Mahoning Valley Forum

This is a beautiful facility with plenty of parking.

How many Forum members plan to attend?

When did John Crea get out of the slammer?

Some south side residents are boycotting this event because they wanted it held on their side of town.

A few notes from the debate

There were a lot of red shirts in the crowd.

Frank Bellamy did not show up.

All three candidates have baggage.

A lot of campaign literature ended up in the trash after the debate.

Watch the debate coverage on the tv news tonight.

Kitchen and McNally strike me as the only two credible candidates in this
mayoral race.


I think Crea is not playing with all 52 cards in the deck, so to speak.   In Bellamy's case, all
the cards are there, just too many of them are jokers.....

They should have put the debate online as streaming audio/video so that everyone could
watch it from home, etc.   

As far as the location, what does it matter which side of town?  One would think that folks would be
more interested in the substance of the debates than arguing about which side of town to have them in.

I can't understand why Bellamy did not show up.  He had a chance to explain his issues and to get free publicity and he failed to appear.

Four school board candidates attended.  Two President of Council candidates were also there.

 What a farce this whole business is. Shame on the whole lot!

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/20/youngstown-mayoral-debate-turns-city-problems-pers/ (http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/20/youngstown-mayoral-debate-turns-city-problems-pers/)


Cf. Buzzfeed names Youngstown to list of "bleakest places"

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/20/a-bleak-place-youngstown-is-buzzfeed-say/ (http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/20/a-bleak-place-youngstown-is-buzzfeed-say/)     

All three have baggage.

We need to find a way to encourage better candidates to run for office.

Found just the man to run for Mayor of Youngstown.

To be informed, come to the next debate.

Is Mayor Sammarone still going to run for City Council President?

The three candidates for Youngstown President of Council are
Susie Beiersdorfer (G)
Chuck Sammarone (D)
Chris Travers (I)

I wish Sammarone had run for re-election.  In his limited time in office, he has done his best
to eliminate waste, increase accountability in city government, find ways to reduce the budget,
etc.


He is more competent than his predecessor, by far and he gets results.  But then, he will still Bea valuable
asset to the next mayor, if re-elected to council.

It's time for new leadership in Youngstown.  Let's elect younger people to public office.

Who says that a younger person can do a better job than an older person? Shoot, all these "younger" people have on their minds is burning their brains out on ***; rock 'n roll; booze and drugs. What have you got against old geezers anyway? What we need is fresh clean blood in both parties regardless of age. Shoot, it looks like the current Democratic chairman is on very thin ice with his party.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/25/betras-sparks-outrage-in-black-leaders/ (http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/sep/25/betras-sparks-outrage-in-black-leaders/)

Although wisdom and experience do not always go hand in hand with age,
I tend to agree with Town talk.


Mayor Sammarone has years of experience in city government and from everything I've read,
he is basically a no-bulls**t  kind of guy, for the most part.  We could use more like him.

As President of Council, Mr. Sammarone did nothing to improve the operation of city council meetings.  His methods are still in practice.

Go to a city council meeting and see for yourself.

Jay: 75% of City Council business is conducted in committee, 20% is conducted by the various departments, leaving just 5% to be done at Council meetings.
In order to satisfy you, just how long should each Council be ... 1 hour ... 2 hours?
At what time should each meeting be ... 9 am ... Noon ... 7:00 pm?
Suppose there is nothing that demands Council's attention on any given week ... should there still be a Council meeting?
How much time should be allowed for public comment ... 20% ... 40% ... 60%?
Should there be some  rule about public comment or should the public have the right to simply stand up and demand time to address Council at any point during the Council meting?

Quote75% of City Council business is conducted in committee, 20% is conducted by the various departments, leaving just 5% to be done at Council meetings.

Where did you get those numbers?

So if a citizen wants to really know what is going on with Youngstown city government they would have to attend each committee meeting on various days of the week?
:P

perhaps someone could make a list of the things that should be changed about how
council meetings are conducted, get a petition to have changes made - and then use
the upcoming elections as a "Bully Pulpit"  to get the message across to the candidates for
council/Mayor

Just an idea......