Living in Downtown Youngstown

[kitten44505]

AN HONEST ANSWER TO A WHAT IF QUESTION

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What would I do if I was so fortunate as to hit the Super Lotto?

After setting aside the lions share for my future such as it is, I would buy a home back in my home town and move there as quickly as possible.

Would I consider staying here?

You couldn't pay me enough if I had the money to live elsewhere.

I stay here because I don't have the funds to go back to my hometown, not because I love it so much, and because I'm stuck here, I want to see things improve because as the city improves, so does my lot in life if for no other reason than astetic.

As to the people here, I have many good friends, and at their core, most valley residents are good people who deserve much better than they are getting from their elected officials, but unfortunately the good people are outnumbered by those who don't give a damn either about this city, it's people, it's school system or even themselves, and as a result I can not invision a major comeback either for the city or it's schools.

Someone once asked "is this the best there is here, and after having lived here since July of 1950, I have to say yes. This is the best it will get.

[kitten44505]

EASY ENOUGH SAID

It's one thing to sit back in our Lazy Boy's and say what we need, but it's quite another to convince the YOUNG AND MONEYED RESTLESS TO FORGO A $250,000 plus home in the suburbs with spacious lawns near a good golf course and in a gated community to pack up and move into an apartment in a 100 year old building in good old downtown Youngstown.

Just how would you convince a Thirty-something young couple to give up their fancy new home in the suburbs with a great school system just to live in the downtown area?

If you had the opportunity to buy a $400,000 home in the suburbs complete with everything you ever dreamed of, complete with a media room with a huge HD television and a swimming pool, and a school system that was rated as one of the best in the state, or had the chance to buy a condo in an old downtown Youngstown, which would you take

[jay]

Downtown Youngstown needs to be home to a mix of people of various income levels.  We already have apartment buildings for those with subsidized incomes.  We now must attract people who are younger and have significant disposable incomes.  Businesses will come to the neighborhoods of those who have money to spend.

[kitten44505]

With three high-rise apartments downtown already, we already have a good start, but without businesses to service the folks that live there -- grocery stores, etc. you can build all the high rises you want, but the folks will still head for the suburbs where they have all the stores they would ever want.

The points being made in the Pizza thread would also apply here.

Could it be that 33 is blind to the afact that there are people already living downtown, or don't Senios Citizens count for anything to them?

[ytowner]

The PROS: More Business Downtown and more people downtown.

The CONS: Will the safest section of the city remain the safest section?

[jay]

On Monday, WYTV-33 will air a report about efforts to bring apartment living to downtown Youngstown.  This should be interesting.

Downtown Youngstown needs to become a neighborhood again.  A viable downtown neighborhood will attract the types of businesses that entertainment centers will not.