SitemapThere was a huge, everything-must-go, clearance Saturday on the city’s South Side.
Living room furniture, dining room furniture, kids’ and adults’ clothes, toys, crutches, leaves, trash.
Wait ... leaves and trash?
Yep, everything was packed up and gone.
The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. sponsored a cleanup day at a vacant house on Pineview Avenue, just off Glenwood Avenue. It was part of an effort to rid the Idora Neighborhood of blight and turn the abandoned house into a restored home ready for a new owner, said Ian J. Beniston, YNDC executive director.
About 60 volunteers showed up to help with ridding the house of its contents and cleaning up the outside of the property. Most of the contents were tossed into huge, roll-off trash bins, while some were saved and will be given to families in need.
Volunteers set up in assembly-line fashion to pass items from room to room, ultimately finding their way to bins outside.
The detached garage was filled with hints about the family that once lived there, including trash bags of clothes, a Sponge Bob Square Pants book bag, a kids’ basketball hoop and several other toys. Even a pair of crutches. They all went into the trash bin, as did bags and bags of leaves that were raked up from the yard.
Beniston said YNDC recently acquired the property through the Mahoning County Land Bank with the intention of gutting and rehabilitating it so it can be sold to a new owner who will call it home.
The house sits on a double lot and includes an outdoor brick oven, which Beniston said will help make it attractive to buyers once the renovation is complete and it’s on the market.
“This is a solid house,” Beniston said, standing outside the two-story structure. “It’s probably going to need a new roof, but it’s otherwise solid, and it’s going to be beautiful when we get done renovating it. There’s no reason a house like this should be vacant.”
Most of the house’s contents had grown musty and rotted from neglect, but the living room and dining room furniture, including a china hutch, were still in good condition. Those items were to be given to a local family who recently took in four young children, said Jim London, president of the Idora Neighborhood Association.
London, who is known as “Big Jim,” said projects such as the one that took place Saturday help to ensure that local properties stay in the hands of local owners instead of being purchased by out-of-town owners who don’t usually take care of them.
“Once bad landlords get a hold of things, it just devastates a community,” London said. “So we’re not afraid to roll up our sleeves and do projects like this. We want to keep our community nice and clean and safe.”
Lisa Slanina of Youngstown and her 8-year-old son, Zack, were among the volunteers who turned out to help with the project. A native of Youngstown, Slanina said she and her son recently returned to the city after spending 10 years in Arizona, where she’d gone for work.
“We just want to help make the city great again,” Slanina said. “You see these beautiful houses and you want to see them restored to their original glory.”
Slanina said she and Zack used to take part in similar projects through their church when they lived in Arizona.
“He likes to help people,” she said of her son.
Jodi Malmisur of Canfield said the recent presidential election is what spurred her to get involved with local projects.
“I was very unhappy with the results [of the election],” said Malmisur, who backed Hillary Clinton in the race for president.
Rather than simmer in anger, Malmisur decided to become an agent for change. She got involved with the local Young Democrats organization and then with a group called Progressives.
“I just decided it’s time to roll up my sleeves and help, and it just snowballed from there,” said Malmisur, who works as a staff attorney for the Mahoning County Child Support Enforcement Agency.
“It’s time to do something.”
To read the full story from the Vindicator, click here.