HUD Grant - The Blame Game Has Started

[DefendYoungstown]

Hi Chuck,

That's a good question and one that Bill D'Avignon would have to answer. I was not involved in the writing of the grant but was able to sit in on the HUD application review meeting. I can only relay what the review committee stated. The bottomline is, is that capacity of some form will have to be created in order to receive the levels of funding we need to make a meaningful impact.

I also agree that the City/community can learn from this. There are other programs/grants forthcoming that we need to go after (ex. Cities in Transition, possibly NSPIII) in addition to the resources what the White House suggests they can assist the Mahoning Valley with. We need resources from whatever funding sources are available, period, so we can adequately tackle this massive issue of vacant property and foreclosure. Whatever it takes.
PK

[Youngstownshrimp]

Bottom line folks, we need a SOLID buisiness plan, something that can produce a good product again.  Not some pie-in-the-sky-feel-good urban renewal project, that has been touted the last 30 years by politicians.

Look, stop looking at the sky for the return of the steel mills and start looking at the ground for the dirt and water that brought the mills here.  It is obvious to me that our economic future is drilling for natural gas that our land is wealthy in.  Aquaculture, that is the largest segment of agriculture, BTW agriculture is Ohio's largest industry.  We have the inexpensive land and water coming out of our asses.  Hell, we can harness the Mahoning river for power. 

Recently, the Giant Malaysian Prawn which I grew on the eastside has been classified as a green product.  Aquaculture is shifting from huge offshore facilities to contained inland facilities and Youngstown can be the center of it all.  We need our leaders to embrace this and lead the industry.   It is no secret that we import 3 billion worth of shrimp every year.

[ytowner]

ytownshrimp are you saying cafaro, debartlo and zolden are businesses you can trust. ytown shrimp i would check-up on these businesses previous business's practice before you give these mentioned businesses a blank check.

a
At the same time, be thankful for these businesses. They have done some enormous things for our area.

[cts714]

Phil,
It's Chuck. I understand the frustrations and limitations of working within the guidelines of Federal funding. Regarding the staffing levels at CDA, working in ODOT's LPA process, technically speaking our Public Works Department does not have the staffing levels to manage LPA projects, but they do allow us to utilize consultants for these tasks.  I have about 30 million dollars in construction to administer in the next two years most of which is Federally funded.  I have no choice but to use consultants.  Was that an option in this case?  That was our intent, to use consultants to assist the Demolition Department.  Most importantly is that we learn from our mistake.  The City is unsuccessful in grants all of the time.  This particular time it was a very high profile large dollar amount. 

[iwasthere]

ytownshrimp are you saying cafaro, debartlo and zolden are businesses you can trust. ytown shrimp i would check-up on these businesses previous business's practice before you give these mentioned businesses a blank check.

[DefendYoungstown]

And now the facts...

NSPII review in D.C. taught of several things:

First, on the local level, we simply need more capacity (i.e. planning staff, county land bank, housing & community development organizations, etc.) if we are going to be able to apply and receive high levels of federal program funding similar to the NSP program. That is the reality. Federal programs like NSPII are not just pots of money that are given to communities to spend as they see fit. You must demonstrate that you have the staffing and organizational capacity to spend the money (ex. Youngstown has a staff of 5 and a handful of housing organizations vs. a Cleveland, for instance, that has over 50 such organizations, a county land bank and an entire team of city planners and community development specialists, grant writers, etc.)

There are strict guidelines/timelines regarding the the use of these dollars. It must be demonstrated that there is adequate capacity on the local level before funding can be administered. The application missed a technical component regarding demonstrated ability to administer demolition dollars (of all things) which is the fault of the application writers (which disqualified the application in and of itself) although it was difficult to determine this information was required per how the application read...and especially odd on HUD's part since a great portion of our application discussed the need for extensive demolition (which included a waiver on the 10% cap for demolition). It also identified what capacity we have at present but also requested funding that would make an actual meaningful impact among 9 cities in the region. HUD believed the capacity level was not significant enough and scored our application low - section by section - accordingly (above and beyond the demolition capacity disqualification component).

This is why the application was rejected. It was not because it was written poorly. In fact, several reviewers noted in their final overall remarks that the application was a very solid as well as innovative in relation to the approach to the problem given the nature and scale of it. You can read the application for yourself online here and draw your own conclusion in that regard (which I encourage every forum member to do so as it is simply just good information/reading in general: http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.com/Uploads/2009813122424_MISC-NSP2%20FINAL%20DRAFT.pdf

While the overarching assessment, again, was that we remain unable to demonstrate the ability to provide the capacity (ie. staff, organizations, etc.) to administer the funding to do the work given the federal guidelines of program...they also recognize that communities like ours need to embrace regional strategies as the application attempted to do (and Brookings, as well, agreed). Aside: This is why tools like county land banks are so important and we must ensure the legislation passes the State Senate. Cleveland applied for and received $40 million for their land bank with NSPII.

It's a catch 22 and it only underscores our original point that the HUD policies and programs are not geared to address the challenges of midsized to small communities. Our problems are the same as the Clevelands, Detroits and Buffalos and require great amounts of resource to address the problem as well...however, we remain at a competitive disadvantage in comparison due to smaller capacity as well as increased competition for the dollars while remaining in competition with the every city in the United States. The playing field is not level and hasn't been for some time. The reality is, is that the the Mahoning Valley leads the state and ranks high in the nation in foreclosures, unemployment and now poverty (Brookings)...and at the end of the day, the dollars are not hitting communities like ours. It has nothing to do with D's and R's. It's federal program policy. HUD officials recognize this problem, however, this is how the programs and policies are structured at present and they must follow the guidelines as they are until the guidelines are changed...

To that end, the meeting with the White House officials (which HUD officials also attended) was much more productive. They very much understand the problem with the system and state they plan to work to fix these issues so that there is a longer term solution (which is why they invited us to D.C. in the first place...before the NSPII scenario). However, we made it clear - very clear - that, while we recognize that is the real solution, we still remain paralyzed and need resources right now as we have much work ready to move forward but can't without initial help. Unemployment, vacant property, foreclosures, and population loss continues to grow each day and with it, the confidence in this administration decreases, fair or not. This will be reflected in upcoming Senate & Governor races in Ohio and, by extention, their administration's race in 3 years from now. They need to come to the Valley and deliver resources immediately (4-6 months) to assist specific programs that we have worked hard to put together and we have ready to go, which they state they plan to do. The pressure will continue and the proof will be in their deeds and not words.

[Youngstownshrimp]

This is what I know,  Many professional people in the Valley are aware that most of the leaders in the city are unqualified and have no expertise in what they are employed to do.  This is not a personal statement but rather an observation.

Youngstown CDA and the MVOC collaborated on the request for HUD big bucks.  The money was to be used for creating a hybrid landbank, demolition and foreclosure prevention.  The MVOC wishlist was to turn part of the Southside near Idora park into some type of urban renaissance.  The city and the MVOC went as far as creating the YNDC, to be the administrator of these anticipated HUD funds.

Fastforward, the HUD funds were denied because the project was considered weak.  All the players in this big dance do not appear to have any track record of accomplishments.  It seems that all these people are coming to gorge at the public trough and really have no solid resume to back up their employment.   The MVOC, they are a new ACORN look alike and have no track record short of what they had publicity on.  What we should have done to let HUD know that we know what we are talking about, was to bring in our business leaders who have track record, like, Cafaro, Debartolo, Maransky, Brilex, Zoldan, etc.  If we continue to allow ourselves to be lead by unqualified bureaucrats, we will continue to be YOUNGSTOWN to the world.

[Why?Town]

Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Whigs, whoever,  As long as we give so much money to the feds to pass out at their discretion we will have problems like this. The money should never leave the area to begin with.

[ytowner]

ALL of those guys are at fault. The Democrats promise the moon and give us nothing in return. Their leadership has been disgraceful for our area.

[woozle]

All of them are at fault here!!! We need to Vote them all out of office starting here at home...  America is broke, bankrupt, They are just going to suck us dry if we don't do something about it..

[jay]

Be sure to read the HUD story in today's newspaper.  Officials are blaming each other for the City of Youngstown's failure to secure the HUD grant for the region.

Who, if anyone, do you feel is at fault?