Weeds are too high

[jay]

The high weeds have been cut.

[ytowner]

kitten a good nights rest is in order for you!

[kitten44505]

RE-READ THE CONTEXT OF THE "YOU" -- IT IS A SWEEPING TERM REFERING TO ALL THE YSU STUDENTS, NOT JUST YOU PERSONALLY.

Could it be that the Frat Houses that look like pig stys are the way they are because the students living in them aren't committed to the area, or could it be because they are just plain and simple slobs that are more interested in partying than making any contribution to the community while they live here?

I'm fed up with all the patheticly lame excuses that come out whenever it's suggested that students attending a University that my tax dollars are supporting are asked to give something back in the form of community service. You'd think that we're asking for the impossible. You nor any of your friends contributed a single penny to YSU other than your tuition --- you didn't build a single building or plant a single blade of grass, you've had it handed to you by people that really care about YSU and this community, and as for having to go elsewhere for a job, don't give me that junk ... there aren't many college towns in America where a graduate can walk down the isle to get his deploma, then go to a high paying job in the same community the next. That same argument can be said for just about every state college in Ohio.

If some of the students would spend a little less time at The Cedars or BW3 and a little more time in community service, we'd all be better off, and people like me wouldn't have anything to carp about.

[Nathan Pavalko]

I never have said anything about tuition increases. And as far as most of the students are concerned they don't care at all about YSU or the Younmgstown area. They see YSU as a place to get an education on the cheap and then a place to leave. YSU loses 85% of their graduates each year and that is a shame. i love this city and this area, but unfortunaly I most likely will not be able to find job here. I want to see the city suceed more than anyone, but i am also realistic. If the majority of the young people in the surrounding areas of Youngstown have never even been to the city how do you expect them to want to improve it?

[kitten44505]

No offense but your argument doesn't fly. This problem is long standing, and as far as I'm concerned MUST BE ADDRESSED. You are worried about YSU, well let me tell you something, if the students at YSU would give one day a month to helping the city like cleaning up areas like that in the photo, they would earn a tip of the hat from me. Other colleges and universities do just that, but not YSU, yet you expect the tax payers of Ohio to give you an education in a park like atmosphere.. Then you whine like a gaggle of stuck pigs whenever tuition is increased. There's NOTHING that would make you happy.

[Nathan PAvalko]

Everything can not be done overnight. Start small then build up. Alos, streetscapes is its own group, not in any way associated with the city. Streetscapes funds itself through private donations.

[kitten44505]

This is precisely what I've been harping on lo these many months.

The city claims that it doesn't have the money to send people out to clean up lots that it controls, so why not draw up a list then instead of planting daseys and panseys downtown, send out the folks in Streetscape to do cleanup?

No one can convince me EVER that worrying about a couple of patches of land downtown is going to accomplish anything so long as the rest of the city, and particulairly the gateway streets look like the slums of a South American ghetto.

These "feel good" projects are accomplishing NOTHING.

I may be quite negative on this subject, but I'm tired of the feely touchey approach to bringing this city back to life.

How many weekends a year does Streetscape actually devote to doing things?

[solomia]

Another location is 135 Wesley Avenue on the Westside of Youngstown.  According to the auditors site the city owns this property seized from unpaid tax's.  I have no camera but come by and see.  The grass is three feet high, litter and debris everywhere.  The neighbors said this house has been evacuated 4 years now.

[kitten44505]

I agree that the first lines of defense against overgrown weeds are the people that live in the neighborhoods, but truthfully, how many folks actually get out and cut grass on lots that they do not own?

As to the photo, were the overgrown weeds on private property or land under the control of the city?

This photo also serves as a prefect example about what I've been harping on.

If Streetscape were to go out and hit these spots insted of wasting their time planting poseys downtown, they would be really doing something.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS REALLY MATTER. IF A CITY DOESN'T TAKE PRIDE IN IT'S GATEWAYS, THAT ATTITUDE WILL NOT BE LOST ON VISITORS.

[jay]

The photo below was taken on the south side at the corner of Powersway and Poland Avenue. High weeds on street corners often cause a visibility hazard.  Are you able to see the oncoming cars?   Wouldn't it be nice if neighborhood residents would occasionally cut the high weeds?