Even as the city tries to lure more people downtown, it is doing everything it can to punish them for coming downtown, and for that very reason, we should send the Mayor, City Council, CIC, and every other downtown outfit a very strong message ... BOYCOTT EVERY DOWNTOWN EVENT ... NO EXCEPTIONS ... BOYCOT EVEN GOING DOWNTOWN FOR ANY REASON ... and why REFUSE to go downtown? This article by Todd Franko, Editor of The Vindicator tells you why.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/jun/14/parking-situation--the-unpretty-lineman-/ (http://www.vindy.com/news/2015/jun/14/parking-situation--the-unpretty-lineman-/)
Downtown Youngstown might be safe, but McNally's Shake-Down Hooligans and CIC'S Bouncers are going to shake you down for every penny they can RIP YOU OFF FOR, just for the privelage of going downtown, and what they don't get the CON-ARTISTS at the festivals will grab from you.
Sorry TT....but I have never encountered a con artist at the Simply Slavic Fesitval...in fact, the ethnic foods are prepared by volunteers from some various 14 ethnic churches
and organizations.....educational and informational tents are staffed again by community members from local organizations....I would visit each individual festival before you
make a blanket statement about boycotting all events downtown.....
In fact the Simply Slavic Organization provides scholarship money from the festival each year to YSU students and also provides educational presentations to area schools as
well......
Con Artists? I don't think so......Only con artists I know were the pro frackers who sold this county a pig in the poke when it came to raping our land and water for a few wells
that caused earthquakes and water contamination....
Also, name me one urban city in Ohio or the country that doesn't have parking issues in their downtown area?????
I wasn't referring to 99.99% of the festivals, I was referring to the con-artists in City Hall and CIC. I'm very sorry if you took it the wrong way and I was also referring to the scam artists who were hitting people up for money for the Davis woman. How much of that money was reaching Davis and how much was going into their pockets?
Geee - after not having been on the forum for awhile - I am so sorry to see - first thing - such a disparing attack on downtown Youngstown. I have always been against the "fencing in" of public property/right of way for private use (the fencing is permanent and very inconvenient to the general public yet used only by some patrons and under only good to moderate weather conditions). I have go downtown perhaps 4 to 5 times a month and have found parking a challenge but not a problem. Parking at WalMart in Bordman is more dangerous and farther to walk than in most places I go to downtown Youngstown. This is twice the distance if I go to a few stores at Southern Park Mall. Mayor McNally, imho, is doing the best job he can - enforcing laws on the books that have not been enforced before may well seem to be a shake down - and so it goes. I think most places downtown try to make an honest buck and are good people who hire good people. The festivals are usually nonprofit organizations promoting their own agenda. Your generalized negative comments with out providing suggestions for improving conditions does not do well for the betterment of the situation. The time and energy it would take to boycot downtown - a very negative and destructive plan - could be more wisely spend in soliciting others - who see and understand your concerns - to form and present positive plans - to your liking - and present them to those in authority. May God be with you in your endeavor.
I live in Youngstown, so I don't give a rats posterior what is happening in other cities. I'm not against festivals of any kind downtown ... I'm against those people in City Hall that have been making our city the laughing stock of the world. If I could get out and about I'd be at most of them...festivals that is. OK so I was a little harsh,but when I hears that PRIDE people were hitting people up for money for the Davis campaign I got angry. THAT IS WHO AND WHAT I WAS REFERRING TO AND NOTHING MORE.
Kennyjoe MY HERO . Glad you are back. Could you please tell us what will be happening with the 7th Ward parade this year?
OH MY - You make me blush to think lil ol me as someones hero :-* We will have to talk about heroes sometime - maybe do some hero shopping ;)
Thanks for asking about The Parade - as you probably can see I just finishes posting about it ;) Thanks for your concern - hope to see you there :laugh:
To see my kind and very gentle side you are welcome to go to my facebook page where I am ooooozing with the milk of human kindness.
I can't believe I'm saying this, as Mr Franko and I have never been on the best of terms, but, I do find myself agreeing with almost every statement of his article as far as the parking situation is concerned. ???
I know this won't help drivers mentioned in the article who have to see their cars from
their restaurant seats, but I would like to have a WRTA trolley that runs exclusively in the
downtown area (similar to the one I have ridden up at YSU). That way you could park your car
farther away from your destination, if necessary, and then rely on the trolley for the duration of your visit.
Alternatively, for those of us who are able, parking a little farther away and walking would be good
exercise and probably healthier in the long run.
First, that is a great idea cc4, a very splendid idea indeed, and I cheer you from atop the Metropolitan Building for making it. With the ever expanding business downtown that would be a tourist attraction in and of itself.
Now for a festivals idea. Why not locate them on either East Commerce or East Front Streets thus freeing up East Federal and East Boardman Streets that both have so many offices and businesses not to mention a college and restaurants. Both the Commerce and the Front streets are nice. One proviso though, no festival should be allowed to spill over onto East Federal or East Boardman streets.
YAEDA suggested cc4 ideas for yrs.
cc4 and TT - both excellent ideas!
It has been rumored that with the new park/amphitheatre being build, that many festivals will be moved to that area.
But that is just a rumor....
I'm gonna say something here....but before I do, I'm gonna ask everyone here not to
take it personally or be mad at me.
THAT being said......... I live in Rockville, MD - this is a suburb of Washington DC with
a population equivalent to Youngstown (64,000), but a land area of about 13 square miles
(1/3 that of Youngstown). Like Youngstown, it is also the county seat for all of the county
(Montgomery County) so the county court house is right downtown.
The kicker here is that Rockville has a downtown that is at least TWICE (edit: FOUR TIMES) the size
of downtown Youngstown, if not larger. Parking in downtown Rockville is MUCH more congested,
compared with Youngstown. People ROUTINELY walk 10 blocks OR MORE when the lots and parking
decks fill up - and they think NOTHING of doing so.
This is not to belittle the parking situation in downtown Youngstown, but rather to try and
put it into perspective....it's NOT AS BAD as some make it out to be.
What screams Mama Bear, are you asking the people in this neck of the woods to actually put themselves out by having to actually walk two or three blocks. It will never happen. They'll bawl their lazy eyes out before they have to suffer such indignities.
Some of us can not walk more than 3 or so blocks due to physical impairments.
There HAS to be some way to make downtown handicap friendly.
BTW thank you Allan for giving us your perspective. Certainly nothing for anyone to get angry about.
I quite agree with you Peggy for as a little ol' broad it's all I can do to walk a block without having to stop and rest, I just ain't as spry as I was when I was a youngster, but there is no excuse for the younger people unless they are handicapped. The elderly and the handicapped are excused, but I refuse to have any sympathy for most of the younger crowd 60 and under. So far as I'm concerned they are lazy shiftless bums that expect to be catered to. When downtown Youngstown was humming pre 1960, people thought nothing of having to walk a couple of blocks to do their shopping and half of them rode the bus loaded down with packages and were better off than today's people.
I would be interested in hearing from those who travel downtown daily (work there, go to the
various business establishments, etc) on how often all the existing parking lots are filled to their
full capacity....
Just curious.
The two parking decks on Champion Street are never full. Surface lots vary, but many of them are designated for people working at or visiting specific buildings.
One thing not mentioned in Mr. Franko's article is the free and metered street parking is supposed to be for visitors to downtown. It is well known that many people who work downtown will park on the street and either feed the meters, or keep moving their cars. One attorney with an office downtown has had almost 75 parking tickets(they have all been PAID) over the past few years. The city does not have a way to prevent the downtown employees from abusing the parking on the street.
Quote from: joly1584 on June 17, 2015, 10:27:13 PM
It is well known that many people who work downtown will park on the street and either feed
the meters, or keep moving their cars.
I don't know of a solution for those who keep moving their cars, other than having a parking
enforcement officer who watches for these offenders and keeps track of them.
As far as meter feeders, we have parking meters here that can tell if the same vehicle is still
parked in the same spot when more coins are dropped in because the time is running out.
The meter will take their coins - and not give them any more time....pretty effective.
Today is Dump The Pump Day. If a few more people used a WRTA bus to get to work downtown, the parking situation might improve a little.
Quote from: jay on June 18, 2015, 05:15:13 AM
Today is Dump The Pump Day. If a few more people used a WRTA bus to get to work downtown, the parking situation might improve a little.
Jay - good point, but if these same folks can't even walk a few blocks to get from a parking deck,
etc and insist on parking so close to where they are that they can admire the paint job on their
vehicle while eating lunch, do you really think they're gonna walk several blocks to the nearest
bus stop to ride WRTA to work - knowing full well that they will also have to walk once they get
downtown, walk back to the bus stop at the end of the day, take WRTA back to their neighborhood
and then... GOD FORBID...THAT'S RIGHT....
WALK SOME MORE FROM THE BUS STOP
BACK TO THEIR HOUSE?
Some of them would look at this as "cruel and inhuman punishment", I'm sure...
I guess the ultimate solution would be to simply flatten several square blocks right in the very
center of the 20 or so block downtown of the city and put one huge parking lot in, along with
moving sidewalks for those who are too lazy to walk anywhere.... (elderly persons and the
handicapped are excluded from my statement regarding laziness....)
As far as handicapped parking, does anyone know if there are any regulations that would apply
to the number and placement of handicap accessible parking spots downtown? Maybe someone
could check into it? Use their "5 minutes with the Mayor" to make a suggestion?
A few well-placed traffic cameras could address the problem of meter feeding. If the same car is
shown on video in the same spot all day and the parking limit is 2 hours, it becomes pretty obvious,
pretty fast and the perpetrator would have little to no defense in court if the video were played
back (with timestamps, of course). The camera would only have to record a couple frames a
minute.
When I ride the bus I don't wait to get off at the WRTA terminal I hit the button and get let off closer to downtown....also I pick the bus up after it leaves the terminal as it heads past 20 Federal Place....you've got to be smarter than the bus....
Shoot, the WRTA drivers are quite accomadating in picking up passangers If you nicely wave them down between bus stops they will stop to let you on. Many a time when I was working I was picked up right in front of my house if I was running late, and since I lived right on a bus route, the drivers would let me get off in front of my house. WRTA has a great group of drivers and I tip my wig to one and all.
Quote from: Irishbobcat on June 19, 2015, 08:51:47 AM
When I ride the bus I don't wait to get off at the WRTA terminal I hit the button and get let off closer to downtown....also I pick the bus up after it leaves the terminal as it heads past 20 Federal Place....you've got to be smarter than the bus....
I wonder how many people honestly don't know that they don't have to walk all the way to the terminal to get the bus?
Seriously, are there bus stops other than the terminal on Federal?
I still think that a small downtown shuttle bus would be a worthwhile investment.
If you are going downtown and you are not willing to walk a few blocks you should probably stay home or hangout in the burbs. If you cannot walk a few blocks you should have a backup plan such as a chair or scooter. Most of dt is handicap friendly ie ramps and such. It could be better in that regard though. Either way. It isn't the City's responsibility to get you where you need to go.
You're right, at least so far as Youngstown's concerned, but hopefully once all this Oakhill business is done and all the folks that were involved are out of the picture, maby we can get folks into high offices that will run this city correctly.
I don't want McNally going anywhere. He's doing a fine job, imo.
mcnally might be charge for lying under oath but there was a leader that did lie about his personal affairs then had eight yrs in the white house. ytown dt is safe and convenient to anyone that makes an effort to plan a morning afternoon night in ytown dt.