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Journal Opinion
The New Face of YoungstownThe hoisting last week of the Christmas tree in Youngstown is a familiar sight, but the downtown where it stands looks much different than the thriving retail hub of a half century ago. In just a few days the city will reopen Federal Street to two-way traffic; Federal Plaza has passed into history. New construction continues apace throughout the downtown, buildings to house the Mahoning County Children Services Board and the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals are joining the $22 million Nathaniel R. Jones Federal Building and Courthouse completed a couple of years ago. And just to the southeast, between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges, rises a structure born in argument and reared in dispute that made skepticism, if not cynicism, rational attitudes toward Youngstown's mayor and City Council. To the amazement of many, the Youngstown Convocation Center, is taking shape. Advocates of the downtown, that it will regain its vitality in another guise, are eager to replicate the successes they've witnessed with the new CityScape program, a private-sector campaign to showcase the progress and extend the beautification in the downto to the major arteries leading there. This week, CityScape's education and historic preservation committee will showcase Metropolitan Tower (also known as the First National Bank building) and the former McCrory's, renovated to serve as offices for Ricciuti Balog Architects, in the in a series of programs that highlight historic structures. As longtime advocates for downtown Youngstown -- where we have been based since 1987 despite offers to locate outside a city whose tax structure has encouraged the exit of other businesses -- we are encouraged by what we see here. We hope these steps forward are portents of better days to come.Have we been critical of the path this progress has taken? Yes. But asking legitimate questions about how the McKelvey Administration conducts the public's business does not make those who raise those queries "people who hate themselves," nor do they "do the devil's work," as McKelvey has said. It was only a year ago that Youngstown's mayor was working with U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich to get the convocation center funds reprogrammed for other downtown projects -- hardly a sign of unshakable faith. More than a decade ago, the growth of Phar-Mor offered a promise that its demise left unrealized, and the city is still picking up the pieces. All too often the citizens of this community been offered false hopes -- and all too often so-called leaders have violated the trust placed in them -- for anyone to simply take any promises at face value. There is nothing wrong with daring to dream great dreams, but we expect our leaders to ground those dreams in reality.This resurgence in downtown Youngstown offers a rare opportunity for the region to shed the specters of failures past, and to embrace and work toward a renaissance. We look forward to the promise offered and to joining its realization."