Mahoning Valley Forum

Purpose: Before communities can plot their comeback, they must address the scourge of vacant properties.  Often civic leaders attempt to use short-term solutions.  To make significant gains, cities must make vacant property initiatives part of their long-term comprehensive planning and reinvestment strategy.

Joseph Schilling - National Vacant Properties Campaign, A forum to Raise National Awareness, Coordinate Research, and Provide Technical Assistance

Linda Nelson - Case Western Reserve University CANDO, Effective Reinvestment Strategies Grounded In Information Systems

Everyone living in Youngstown should attend this presentation.  This a vary important topic.

I would like to have gone, but I simply did not want to go through the hassle of finding a way to get there and home again.

If anyone here attended the workshop, would you be willing to share what was discussed?

The auditorium for the workshop was packed.  This was the best turnout of citizens in a long time. 

The Cleveland area has a web data base that allows anyone to find almost any piece of information about a property.  It is hoped that this information will help planners and developers to stop the decline of neighborhoods.  I will post the web links within the next day.

I think that Youngstown needs to make people more aware of the online
website for the county auditor's office.  It is definitely a very useful tool -
especially when combined with the G.I.S. system (which allows users to
see aerial views of any address in the whole county).