major concerns voiced by city residents during the past months’ meetings.

Along with population loss and vacant properties, the city faces a problem with out-of-state property owners who don’t maintain their property. An issue YNDC Deputy Director Ian Beniston hopes to alleviate.

BENISTON: You can’t just outright outlaw people that don’t live here from buying the property, but there are strategies we can put in place to ensure people have a better sense of what they’re getting into.

Resident Kathy Szmaj says the city should do more to attract new homeowners.

SZMAJ: Frustrating to see our neighborhoods decaying. There’s marketing that can be done. There’re beautiful parts of the city that I think people that live outside the area don’t know.

Szmaj says another neighborhood plan won’t get off the ground in time to have significant impact.

SZMAJ: But who’s coming up with this plan? And when something’s not done in a year, who do I come back to?

YNDC Executive Director Presley Gillespie says past plans had the vision, but lacked the execution strategies YNDC is going to implement.

GILLESPIE: I think the difference now in going forward is the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. has a great talented staff of energetic and smart individuals that are not only going to put the strategies together but get the work done.

The YNDC plans to formulate a plan of action based on residents’ concerns.

To hear the full story from The News Outlet, click here.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

On Wednesday, April 9th, residents gathered at a public meeting held at the YNDC Community Kitchen building to discuss the potential to create a historic district designated by the National Register of Historic Places on Youngstown's south side.

The proposed historic district would include homes along Canfield from Lanterman's Mill to Glenwood Avenue, and from Glenwood down to Midlothian Boulevard and all homes west of Glenwood to the park. Homes on Bonnie Brae, Lanterman, and Rogers would also be included.

Local historian Rebeca Rogers provided a brief presentation outlining the process of historic district designation and the potential benefits both for current property owners and for ongoing neighborhood revitalization efforts. Rebecca Rogers has been responsible for the successful designation of the adjacent Mill Creek Park Historic District as well as Forest Glen, Wick Park, and Crandall Park neighborhoods.

Residents were provided with an opportunity to ask questions about the impacts of the district, and ultimately agreed that the creation of a historic district would add value and strengthen community pride in the neighborhood. YNDC will work with Rebecca Rogers to conduct a detailed property inventory and begin pursuit of National Register nomination.

If property owners within the proposed district have any questions or objections regarding historic district designation, they can provide comments in writing to Jack Daugherty via at jdaugherty@yndc.org or by mail to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation at 820 Canfield Road, Youngstown, Ohio 44511.

Friday, April 11, 2014

On Thursday, April 10th, YNDC's neighborhood planner, Tom Hetrick, spoke at the Ohio Brownfield Conference regarding Youngstown's underground storage tank inventory.

The two-day conference was held in Columbus by the Ohio EPA's Division of Environmental Response and and Revitalization. Tom gave a presentation of YNDC's work to identify potentially-contaminated sites along Youngstown's main corridors. The storage tank inventory has led to greater awareness of this environmental issue in the city and an application to the US EPA for a $600,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant to perform environmental site assessments and develop cleanup plans in Youngstown, Campbell, and Struthers. The full report, titled City Unseen: Youngstown's Abandoned Underground Storage Tanks, can be found here. 

Presley Gillespie has been hired as the first president of Neighborhood Allies, a recently launched Pittsburgh community development organization.

He will take the helm in mid-May.

Gillespie was most recently the founding executive director of the Youngstown Community Development Corp., taking it within five years from a startup with a $200,000 annual budget to an established organization with a $3.1 million budget. He also worked in banking for 18 years, focusing on community development lending and revitalization.

Neighborhood Allies launched last year to support the people, organizations and partnerships committed to creating and maintaining thriving neighborhoods.

To read the full story from Pittsburgh Business Times, click here.

The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. has nine AmeriCorps VISTA positions available, including a VISTA leader position.

Two VISTA positions will be focused on these activities: strengthening YNDC’s capacity to reach those in need of affordable housing and housing counseling by developing new networks for outreach, as well as programming and tracking mechanisms to provide long-term support to clients; empowering low-income residents by training neighborhood groups to mobilize, plan and implement grass-roots projects to eliminate blight which hinders reinvestment in their neighborhoods; expanding the ability of YNDC and low-income food-based entrepreneurs to provide fresh and healthy foods to neighborhoods with the greatest need through the development of marketing and distribution strategies; and building sustainable infrastructure at YNDC to engage low-income residents over the long term as leaders in establishing a common vision and planning for the future of their communities.

To apply, interested candidates must visit my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?id=54053&from-Search=true and complete the AmeriCorps online application process.

To read the full story at Vindy.com, click here.

Presley L. Gillespie, the founding executive director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. is resigning in mid-May to become president of Neighborhood Allies, a new community development agency in Pittsburgh.

“The opportunity to lead Neighborhood Allies is an outstanding opportunity for me to continue to leverage my abilities and life-long commitment to improving the quality of life of people affected by blight and disinvestment,” Gillespie said today.

The YNDC board of directors will appoint Ian J. Beniston, the agency’s deputy director for four years as interim executive director.

To read the full story at Vindy.com, click here.

Neighborhood Allies has named as its first president the nationally recognized innovator behind revitalization efforts in Youngstown, Ohio.

Presley Gillespie begins his work in mid-May with the nonprofit that established this year from the dissolution of the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development.

Mr. Gillespie founded the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. five years ago. It was that city’s first such entity and it grew from a $200,000 start-up into a $3.1 million force behind housing rehabilitation and green enterprise, including the Iron Roots Urban Farm, a commercial enterprise on a solar-powered campus with a demonstration kitchen, job training workshops and a community loan fund for low- and moderate income home buyers.

“I am so pleased that Neighborhood Allies was able to attract a leader of his caliber to help us work collaboratively to rebuild our communities most in need,” Mayor Bill Peduto said.

The board declined to report his salary.

With foundation support, Neighborhood Allies’ budget for this year is $1.8 million, with $1.2 million to be used for grants.

Neighborhood Allies restructured as a new entity to broaden the range of resources and consultation to neighborhood advocacy organizations, with a focus on connecting groups in distressed areas to both funding and services.

“The next chapter of Pittsburgh’s comeback will be making us the most liveable city for all,” said board co-chair Rob Stephany. “This results-driven professional from Youngstown lives and breathes our shared values of change, equity and justice.”

“He brings a deep understanding of and passion for neighborhoods of promise and the opportunities and challenges they face,” said Laurel Shaw Randi, board co-chair.

Mr. Gillespie said he is eager to take on some of the same challenges he faced in Youngstown but in a larger, more robust city.

“I am honored and humbled by what the board and the foundations in Pittsburgh saw in me and to work with people who have a significant track record in the city.”

To read the full story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, click here.

The city enjoyed some positive press this week when Forbes Magazine named the metro area as the fifth-best in the country for raising a family.

It’s not the first time Youngstown made an appearance on a prominent Forbes list. The business magazine ranked Youngstown No. 4 on the 2012 version of its “Best Cities for Raising a Family” list.

A year ago, Forbes awarded Youngstown a No. 20 ranking on its less-desirable list of America’s most-miserable cities, based on nine factors that included violent crime, unemployment, foreclosures and taxes.

But the magazine eschewed some of the more-volatile factors — such as unemployment and weather — in favor of more family- oriented measurements in Wednesday’s ranking.

“The Youngstown metro area is still near the bottom on the national income ladder, but it also boasts low cost of living, short commutes, and solid school and crime statistics outside the city proper,” Forbes said of the city.

In total, the magazine evaluated the country’s 100 largest metro regions based on median household income, cost of living, housing affordability, homeownership, commute, crime rate and local school quality.

A top selling point for the area is its low cost of living, which makes it an enticing community for young families, said Tiffany Sokol, program coordinator at the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.

YNDC focuses on revitalizing targeted city neighborhoods and also provides planning services for Youngstown.

“For the cost of living, you really can’t beat the amenities that are available here,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity to be a homeowner from a young age and increase your stability.”

Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said there are other factors at play beyond the hard metrics Forbes considered.

”The things that underlie all that are the friendliness and attitude of the people,” he said. “You don’t teach that.”

Favorable mentions for Youngstown have been increasing in the past few years as the area has benefited from prominent investments in manufacturing and the developing Utica Shale play.

The chamber, which tracks Youngstown stories in the national and international media, said the city is now featured in an average of 600 stories per year.

The attention bodes well not just for Youngstown, but also the surrounding townships and cities, Humphries said.

“We are all branded — good or bad — by the name of Youngstown,” he said. But “we are a melting pot, and we are larger than just the city of Youngstown.”

To read the full story at Vindy.com, click here.