Accountability in City Hall

[DefendYoungstown]

This is good. Great job, CDA. You are to be commended. I hope this standard spreads to other departments and committees of City Hall.

In relation to Design Review, in addition to the review of the Western Reserve Transit Authority proposal, the Committee was also to discuss updates as to several cases it identified for noncompliance of the board's ruling over a 2 year period.

Several of these decisions included:

- The vacant hole at the site of the State Theater on West Federal St.
- Lack of landscaping element on site of the demolition/parking space site across from City Hall.
- 4 months of noncompliance of a signage removal issued by a business owner on Elm St. near the development of the new YSU student apartment housing on Madison Ave.
- Compliance of building material debris in the open storage space/parking area of the Vindicator.

Only 4 board members attended the meeting and the meeting adjourned without discussion of individual reports re: assignments for follow up with the parties identified despite one board member who requested the updates. We will try again in September.

[Steve Novotny]

In an effort to help educate the public about functions and activity that occur in city hall, the CDA's blog will post monthly updates regarding actions taken by the City Planning Commission, the Design Review Committee, and the Board of Zoning Appeals. Just another example of how the CDA raises the bar when it comes to accountability for our local government.

See the following entries for more information:

http://ytowncda.blogspot.com/2010/08/monthly-meeting-updates-series.html

http://ytowncda.blogspot.com/2009/12/transparency-and-accountability-link.html