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City Attempts to Mobilize Market Street Merchants
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – City leaders see a meeting Monday aimed at mobilizing merchants along the critical Market Street corridor as a starting point, despite sparse attendance at the initial gathering.
Just a handful of individuals representing businesses on the corridor attended the Market Street Business District Summit, which featured several officials including Mayor Chuck Sammarone, the two councilwomen who organized the meeting, the police and fire chiefs, and other department heads.
City officials attributed the low turnout to the weather Monday morning, a rain-ice mix that at times made driving treacherous.
The purpose of the meeting was to bring together business people to be a catalyst for redeveloping Market Street, said Councilwoman Janet Tarpley, D-6th Ward, who with Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st Ward, organized the meeting. The meeting was held in the community room of the Newport Branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
“I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I became a council person but I had so many other pressing issues in the neighborhood that required my attention I couldn’t get to this,” Tarpley said. Her ward extends to Pinehurst Avenue on Market Street. Having such an organization in place would be helpful when the city seeks assistance from other entities to get things done.
One objective of the group is to bring people and business back to the city, Gillam said. “We want to change the attitude about Youngstown,” she said. “We hear a lot of complaints from our citizens that they’re tired of having to drive so far to get things that they need.”
“The turnout is not good today but you’ve got to start somewhere,” Sammarone remarked.
What the city wants to do is get business people in the Market Street area “thinking about what you want, what you want to see in your areas,” he said. He noted that the city has programs, such as the Youngstown Initiative and building facade programs, to assist business and property owners who want to start and grow businesses and who want to improve their properties that aren’t being fully utilized.
“The city will play a role. We’re not going to do it all,” he said.
The city has made significant progress over the past 20 years on Market Street near downtown in partnership with the Community Corrections Association, Sammarone said, and one of the areas the city wants to focus on now is the section of Market near Indianola Avenue. “There’s a lot of buildings that could be used,” he said.
The 6th Ward Dream Team is taking the lead on one beautification project, an effort to rehabilitate the benches along the corridor. In addition to making repairs to the benches, the group wants to put in new flower pots. “We live here. This is home. This is work,” said Alexander James, president.
Police Chief Rod Foley ispoke on the city’s efforts to address crime. He noted that 40% of his department’s efforts are focused on the South Side.
When he took over as police chief, Foley recalled, he wanted to deal with how the department addressed violent crime in the city including implementing a surge strategy. In addition, last year the department completed a gang audit to identify the city’s most violent groups, which he expects to do again this year. “Last year probably half or more of homicides were group-related,” Foley said. The city has also implemented what Foley described as “intelligent policing,” to address crime hot spots.
Foley noted that in January his department had a 341% increase in drug arrests over the year before and, a 122% increase in February and a 55% increase so far in March. Weapons arrests in January saw a 300% increase over the same period a year ago, 163% in February and more than 200% in March so far.
“We’re getting more proactive and doing more interdiction,” he said. His department is also working to address what he describes as the “systemic problem of plea bargaining” as well as the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence to help match people with resources to ‘get them out of that lifestyle.”
In addition to the Youngstown Initiative and façade programs, T. Sharon Woodberry, city economic development director, said the city also provides tax abatements for business improvements. She noted there is sometimes confusion over the program, which only provides abatements on taxes for the value of the improvements made to the property.
Sammarone urged business people to get involved with the effort. “You’ve got to continue from this meeting. Don’t let it die,” he stressed. “You’ve got to make sure that the association starts and it continues and it grows. Don’t depend on the council person to do all of it.”
The organization has to be run by business people, Tarpley said. “I cannot do it so I’m hoping that the business people in the area will stimulate interest and actually get the ball rolling,” she said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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