SitemapDecember 13, 2022
City council will consider approving three ordinances Wednesday to spend $377,500 in American Rescue Plan funds to have the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber implement a site readiness program, renovate the former Foster Art Theatre and provide tutoring to under-educated former city school students.
The three proposals were recommended Monday by the finance committee for approval at council’s Wednesday meeting.
The proposal for the chamber contract, sponsored by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, would give $187,500 to the organization to “produce and implement a strategy that will help spur development in and around the city,” according to the chamber.
It would be a three-year contract with the chamber matching the $187,500 paid by the city.
“These costs will cover software, administrative and subcontracting services deemed necessary by the chamber,” according to the chamber’s proposal.
The chamber would identify acreage and viable buildings for potential development.
“After inventorying all sites and buildings, the chamber will collaborate with property owners and an engineering partner to road map the development of the identified sites,” according to its proposal.
Nikki Posterli, the mayor’s chief of staff and head of the city’s community planning and economic development department, said the city isn’t prepared now to quickly compete for major projects.
“Right now, the process we use in conjunction with the chamber is, we’ll get an email for a business opportunity looking for square footage, a building, freeway access,” she said. “We usually have three to five days to respond and what we find out more so than not (is) we’re not ready. This opportunity will help us.”
The chamber also wrote in its proposal that it would assist with state and local financing and economic development programs “that will mitigate overall costs and outline the feasibility of development.”
RENOVATION
Another ARP funding request, sponsored by Councilwoman Lauren McNally, D-5th Ward, would give $100,000 to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. toward a project to renovate the former Foster Art Theatre at 2504 Glenwood Ave. and convert the old adult movie venue, which is in the 6th Ward, into a location for two commercial units and four apartments.
To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.