SitemapBob Harrell thinks Youngstown is coming back.
But he realizes the need for new jobs in the area to incite growth in the neighborhoods.
That was the top-priority challenge he listed at the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.’s Crandall Park neighborhood meeting at the Jewish Community Center Tuesday evening.
About 30 people attended the meeting to give input to the YNDC on multiple North Side neighborhoods and to hear the “neighborhood-conditions report” the YNDC had put together. This was the 10th of 11 meetings hosted by the YNDC.
“Unfortunately, I think the challenge we have mainly is bringing back jobs to Youngstown,” Harrell said. “It’s going to be hard to grow without having [economic development].”
A YNDC representative discussed population loss, population density, educational attainment, median income for a household, mortgages, foreclosures and Youngstown Police Department calls for service for the areas discussed at the meeting.
The area of Logan Way to Elm Street has seen a large loss of about 1,400 people from 1990 to 2010. But the area of Crandall Park North saw a loss of only about 400.
The area north of Crandall Park is considered a functional area, while the area south of Crandall is considered a tipping-point neighborhood.
YNDC asked those attending to provide a list of three top assets in their respective communities, three priorities in the neighborhood that need to be addressed and whatever else the YNDC needs to know.
Harrell noted Crandall Park, Youngstown State University and Wick Park are three assets of his North Side community. He has lived in Youngstown in the same house on Crandall Avenue for 50 years.
“We’ve pretty much seen everything,” Harrell said,
Like Harrell, Cossell Burton of Curry Place is always interested in the neighborhood.
“I love Youngstown so much,” Burton said. “Youngstown is my town. That’s why I am at tonight’s meeting.”
To her, the challenges she sees as priorities include housing and the need for jobs.
“That’s what makes things happen,” Burton said.
The final YNDC meeting, where some of the preliminary facts gathered from previous meetings will be presented, is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Covelli Centre in the community room.
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