SitemapRacism and preferential treatment given to those of a certain socioeconomic status — perceived or actual depending on who is talking — are longstanding issues in Youngstown.
They were publicly aired during a heated discussion Wednesday among city council members and Mayor John A. McNally on a grass-cutting and property-cleanup program.
While these issues have come up more in recent months, primarily comments made by the public at council meetings and an occasional response from a council member, this was the first time in my 10-plus years of covering city government that the conversation of race escalated so quickly among elected officials.
The topic was paying $102,168 a year to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to supervise and manage — along with two city officials — a program to give work to about 20 low-income “at-risk” people between 18 and 24 years old. The workers would cut grass, clean up lots and dump sites, board up vacant buildings and do some landscaping.
Councilwomen Annie Gillam, D-1st, and Janet Tarpley, D-6th, who are both black and are the key decision-makers on the legislative body, said YNDC has ignored their wards until they personally went to the agency’s officials to get their fair share.
Ian J. Beniston, YNDC executive director, who is white, strongly denies the accusations, saying “resources are equitably divided by wards.”
Tarpley said, “We can’t act like race isn’t an issue when it’s an issue.”
McNally, who is white, said city council needs to stop accusing YNDC of not treating certain areas fairly.
Acknowledging he was “a little frustrated,” McNally said, “The issues of race are things we deal with. It’s an ever-present issue. It’s always out there.”
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