Neighborhoods

The Mahoning Valley Food Coalition announces new jobs in the local food business.

The goal with the eight positions is to keep the local industry growing.

Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation’s Iron Roots Urban Farm needs to fill five openings; lead farmer and four apprentice farmers to work at its nearly two acre farm on Canfield Road.

“A lead farmer would be working with all aspects of food production here,” said Liberty Merrill, YNDC Program Coordinator. “Really just keeping things running on the site, making sure the plants are growing well and also training people.”

The full-time salary position comes with benefits.

The four apprentice farmer openings are part-time averaging 25-30 hours a week.

“Apprentice farmers could be about anybody who wants,” said Merrill. “Specifically has an interest in working outside, working on a small farm or in some other kind of food based business.”

Merrill said YNDC secured federal grants to help fund the positions.

In a press release, The Mahoning Valley Food Coalition said other Youngstown organizations, like Grow Youngstown and Flying HIGH are both hiring managers. Grow Youngstown is looking for a full-time manager; Flying HIGH needs an assistant manager.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

The city of Youngstown is seeking the public's opinion on a Neighborhood Conditions Report.

The study by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Youngstown Planning Department found positive signs and alarming trends in the city's neighborhoods.

Among the positive signs is a decrease in calls to police as well as a decrease in the number of homes facing foreclosure.

During WFMJ Weekend Today's Press Pass Sunday morning, the executive director of the YNDC says population loss, increasing poverty and unemployment are a snapshot of the reality cities like Youngstown are currently facing.

"Although some of the information is somewhat sobering, it's not a surprise. What we are excited about is the real work of using this information as a tool to work with our stakeholders, work with our public officials, work with our residents to improve the conditions in our city and use the data to make our city a better police to live, work, play and raise our families," said Presley Gillespie, executive director for the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corportation.

The deputy director of the Youngstown Planning Department says the plan will be brought to a series neighborhood meetings for feedback and input.

To see the full story from WFMJ, click here.

The first in a series of neighborhood meetings is set for Feb. 26 as part of a citywide planning process being coordinated by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the city.

YNDC and the city of Youngstown have completed the first phase of the planning process, creation of a 287-page neighborhood conditions report available for download here.

At the meetings, residents are invited to offer input on priorities for stabilization and development citywide and for specific neighborhoods.

The schedule for the neighborhood meetings follows:

• Rocky Ridge/West Side: Feb. 26, 6:30 p.m., Our Lady of the Afflicted, 517 S. Belle Vista Ave.
• Pleasant Grove: March 4, 6 p.m. – Newport Library, 3730 Market St.
• Cornersburg: March 6, 6 p.m. – New Covenant Worship Center, 1900 Canfield Road.
• Lansdowne/East Side: March 11, 6 p.m. – Price Memorial AME Zion, 920 Dryden Ave.
• Idora/Newport/Fosterville: March 13, 6 p.m. – Rescue Mission, 2246 Glenwood Ave.
• Wick Park/North Side – March 17, 6 p.m. – Unitarian Church, 1105 Elm St.
• Brownlee Woods/Powerstown/Buckeye Plat: March 20, 6:30 p.m. – Faith Community Covenant, 1919 E. Midlothian Blvd.
• Lincoln Knolls/East Side: March 25, 6:30 p.m. – East Side Library, 430 Early Rd.
• Oak Hill/South Side: March 27, 6 p.m. – Oak Hill Collaborative, 507 Oak Hill Ave.

For further information, contact Tom Hetrick at 330.480.0423 or via email.

To see the full story from the Business Journal, click here.

The public learned a little more about plans to redevelop 3,500 acres around the U.S. Route 422 corridor on Tuesday night.

Representatives from Interface Studios, an urban design and planning firm hired from Philadelphia, were in town to present findings from months of data collection, interviews and focus groups about the best ways to go about giving the 422 corridor a facelift.

They identified several areas between Youngstown and Girard where improvements could be made to upgrade the overall look, unlock potential for job growth, support local businesses, stabilize neighborhoods and highlight natural assets, such as the Mahoning River.

“We really view this as a front door to Trumbull and Mahoning counties. The aesthetic improvements are important not only for the current businesses and residents of our communities here, but also for attracting new business, for continued development and for community pride,” said Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber member John Rossi.

Residents, business and property owners wrote down feedback on cards and placed stickers with the numbers one, two and three on charts to indicate which ideas or parts of the plan they thought were the best.

A final draft of the 422 corridor master plan is expected in about a month.

To see the full story from WKBN, click here.

An ambitious plan to redevelop the U.S. Route 422 corridor includes increased industrial areas, more lighting, medians, sidewalks, bike paths and improvements to neighborhoods.

However, a number of people at a public meeting Tuesday had a simple request.

“They need to clean up the area before doing anything else,” said Daryl Harvey, who lives in the Brier Hill neighborhood off 422. “We need to take care of that.”

Connie Stimpson, who also lives in Brier Hill, said, “The first thing to do is to clean the place up and make it look nice. It doesn’t look nice now. I want the neighborhood to be clean.”

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Trumbull County Planning Commission are spearheading an effort to redevelop the corridor.

They hired Interface Studio, a Philadelphia-based urban design and planning firm, for $150,000 to develop a plan for the portion of the corridor that encompasses 3,500 acres, 220 businesses and 8,500 residents. It’s bounded on the north by Liberty Street in Girard, on the east by state Route 193 [Belmont Avenue] in Liberty, on the south by state Route 711 in Youngstown and on the west by Meridian Road, also in Youngstown.

Scott Page, an Interface principal, presented proposals for what could be done with the corridor at the public meeting at St. Anthony of Padua Parish Social Hall on Turin Avenue on the city’s North Side. About 50 people attended.

Page didn’t provide cost estimates for any of the proposals but acknowledged much of it would be expensive and it could be challenging to obtain funding for the concepts.

A draft plan should be done next month with more time for public comments before the study is finalized, he said.

“We set a high standard, but we will take incremental steps to get there,” he said. “It’s about prioritizing.”

Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said, “Dreaming or visioning big is something we need to see from our residents and businesses. The report [that Interface Studio] will put out will be expensive, but there’s low-hanging fruit, too, such as addressing the cleanup of the corridors and improvements to neighborhoods just off 422. Like a lot of our corridors, 422 is ugly and needs to be cleaned up.”

McNally said this isn’t a quick-fix project but one that could take a decade to implement.

Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda, who also attended the meeting, said, “We’re hoping the study will help turn the 422 corridor into something as beautiful as they envision. We’re still in the beginning stages.”

Mike Krakora, who lives in Liberty and owns a business in Youngstown, said, “All of the ideas sound great. I hope we can make them happen. You can take baby steps. People understand it takes time.”

The study will look at creating more jobs in the corridor, working to get residents in the area hired for those jobs, reducing blight and enhancing the look of the communities along the corridor, Page said.

Talk of redevelopment in the area started in 2010 when Vallourec Star invested $1.1 billion for a pipe mill along the route.

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

As possible plans and strategies for the state Route 422 corridor redevelopment plan began coming to light Tuesday night, residents and county officials displayed cautious optimism with the findings.

Philadelphia-based Interface Studio held the public meeting after spending the past seven months identifying the best potential steps to improve the 3,500-acre corridor along the Mahoning River from Girard into Youngstown.

According to Scott Page, Interface founder, the study has found at least 18 feasible measures that, if implemented, could result in the corridor being a draw for outside businesses as well as a source of pride for the community.

"We still have work tonight in terms of fine tuning and making sure we're identifying the priorities," Page said. "But, residents are helping us do that."

The proposals ran the gamut from cost-efficient strategies like comprehensive removal of clutter along the corridor to more costly endeavors such as building new sidewalks, improving gateways and adding industrial buffers for nearby neighborhoods.

"Just things as simple as cleaning things up is always a good first step," Page said.

According to Page, the study - which cost about $120,000 - is similar to redevelopment strategies his group has devised in St. Paul, Minn., Louisville, Ky., and Philadelphia.

A draft of the study will likely be released in the next month, Page said.

"In the meantime, we will start looking at some physical improvements that can be done. And then you end up playing acupunturist, figuring exactly the right spots to hit and when to do it."

Some of the plans could be implemented this year, he said.

After discussing the strategies in detail, each attendee was asked to rank their respective top three improvement projects that should be prioritized.

Girard resident Cosmo Signoriello said he would like decision makers to focus on fixing the blight, infrastructure along the roadway and general beautification of the corridor.

"It looks like they did a good job," Signoriello said. "Obviously, it is still in the premature phases. I'm curious to see where they're going to be able to pull in the money for the fundraising."

Page said funding for the projects could come from both public funds, including state and federal grants, as well as private fundraising and local businesses.

Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda expects the work to secure funding to begin with the release of Interface's findings.

"It's up to the people involved here to go after the federal and state funding that may be available," Fuda said. "Anything we do, it's a matter of getting the right people to fight hard for those funds. If you do that, it will happen.

"They're probably going to have to use our congressmen and senators, like (Rep. Tim) Ryan (D-Niles) and other elected officials."

According to Fuda, that partnership should make grant approval enticing to the state.

"Our governor right now is looking for regionalization and a lot of the money the state is willing to spend is for people working together," he said. "That's what Trumbull and Mahoning counties are doing here."

Meanwhile, Youngstown resident Jamie Hayes liked much of what she heard at the meeting, but she also wants to be sure the area neighborhoods are not adversely affected.

"Some of the things they talked about seem to me to be extremely expensive and a lot of the places they're talking about doing these things are very deprived of money right now in terms of the tax base," Hayes said. "They've done a lot of work here and put a lot of energy into it, but I just don't want the citizens to be caught up in the middle of something without completely understanding it."

The redevelopment plan is being spearheaded by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber, and the Trumbull County Planning Commission, along with 14 other public and private funding partners.

The funding for the Interface study originated from about 50 different sources, according to Page, including land banks in both counties; grants from the Raymond Wean Foundation, the Community Foundation of Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio and the Youngstown Foundation; the cities of Youngstown and Girard; the Western Reserve Port Authority; Youngstown and Trumbull County Metropolitan Housing Authorities; Girard Community Improvement Corporation; Trumbull commissioners; and Vallourec Star.

To see the full story from the Tribune Chronicle, click here.

A 287-page report relating to the condition of Youngstown’s neighborhoods provides some facts about the aging, shrinking city that should serve as a wake-up call for residents and others who believe that its viability is crucial to the Mahoning Valley’s well-being.

The report by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation, the city’s planning agency, and Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, is the culmination of a 15-month planning process.

Here are some of the facts about Youngstown that should generate discussion in the community and prompt a large turnout at the public meetings that have been scheduled to get residents’ input about the neighborhoods:

Youngstown’s population dropped from 95,732 in 1990 to 66,982 in 2010.

The average home price in 2012 was $21,327.

The median income in 2011 was $24,880.

There were 3,062 structures, mostly homes, demolished between 2007 and 2013.

The number of annual foreclosure filings fell from 650 to 287 between 2007 and 2012.

The annual number of traditional home-purchase mortgages decreased from 456 to 115 between 2007 and 2012.

In 2012, about 36 percent of Youngstown residents lived in poverty.

These are statistics that support the argument of urban planners over the years about the city of Youngstown needing to redefine itself.

Many residents will remember all the work that went into the development of Youngstown 2010, the city’s planning blueprint. There were public hearings in each of the seven wards and a communitywide meeting attended by 2,000 when the plan was finally unveiled.

While some of the recommendations have been adopted, others have fallen by the wayside because of little political support.

The latest effort by the city to focus on the neighborhoods should be viewed as a continuation of Youngstown 2010. Why? Because planners foresaw the decrease in population and made it clear city government could ill afford to maintain the same geographic area that once accommodated a population of more than 150,000.

There needs to be a public discussion on what to do about the neighborhoods that have deteriorated because of the loss of population, those that are borderline and the ones that are still in good shape.

The question that must be answered is this: Does it make economic sense to maintain residential areas that have few homes, or should residents be relocated and the green spaces created that require little maintenance?

Objective give-and-take

It is to be hoped that the public meetings will result in an unemotional, objective give-and-take about the future of the city’s neighborhoods.

The first of the meetings is scheduled for Feb. 26 for the Rocky Ridge/West Side area. It will be held at Our Lady of the Afflicted on South Belle Vista Avenue.

There will be eight other sessions throughout the city in March.

Details can be found on the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.’s website.

The future of the city is in the hands of the residents.

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

Monday, February 17, 2014

Residents and stakeholders from throughout the study area and across the region came to St. Anthony of Padua Parish last Tuesday to learn about the strategies proposed and provide feedback for the US422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan.

This is the latest in a series of public and community meetings that have engaged hundreds of residents, stakeholders, and business owners in the development of the plan. The planning process is currently in the draft plan development phase. Planning consultants from Interface Studio presented the strategies that will be incorporated into the plan and asked the community to identify priorities and provide additional insights and feedback.

Comments, insights, and priorities provided at the meeting have been analyzed and are being incorporated into the final development of the plan. The full draft version of the plan will be publicized for public comment in March. Stay tuned to our US422 Corridor Redevelopment Plan page for updates on the status and progress of the plan's development!

Monday, February 17, 2014

On Saturday, February 15th, residents and community members fought cold weather conditions to FIGHT BLIGHT in Youngstown's neighborhoods.

Volunteers from Tabernacle Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Idora Neighborhood Association, YSU students, YNDC staff, and residents completed work at a blighted house on Reel Avenue on Youngstown's South Side.

This vacant property, a former drug house and neighborhood nuisance, was cleaned out and cleared out in preparation for demolition. Community volunteers filled an entire 40 yard dumpster full of blight before noon on Saturday. The property will be demolished by YNDC in the coming months. Thanks to all of our volunteers for another great workday!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The YNDC has assistance available to help a limited number of gardens and other long-term vacant land reuse projects on vacant lots get access to city water, via outdoor water spigots that can be installed at your site.

The water taps will consist of lockable frost-free water spigots and a meter pit. After installation, water costs and maintenance will be the owner’s responsibility. The owner will get a small monthly water bill (details upon request), and will be responsible for calling the water department to have the meter removed in late fall and reinstalled in the spring. The City of Youngstown can only install water taps on land currently owned by a garden owner or operator (or someone who has a use agreement with the owner).

Please contact Liberty Merrill at the YNDC (330.480.0423 or lmerrill@yndc.org) for more information about this program. Applications (found below) should be completed and returned to YNDC as soon as possible, and no later than March 30th.