On Tuesday evening, a car was stolen from the parking lot next to Cedars as the owner dined inside. The car was later recovered after being crashed into a building on the east side. The car was a total loss.
Hearing about the car being stolen from that lot next to Cedar's really upset me for some reason.
Last night I had a conversation with an older gentlemen who commended my work, (Please note, Im not anyone special...just another person who wants to see the City grow..), and he said that helping the downtown and surrounding areas is like an uphill battle.
After that I almost felt discouraged because it feels like no matter what I, or any of the other organizations are doing are going to help. I understand that it will take time but it just feels that things like this really deter alot of our prosperity.
I felt the Cedars was the only place that I could leave my car, downtown was the only place I felt I could walk in daytime and be okay alone, even the early morning hours. It's a shame, Im not sure what upsets me more, it's a mixture of sad and mad.
I just close my eyes and wonder what Youngstown would be like if the steel mills stayed, if Idora was still open, if the Northside was for the rich only, if all the theatres downtown were still alive and running. The sad part is...thats all I'll ever do is wonder.
I'll drive past all the steel mills and see death, death just lying along the riverside. Many kids my age dont know nor care about those buildings, little do they know it's what basically made this fine city and raised alot of their families. People drive past Idora and don't care, they think another vacant lot... if they only knew what beauty it once held.
Everything in this city has some history, B & O, Oakhill, All the now closed Catholic Schools, even the abandoned buildings...they all tell a story, and now they are getting torched, tagged on, stripped of their dignity, and I am tired of it.
Its just discouraging, I mean...amazing people like DEFEND YOUNGSTOWN, Phil Kidd is trying to make Youngstown have a better reputation...and everyone is all for that but then things like this happen then kills what we have going for the downtown.
I have heard at many meetings that if we want reformation and repair, we need to start with downtown...this is true, but with things like this it makes you question...can I even walk into Cedars or another area business downtown and worry about my car?...my belongings?
I'm sorry, I just needed to vent...this car ordeal had been on my mind all night. Im not sure if any of you think its THAT big of deal (which im sure you do!), it's just hard for me to think that way because I had given up a lot for my City because I love it... I had given up everything because I cared about our history and education to my generation and for what I think sometimes....for someone to steal, rob, kill another?
You're not alone Jaime. I feel the very same way, and then some, because no matter what we say to stir up people to fight for their city, they just sit back and do nothing, and it's quickly reaching the point where I'm reaching the conclusion that all this group wants to do is talk to each other about trivialities, but doesn't want to make waves where it really counts.
Yesterday Ron Verb was pleading with his listeners to make their voices heard on the city's crime problem, and if he got two calls from city residents of Youngstown, that was all. The rest of the calls came from outside the city and count. Where were the folks from this group?
Shame on every one here!
It's no wonder the Prosecutors and Judges here in Mahoning County are failing to do their jobs and actually do whatever it takes to get the dregs of society off the streets of Youngstown. Why should they actually take their jobs serious enough to help clear up this city's crime problem when they know that their job is secure even when they are total failures.
Casey said it well when she said that the Judges here in Mahoning County are total failures. Instead of using all the tools at their disposal including night courts they're allowing backlogs. As for the Prosecutors, they're no better.
When her father was the Mahoning County Prosecutor, things were so much better ... cases were moving through our court system at a rapid rate and the Jail was not full of criminals waiting years for their trial. Their cases were heard and when found guilty, they were shipped out to prison within 48 hours.
What was different?
Day Courts ... Night Courts ... and Judges on call 24/7. Not Country Club 9 to 4 Judges. We had hard nose no nonsence Judges back then that took their jobs seriously.
City council only meets once each month during the summer. Attend the next meeting and let your councilman know about your concerns. You may not be able to speak during the meeting, but you certainly can talk with your own councilman afterwards.
The city council meeting is this Wednesday, July 18, 5:30 p.m., in council chambers on the sixth floor of city hall.
Aren't most of them termed out? So what can they do except blow hot air at this point? They are part of the problem we have anyway. They've had ample time to accomplish something and preferred to sit on their hands.
No Jay, talking to them will accomplish absolutely nothing, and anyway, there is nothing that they can do to get the Judges off their backsides and start doing the job we're paying them to do, nor do they have anything that they can do to get Paul Ganes to get off the dime and start doing his job.
Talking to the City Council at this point is like talking to the side wall of the Home Savings and Loan Building.
Tell me something all of you, what is so difficult about taking the Talk Shows up on their repeated offers? Are you all cowards afraid of voicing your opinion publicly.
All the elected officials are tuned into these programs, and they know that if they don't do something that these programs will hang them out to dry when they come up for reelection.
I hate to be so strident on this subject, but to be perfectly honest, you're absolutely frustrating. You sit around here where you don't even have to use your real names and gripe, yet when the opportunity is handed to you by the local radio stations to voice your anger with city and county government, you run and hide under your beds quivering like a bunch of Lemmings who are afraid of their own shadows.
Not everyone who participates in this forum just sits and talks. Some of us are working their butts off trying to improve this community. Also some of us have better things to do than listen to MoRon and Casey.
OK to answer your question. I am at work starting at 8am. So i hear about 45minutes of mangino on my way in. Dan Rivers is on while i am at work. Ron and Casey are on until 6 however most of the time i don't listen on my way home and once i get home i do not listen to any of the shows.
As for calling in, because i only listen in the car on my way into work alot of the time I don't hear the conversations about the area. Yea i could bring in a radio and listen some at work however i dont think my boss would be all that happy if i got on the phone with talk radio on his time! :) These are not excuses but a simple explanation of my situation. If i was home during these times maybe i would listen more and be inclined to call in when i hear something to do with the local area.
I do want to attend city counsel meetings however until i graduated i always had class. I hope to be able to attend one soon.
You could e-mail Mangino and Rivers voicing your opinion. They do read all of their e-mail, and as for local crime problems. both River and Verb address this problem on a regular basis. In point of fact Verb was on this very topic Friday afternoon. Unfortunately he doesn't read his e-mail though.
Likewise on the WKBN web site they have a chat room where you can make your voice heard, and both Rivers and Mangino monitor what's being posted.
As for snail mail that's an option also.
You are correct of course about email and such and to be honest i didnt really think about it. Next time i hear them speaking of the crime i will do that.
Why not do both suggestions? If you can't call the talk shows, then attend the next city council meeting.
One thing to remember about talk shows. The station broadcasts to most of Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The subject matter has to be of interest to the audience of a very wide geographic area. That is why the station no longer covers ward races in most local communities. Maggy's hosting of the radio talk show was great for the residents of Youngstown, but the subject matter was sometimes of little interest beyond the city.
Jay: First off, I've been working with local talk hosts since 1970 so I don't need to be lectured about them. My web site is primarily geared to talk hosts both local and national, and my newsletter goes out to talk shows and has been going out since 1995.
My point was that the present Councilmen will soon be out of office, and given their productivity up till now, talking to them is an exercise in futility. When the new council is seated, that's another matter, but how much can they do without the cooperation of the courts? They can enact all the laws in the world, but if the courts do not do their job, then those laws mean nothing.
Until we get the County Prosecutor off his fat posterior, and until the judges start doing the job we are paying them to do, there's little if anything that either City Council or the County Commissioners can do except pay lip service to our complaints.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE:
1. The County Prosecutor MUST start moving the criminal cases through the system faster.
2. The Judges MUST place CRIMINAL CASES as a PRIORITY, and see to it that defendants aren't sitting in County Jail months before their case is heard.
3. If necessary, night courts MUST be reinstituted in Mahoning County at least until the case backlog is cleared up.
4. Both a Municipal and Common Pleas Judge MUST be assigned 24/7 duty to handle arraignments to speed up the process.
5. The courts must see to it that defendants found guilty of a crime are moved out of the County Jail and into a prison no later than 48 hours after the verdict is handed down freeing up space in the jail.
While there are legitimate gripes about the work of the Police, they can do only so much. Unless the Prosecutor's office does their job, their hands are tied.
City Council and the County Commissioners have precious little control over either the Prosecutor or the Courts under state law so how are they of any help? They can talk till the cows come home, but that's all they can do, and talk alone will not clean this city or county up.
And suppose Mayor Williams put more Police on the street, what good will that do without the cooperation of the Prosecutor and the Courts.
Is it time for a total cleanout of the Prosecutors office and the Courts? You bet it is, but just look at the election results over the past 10 years... How many elegable voters actually cast their votes? How do you propose we break down the prevailing voter apathy in Mahoning County?
I apologize for my rant! I didn't know it would stir up so many people, It's just upsetting at times.
Somewhat off topic, is there any contact information for the talk shows in the area? I would like to call in and speak my mind, and send some e-mails out.
Tim Ryan also knows who I am, I think I might speak to him about some things.
A great man in the community once said, You've got to get the older generation to listen to you! If you want to the younger kids to stay, you need to cater to them also!
No need to apologize Jaime, your comments were very timely and important.
Everyone of us should be deadly serious about the problem of crime and criminal justice in Mahoning County, and all of us as Ron Verb so often says, "we must not fear our tongue".
It's only when we rock the boat that we can get action, and it's high time that our efforts were so loud and strong that we send the fear of the Lord into the heart of every office holder.
"Don't just tell me what you're going to do, just do it, and we'll be the judge of whether you were just pumping hot air or were deadly serious." This is the message we must send every candidate.
As far as I'm concerned, I view political promises as nothing more than bald faced lies ... the office holder must prove to me with no room for reasonable doubt that they are worth my support. Until they do, they are as worthless as Three Dollar bills.
Thank you, It wasnt that I was aiming anything towards anyone, but like I have been saying it's just upsetting to see the city like this. After seeing pictures of what the city used to be, it's such a shame that I never got to see the city as beautiful as it was.
Today, at 4 p.m., I will be at that mansion on Park Ave, I believe it's 257 Park Ave?... Its the boarded up stone mansion, If any of you would like to stop by on this beautiful Sunday, I'd love to meet a lot of you as well as hear your concerns because I had some new ideas for a campaign.
Id really love to see a lot of you there, most of you I have not met yet and I would love to meet and hear what you have to say...this forum is the one way I can stay in touch with the city and the beautiful people!
If more Youngstowners were like you Jaime, we would all be better off ... much better ... but all the work that you ad Rick are doing is at risk simply because most people are very quick with excuses and very slow in deeds.
Excuses will not make things any better, all they do is give aid and comfort to the city's criminal element.
For my part, I'd love to see you put together a team of willing workers who would expand their effort to beautify the city, God knows it needs it.
Have you spoken to Mayor Williams about what you're doing. Maby he can find a way to help support you through a CDA grant to help cover your costs.
Here's an idea that we can all consider. If everyone in this group were to donate as little as $5.00 a month and agreed to as little as 1 hour as a volunteer per month, you could be able to expand your great work.
No, I have no talked to Mayor Williams about what I have been doing. But I think that Monday I am going to write a letter that will be sent out to local businesses, Politicians and other organizations. I would like to put some things together that will better this community, and it may take time but I am willing to wait to see the outcome.
Like I said, if ANY of you would like to come to 257 Park Ave, it's the boarded up Stone Mansion, I will be there taking pictures and probably cleaning up any trash that had been left. I would love to talk to a lot of you about what I am doing, what I'd like to do, and any imput that you may have about this.
I will be there at 4 p.m., probably till at least 6 p.m., or so? But I'd love to see some of you there, If my other computer was working I'd upload pictures before and after of that house and the yard!! Some of you should drop by and snap a few shots....
It's not words that make people want to help, it's ... seeing, watching, taking it all in. This is contagious, it spreads from one person to another...and if the community is able to see what I am doing...maybe it could spread a little further into Youngstown.
Is it illegal to remove the city's bright orange sticker from the window of that house?
257 Park Avenue is a classic example of a house that would look a lot better if that sticker was removed.
Many of these stickers are still up even after the high grass is cut by the city or some neighbor, alerting the public of the house's vacancy. Maybe the criminals already know what houses are already vacant so they don't matter much, but it makes the neighborhoods look a lot worse . . . and they are appearing all over the county, not just in Youngstown.
Anyone know the best way to remove the sticker?
- - -
Second point, *note, this is not intended to belittle or upset anyone*.
The strength of media is that various forms of it have their various audiences, but this is also its weakness.
Talk radio, while a fine medium for public discussion, is skewed towards people who have the ability to listen to it. Those being people not working mid-day and local politicians for the most part. Many people with jobs do not have the luxury of listening to Dan Rivers from 10am to 11:45am, or afternoon shows until after work. Thus, talk radio leaves out an important and relevant part of the community.
This message board, while a fine medium for public discussion, does not get the daily traffic it deserves and is limited to those who use the internet. Thus, this message board leaves out an important and relevant part of the community.
The same is true of blogs, the same is true of local news at 6pm, the same is true for the print media.
So just because content is produced in one media format or a website, we can't expect the whole world to read it and know about it, especially when it is limited to a smaller audience.
The more we as a group want certain topics to be in the public sphere, the more we have to spread our ideas across many different media types, not just this discussion board. Or we have to get the other media types to talk about this message board.
Maybe the efforts of Miss Hughes is something that should be a topic on talk radio. I'd settle for 5 percent of the airtime that is geared towars the discussion of illegal immigration. :D
I really like this site, by the way. Kudos to whoever maintains it. Keep on truckin . . .
How many people visit it a day?
How many unique ip adresses come here each week?
Is there anyway that I can get ahold of people like Ron Verb and the other talk show hosts? I have a few things that I would like to say, I am also in the process of writing a letter to the Mayor and a few other political officials.
BTW...I found out who owns that how we've been caring for on Park Ave....Robert VanSickle, he also owns the Covington House and the Illinois Manner.
Jaime:
Your best bet would be to contact Dan Rivers - he would love hearing from you. Verb is hard to get and I wouldn't advise him any way.
Here is the information you need:
DAN RIVERS
Talk lines
330-729-9977
800-777-5700
Star 57 cellular
Office phone 330-729-2515
Write to:
Dan Rivers
7461 South Avenue
Youngstown, Ohio 44512
Quote from: Janko on July 16, 2007, 02:37:28 AM
Is it illegal to remove the city's bright orange sticker from the window of that house?
Anyone know the best way to remove the sticker?
I don't know if it's illegal to remove the sticker or not. I assume that once someone has taken care of the property, that sticker can be removed by the owner or whoever they get to fix the problem situation. I've never seen one of the stickers up close so don't go by what I say.
In regards to what the best way is to remove those stickers, I use OOPS spray adhesive remover and a razor knife blade first to get the bulk of the sticker off. Then I use Citrus GooGone Spray and the razor to finish any left over crud. Works quickly and easily!
Quote from: Janko on July 16, 2007, 02:40:28 AM
I really like this site, by the way. Kudos to whoever maintains it. Keep on truckin . . .
How many people visit it a day?
How many unique ip adresses come here each week?
Thanks Much!
I like your blog too. Excellent commentary about our town.
You can view basic forum stats in the info center.
Here is a monthly site rundown so far this year. It varies week to week.
This month so far 2294
Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
Jan 2007 2780 8165 44764 270526 1.51 GB
Feb 2007 3123 8828 43198 264423 1.53 GB
Mar 2007 3085 8341 41929 245308 1.60 GB
Apr 2007 2939 8509 38386 220587 1.52 GB
May 2007 2714 8934 38158 228028 1.52 GB
Jun 2007 3341 9641 39984 267393 1.30 GB
Jul 2007 2294 5508 19209 143264 744.22 MB
The orange sticker says nothing about peeling them off. When dealing with the stickers, all they say is that the lawn was a nuisance to the community and that you have about 10 days to correct it and if you don't they will have to take futher action. They leave a name and number that you can contact if you have any questions and thats it.
The trouble is like Rick said was getting the sticker off. They dont make it so you can simply peel it off. I tried and it was unsuccessful, I will have to try your tip though! I mean it's bad enough that people can enter the house let alone give it a neon sign to rob it!!
I dont even know what to say to Mr. Rathers!? Any ideas...
I will be contacting Dan Rathers sometime this week! Thanks Everyone
Just tell him what you're doing. Mr. Rivers is very easy to talk to, and it's folks like yourself that he wants to hear from. Projects like yours is what he preaches on his program every chance he gets. He himself gets involved in many projects that benefit Youngstown.
He's very busy what with being the Operations Manager (Program Director) at WKBN, and involved in work related projects but not too busy to hear from folks that are doing something to improve our city.
You might have to leave a message for him to call you which is why I'd suggest that you write him a brief letter that contains photos of your projects and set up an appointment to talk to him in person.
Hope this helps.