SitemapThe city finalized an agreement with the Youngstown Air Reserve Station that will start with the demolition of 12 vacant structures and could evolve into an effort to have reservists do much more in Youngstown.
About a half-dozen reservists will demolish one of the houses around Taft Elementary School on Thursday, and do the rest next month, said Col. James Dignan, commander of the 910th Airlift Wing at the reserve station in Vienna.
The city is providing the materials, tools, equipment and supervision for the reservists.
“This is something quite unique,” Dignan said. “It’s a win-win as our reservists get real-world training while helping the city demolish these structures.”
Taft is on the South Side with the demolition work done around the school on Boston and Avondale avenues.
“There are more than 90 children who walk to Taft,” said Mayor John A. McNally, chairman of the board of control. “It will be good to remove the blight.”
The commander and the city board of control signed an agreement Tuesday to have reservists do various neighborhood blight-removal projects in Youngstown.
“We’d like to be able to expand the program in the city,” McNally said. “Certainly the South Side area has a lot of demolition needs.”
McNally said he would next like the reservists to install stop signs and street signs, particularly on the North Side. There are about 600 street signs that need to be installed, he said.
“These small projects are important to citizens,” McNally said. “This is a good program and it will help the community.”
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