Historic landmark to be demolished

[DefendYoungstown]

The idea is to refurbish the facade and build it into infrastructure of the next Tech Block building. This is actually considered a highly valued best practice in many other cities, YtownNewsandViews. Not every aspect of our culture needs to be bulldozed to the ground, wholesale. You know those Tech Belt kids in the Tech Block you speak of...they like this kind of thing. That's why Jim Cossler and other community/downtown stakeholders asked have the facade preserved...and it was.

Funny, for a 20 year old kid who is so highly opinionated and presumes to know what's best for this community (first politics and now historic preservation and economic/community development), I have yet to see you at many community related events. I'd be happy to get you plugged in.

Here is a good one for starters: http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=282879690158

[AllanY2525]

As far as the Y.S.& T. building, I would be satisfied to just have the place
photo-documented, for historical purposes.  I totally understand the need
to tear it down, especially if the land can be used for something productive
that will help Youngstown economically... as long as we have photos and
the documentation to go with them, we will always be able to show future
generations this piece of the city's history.

[iwasthere]

Youngstown's problem is too many people are living in the past. This is NOT the 1920s anymore folks! This is 2010. We already got two fabulous theatre's in/near downtown in the DeYor and Stambaugh. Now you folks want someone to waste millions to fix up a piece of crap 'Liberty' Theatre that needs completely gutted out just to be deemed SAFE! It is the biggest eyesore in Downtown, with that random facade across the corner a close second. How are we supposed to truly have a 21st century 'tech block' when a old and ugly facade remains standing!?

We need to LOOK to the FUTURE, not live in the past. Until that mindset changes in the Mahoning Valley, nothing will change.

i am no one to live in the past but i am the one that will speak on the behalf of people that wants to preserve the past through oral and physical preservations methods. we can use these bldgs for future hightech jobs that are supposed to come to ytown.

[woozle]

I hope you get the sign RR... it would be nice to see it in the park...

[Rick Rowlands]

Perhaps you are right Westsider, I look at the City as a single entity, not as various people in different departments.  It just gets me upset when nobody will take two minutes to explain why to me why it took so long. 

I will hand this off to one of our volunteers and have him talk to Bill about the YS&T sign.  I have a larger project in the works that I am focusing on right now. 

[AllanY2525]

Treasuring Youngstown's past, and showing appreciation for it, is
not living in it.  One must be careful when making broad generalizations
about people.

Think about this concept:  most of the people who worked in the mills have
long since passed away, as have most of the people who really had vivid
personal memories of what things used to be like in Youngstown.

I've been gone from Youngstown since 1988, and I'm coming up on 50 years
old in a couple more years, and my memories of youth are mostly of Youngstown
after the mills went away, as I was only fourteen years old when it happened.

If I visit a museum and admire the historical exhibits there, am I living in the
past?  Or am I showing appreciation for it?  Y.S.U. had an oral history program
and did audio recordings from senior members of local society, to document
the past before it's gone foreever.

We can learn alot about the present, and the future, from looking into the past.
Like the old addage says: "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of the
past, are doomed to repeat them.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, YTownNewsAndViews and I totally
respect yours - I simply do not share it.

One of the things that makes San Francisco so interested, for example, is
the fact that they have blended the old with the new over the years... the
diversity in their built environment is remakable.

[woozle]

YtownNews, I beg to differ with you logic. Or lack of... People are not living in the past, They are just remembering the good ol days gone by.. We need to learn from our past, Respect our historical structures and treasures, once they are taken down they cannot be rebuilt..

[ytowner]

Youngstown's problem is too many people are living in the past. This is NOT the 1920s anymore folks! This is 2010. We already got two fabulous theatre's in/near downtown in the DeYor and Stambaugh. Now you folks want someone to waste millions to fix up a piece of crap 'Liberty' Theatre that needs completely gutted out just to be deemed SAFE! It is the biggest eyesore in Downtown, with that random facade across the corner a close second. How are we supposed to truly have a 21st century 'tech block' when a old and ugly facade remains standing!?

We need to LOOK to the FUTURE, not live in the past. Until that mindset changes in the Mahoning Valley, nothing will change.

[iwasthere]

we must preserve the past from our history to appreciate what other people did to make our lives enjoyable esp in the fine performing arts field. ytownnewsandview i cannot fathom your desire to destroy old age beautiful blds. my family homestead and vineyards have been our family possession since 1865 in venice, italy. it would be a shame if that land was destroyed by shortsighted land owners. you should travel other parts of this country or europe to see how other communities appreciates or perserve their past historical bldgs. and lands.

[northside lurker]

Now it is time to knock down the Liberty Theatre and the ugly facade to the State Theatre. What in God's name are we doing leaving that facade up? It is embarrassing!

They already knocked down the ugly facade of the State Theatre, and left the good one.  I am looking forward to the day when it is cleaned up an incorporated into the design of a future building.  But, if it's demolished, it will be lost forever.  Hopefully, if the funding can be found, something interesting can be done with the Paramount, too.

We've already lost so much of downtown.  Why are you in such a hurry to demolish more of it?

[northside lurker]

I had a good attitude in August of 2008 when I submitted our application for the building permit. It is January of 2010 and that full building permit has still not been issued, and nobody from the City has talked to me in months.  The one and only time that I have ever asked the City for anything and that is the treatment I get.  I spent over $7,500 just satisfying the City's requirements for the building permit, architectural fees, environmental studies etc.  The least the city can do is issue the permit in a timely manner.

So you ask why I am bitter! 

You seem to be taking this personally.   Bill D'Avignon doesn't work in the building department.  I might be mis-remembering, but aren't there only 2 people currently working in the building department due to budget cuts?  I only bring this up to point out that most of the people in city hall don't work in the department you have a grievance with.

[ytowner]

Now it is time to knock down the Liberty Theatre and the ugly facade to the State Theatre. What in God's name are we doing leaving that facade up? It is embarrassing!

[Rick Rowlands]

I had a good attitude in August of 2008 when I submitted our application for the building permit. It is January of 2010 and that full building permit has still not been issued, and nobody from the City has talked to me in months.  The one and only time that I have ever asked the City for anything and that is the treatment I get.  I spent over $7,500 just satisfying the City's requirements for the building permit, architectural fees, environmental studies etc.  The least the city can do is issue the permit in a timely manner.

So you ask why I am bitter! 

[northside lurker]

Rick, I agree that you should call Bill D.

I called him about saving woodwork from one of the houses on Pennsylvania Ave.  But, because of the holidays, I dropped the ball.

What I think Bill will do is either, talk with the demolition contractor on your behalf, or put you in contact with them directly.  Essentially, the demolition contractor can do whatever they want with the materials of the building, unless the owner has specified that they want something salvaged.  It's unlikely that the city will add the salvage of the sign to their spec, because that will add to the cost. (The contract might already have been awarded, anyway.)  But, that doesn't mean that the demo contractor wouldn't be willing to save the sign for you.  If you are a nonprofit, maybe you could get them to donate the work for a tax write-off?



Why the bad attitude, though?  Just because the building department is slow doesn't mean the whole city government is dysfunctional.  With that kind of attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if government officials weren't eager to help.

[Youngstownshrimp]

Rick, do you mean the sandstone with YS&T carved on it?  If so, ask Sweirz and call Bill D'Avignon, the historic committee can do a good job if they factor saving it in the demo. contract.  For that matter calling Novotney, come in Novotney, this can be termed "deconstruction", Tod Engine can grant a write off since it is a nonprofit.