HUD Punches valley in the gut

[ytowner]

Massachusetts Senate stunner should send out red flags to Ryan and Wilson, but will the area Republicans take advantage of it, or will they simply send out another lack luster candidate and refuse to support him with their money?

What is needed here is a GOP firebrand in the mold of Senator Elect Scott Brown.

That should be our goal, vote out Ryan and Wilson after last night. It may take a conservative-Democrat/Independent/Convict to do it in Traficant. Let's wait and see though. Brown was down 30 just a month before Election Day and ended up winning by 5% in MASS!

[Towntalk]

Massachusetts Senate stunner should send out red flags to Ryan and Wilson, but will the area Republicans take advantage of it, or will they simply send out another lack luster candidate and refuse to support him with their money?

What is needed here is a GOP firebrand in the mold of Senator Elect Scott Brown.

[ytowner]

What this valley needs is for a Republican to win the next time around, if only to shake up the Dems that this valley isn't perpetually in their pocket to be used and abused.

Unfortunately, I'm too young haha.

[Rick Rowlands]

What this valley needs is for a Republican to win the next time around, if only to shake up the Dems that this valley isn't perpetually in their pocket to be used and abused.

[ytowner]

I haven't heard anything negative on what I wrote today. Many very dedicate liberal democrats even agreed with me on that HUD issue. They may not have liked everything else I said, but almost everyone agreed with me that we were once again taken for granted by our politicians.

Not that means anything, because people will continue to vote for the Democrats in this area until the planets align.

[DefendYoungstown]

A similar conversation between YtownNewsandViews and others recently took place over on the Defend Youngstown Facebook site. Below is a sample of that conversation.

YtownNewsandViews writes (in response to NSPII announcement): "That's what you get for voting for the Democrats"

Per Jim Russell (Greater Youngstown 2.0)
"The GOP doesn't have any ideas regarding urban revitalization. Republicans tend to support sprawl (even if it is ridiculously costly to do so) because they enjoy strong support in the suburbs. Getting rid of HUD is about the extent of the suggested course of action.

That said, the stranglehold the Democrats enjoy in most cities has resulted in policy inertia, fiscal irresponsibility and (in the worst cases) entrenched corruption. But there is a huge range of economic health among these Democrat-controlled cities. Just because a politician belongs to the same party doesn't mean she or he is part of the good old boys network.

As far as the Rust Belt is concerned (a region I've devoted the last 4-years to studying), Youngstown should consider itself lucky. Anyone who thinks one Democrat is no different from another isn't paying attention to what is going on in other struggling cities....

Even cities with notorious political machines and old style union bosses have made impressive transformation to thriving global city (see Chicago, for example).

But the other party couldn't do any worse, right? Wrong. It's about the quality of the politician, the leadership, not the party platform. In that regard, Youngstown is an embarrassment of riches."

YtownNewsandViews later writes:

"Ask Detroit and Cleveland if liberal/progressive politicians are the way to go for urban revitalization...The proof is in the pudding with liberal/progressives running the show, and that is, nothing will change. Can one of you please provide me some examples of how this area is in better hands with liberals in charge?"

Jim Russell responds:

"That's not policy analysis. All you are offering is a partisan stereotype. That's useless and certainly won't help the Valley.

Pittsburgh has one of the strongest urban economies in the country right now. It wasn't thanks to the GOP. That's... See More not to say that Republicans couldn't (and haven't) helped. It's also not to say that the city wouldn't benefit from less of the Good Old Boys. The region has been lucky to have some excellent leaders in both the public and private sectors. I think Youngstown (if not the entire Mahoning Valley) is similarly blessed. Detroit and Cleveland don't have that. Few cities do."

From John Slanina (ShoutYoungstown.com):

"three points:

1 - We have to remember the core problem that makes this HUD funding important. That a sustained disinvestment of central cities since the 1950s to current times by private citizens, developers, banks, etc, coupled in Youngstown's case with continued population loss leads to today's 4,000 empty homes. Blaming this nationwide tectonic shift on only a political group is way too simplistic.

How can we all chip away at this problem? By investing in central areas. You as an individual can buy/rent a house in Warren, Niles, or Youngstown and stop the sprawl, increasing demand and simply, warm bodies.... See More... See More

I've heard people say the best welfare program is a good job. Well, the best neighborhood program is individual making investments instead of running away so government does not have to step in.

2 - The HUD NSP funds in question were contained in the recent 2009 Recovery Act. That created a one-time injection of $2 billion to help struggling cities. Only 79 of 482 applications were funded, so there are many other communities who did not win the prize as well.

The funding mechanism is claimed to be performed by meritocracy. While the reasoning for non-funding to the Valley still needs to be rationalized/explained by HUD, the thought that someone like Nancy Pelosi sits around and hand picks the winners and losers seems like a stretch.

3 - The local frustration is understandable. Imagine a case where you are an individual with a need, have demonstrated a plan, received confirmation by leaders throughout the food chain, get kudos from a respected 3rd party (in this case Brookings) and wind up not getting when you have been hoping for.

Or imagine all your life you've been preparing to go to Notre Dame, study well, get good marks, others tell you you're in, have the bishop write your letter of recommendation, you have a study plan...but then your application gets rejected. It's rough.

conclusion - This community needs less backseat drivers and more aggressive individual investment into the central cities. Simplifying this whole problem into a gotcha political tug-of-war does not advance the region.

Quit casting blame and start helping out."

[ytowner]

My article on this HUD debacle:
http://vindy.com/news/2010/jan/18/democrats-fail-the-valley/

[DefendYoungstown]

It will be 3pm tomorrow at the Commerce Building (201 E. Commerce St....same building where the Youngstown Club is located). Come one, come all!

[jay]

Where will the press conference be held?  It would be a good show of support if some of our Forum members were able to attend.

[Mary_Krupa]

This whole scene is criminal and painful to accept.  MVOC and the other community leaders are to be commended for their intelligent and very hard work campaigning to win some of this money.

We were shockingly overlooked by the state with NSP I funding. This stimulated us (talk about stimulus) to organize, go to Columbus and talk with Lt. Governor Lee Fisher. He promised that he would find the Youngstown-Warren areas other funding.

Remember, guys, this guy is running for the US Senate and wants your vote. Hmmmmmm............I don't think so. Liar Lee. Appears to me that he is not a man of his word.

Also, what about Strickland? 

I'm not talking about bringing back the pork. I'm talking about equitable distribution of the funding for areas needing stimulation.

We cannot let this pass.  There is to be a press conference at 3pm on Monday downtown regarding the overlooking of Youngstown, Warren and the rest of Northeastern Ohio (except for the Cleveland land bank).

[AllanY2525]

The entire purpose of land banking is to assemple large tracts of land, in order
to attract new businesses and industries to the area.

I would not call the land bank a failure, it is a tool to accomplish an end.

[DefendYoungstown]

The regional approach was actually the strength of the application and applying as such was the  recommendation of the State and Federal level. Accordingly, our application was even considered a national best practice by the Brookings Institution (and will be how future funding is applied for despite the fact that we did not receive funding in this instance). Youngstown and Warren are too small of communities in the broader picture to seek significant singular assistance. Should we have applied alone, we would never stood a chance as - even within north east Ohio - we were competing with 3 other larger urban centers (ex. Akron and Canton received zero funding as well), this I can assure you. However and conversely, receiving no - zero - funding as a result is what is so infuriating.

Everyone is very frustrated with this situation and you better believe there will be answers sought (I'll be traveling to the White House on Wednesday as a next although NSPII will not be the specific focus of the meeting) and next steps involved...because the resources will be found for this community. Our new planning approaches (and implementation strategies) are being nationally recognized, however, we simply cannot move forward with many of our economic and community development plans (that are ready to go) in any meaningful way without initial resource to assist us. That is a fact.

[jay]

Some are saying that applying for the grant as a region was the wrong approach.

[ytowner]

I wrote up an editorial for the Vindicator on this subject. I am sending it in today. It is my hope they pubish it in the Sunday Paper.

[Youngstownshrimp]

I'll tell you why, and I will try to be nice about it, but many times it's tough love.

Ever since I arrived in our great town of Youngstown, back in 1990, the city always was propped up by entitlements, we let our private sectors vanish and concentrated on beefing up the public sector.  Look around, the major concerns are all juiced up by the reserve banks.  A community cannot live by handouts alone and yet we rate our politicians on how much  money they can beg from DC, they are out of money.

For thirty years or more, it has been the same projects for YTown, give us money for demo, jubilee houses, lead paint, choice homes, convocation center, workman's comp center, landbank, etc.,etc.  Question, what were the salaries of these administrators for these programs?  How is it benefiting the common man today?  How has it created industry today?

No, maybe the country is saying to us, come up with something better!  You have been demolishing for decades and what has it accomplished, sell the material and pay for it yourself.  And the landbank, the city is the largest parcel owner in Youngstown, what is this land sitting for ?  All these projects are the same old approach we have taken all these years and see the results today, you cannot argue with failure.