2When Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine made that statement in February during a visit to Youngstown, local officials had visions of dollars from Columbus pouring into the Mahoning Valley to make a major dent in the demolition program. DeWine noted that there are at least 7,500 vacant homes in the tri-county area that need to be torn down, including 4,500 in Youngstown and 2,500 in Warren.
It normally costs between $2,500 and $4,000 to demolish a house, which means the tab would be at least $18.75 million.
But with the attorney general touting the Moving Ohio Forward Grant Program — it has $75 million for a statewide demolition campaign — and contending that the issue of local matching money is not a deal-breaker, expectations were justifiably high that the Valley would finally be getting its fair share from the state.
However, when the projected funding for each county was revealed, the reaction from Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone reflected the thinking of just about every Valley resident who believes we’ve been shortchanged by Columbus for far too long:
“That’s all?” Sammarone asked, when informed that Mahoning County is eligible to receive $1.53 million.
Trumbull County, which had made a pitch for $6 million, will get $1.27 million, while Columbiana County is in line for $576,119.
The mayor wasn’t alone in his reaction.
The Rev. Gregory Maturi, pastor of St. Dominic Church on the city’s South Side, also was taken aback by the projected funding for Mahoning County. Father Maturi launched “Operation Redemption” in 2010 to accomplish the demolition of 27 vacant structures around the church. The operation was triggered by the murders in 2010 of two of his parishioners, Angeline Fimognari and Thomas Repchic.
Attorney General DeWine met with the priest, city officials and members of the criminal justice establishment, including law enforcement, to talk about the violence that has turned the South Side into a veritable war zone.
Dilapidated homes are used by criminals for drug deals and other gang activity, accelerating neighborhood deterioration.
Treasurer’s commitment
Although Mahoning County Treasurer Dan Yemma, who will oversee the demolition money from the state, has pledged that most of the allocation will go the city of Youngstown because Mayor Sammarone has pledged a $1 million match, it still is a pittance.
DeWine must know that the money for the Mahoning Valley will barely make a dent in the campaign to tear down vacant homes.
The dollars coming from the state is part of the $335 million Ohio is receiving from a $25 billion national mortgage settlement with the country’s five largest mortgage companies over foreclosure abuses, fraud and improper practices.
The attorney general’s office has control of $97 million. Of that, $75 million has been set aside for demolition. The funds are being allocated to the counties on the basis of the number of foreclosures filed.
We would urge Attorney General DeWine, the state’s top lawyer, to also take into consideration the per capita crime rate, especially homicides, that contribute to the destruction of a community.
Last week, Youngstown recorded its 12th homicide this year, compared with four over the same period in 2011.
The state-financed demolition program needs to be re-examined with an eye to funneling more money into the Valley.
Comments
Ex-governor Strickland should have used the Tobacco Settlement funds for the demolition project rather than paying state employees. He was afraid to make the necesary cuts to avoid losing votes. And now ted wants to run again after Governor Kasich balanced the budget.
O Youngstown, and even this slanted newspaper, when are you going use a little bit of the brains that God gave you? You have been playing the demolition game for over four decades and all you produced was more demo's. Many solutions existed, the Amish would come and dismantle the houses for the lumber. Today, YINS can lease all the lots to pay taxes for the schools and for demolition. You continue to be fools and redistribute wealth from taxpayers when over 50% of you are entitled. Wake up!
But you know what, you entitlted do not want change, you love the life of mere existence with zero production.
I agree with you 100% UticaShale!
Us entrepreneurs have earned the right to post hundreds of times in internet forums all across the internet during normal business hours!
While the entitled are working at their hourly jobs, we are busy with more noble tasks, like posting grade school level rhetoric under fake aliases and made up personal histories!
Wake up people! You don't need to pay property taxes! The city will come and demolish your slums on the tax payers dime regardless!
@NewportNewsRE. . . . Well done sir!
Using the number of foreclosures as a basis for this distribution is unfair to the Valley because we had thousands of vacant and unrepairable houses before the foreclosure crisis happened.
@middlefinger
Binding this money to foreclosure settlement makes no more sense than basing the amount of money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina on how much of New Orleans was in good condition before the hurricane hit.
This has nothing to do with fair. This is Federal money that has been set-aside specifically for demolition of blighted properties. There are very few cities in this country that have more "actual" need for this money. This area was hit with an economic hurricane that took 25 years to destroy it and has been trying to rebuild itself for the last 10 or so years with little to no help from the state or federal government.
How much of those federal blighted property funds are going to those poor folks in Florida? Brand stinkin' new properties that people walked away from - I wouldn't exactly call them "blighted", but I'm sure they are getting a ton to tear down perfectly good houses that cant be re-sold equitably.
This is all about this area being blown-off by the feds and the state yet again. Everyone who lives here should remember this crap come election time and vote accordingly. This is total BS.
I like the large scale burn down idea though - it's efficient and painless.
Or, the City can throw more money at deconstruction and subsidize it into failure again. Then move the subsidized actors into community organizing fiefdoms with ready made salaries, to do it all over again.
Let me spell it ourt for the remnants of the brain drain in Youngstown.
It takes approximately 7 city lots (older lots include .5% of the road) to equal an acre. The going price for the last 6 months in Mahoning county is $5000 signing bonus per acre and 20% royalties within 5 years. Immediately the City lot can pay off vanishing past prop. taxes. The royalties will be PASSIVE INCOME for 30 to 50 years. Demolition? there are more vacant parcels than demo structures, thus more revenue vs. cost to demo.
The new Landbank can take care of this scenario en masse. Unfortunately, the actors are all unqualified and inexperienced. AS WE SPEAK, there is a RUN on VACANT parcels in Youngstown, they are being gobbled up privately and quietly by free enterprise.
Younngstown will also be receiving a pittance from the four new casinos. Maybe some of that money can be used for demolition.