Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown urged a U.S. Senate committee to provide federal help to cities like his that have been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Whatever federal assistance is provided must be a long-term, coordinated strategy to get the resources we need to address the public health impact of COVID-19 and assure that housing, transportation and small business efforts are included in a federal rescue plan,” he said Thursday. “If any component is ignored, the entire community structure will likely fail.”

Brown testified Thursday in front of the U.S. Senate BankinÃ¥g, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, as its chairman. The committee heard virtual testimony during a hearing called “The Coronavirus Crisis: Paving the Way to an Equitable Recovery.”

The mayor told the committee: “In order to truly recover from the pandemic, relief has to help our neighbors and our community to not only survive, but also thrive so our city does not flounder for another 50 years.”

Brown pointed out that it’s been 44 years since the closure of steel mills in the city.

“As a legacy city, we have faced a history of corporate corruption and political corruption causing governmental mistrust amongst our community,” he said. “My administration has had to overcome many obstacles. Inadequate educational resources and a lack of livable wage jobs have always been historical problems for our community. A further hindrance in our efforts for recovery is the decline of our housing stock and transportation for those who need access to employment.”

Brown said the pandemic “has hit our community harder than most.”

RESCUE PLAN

A federal rescue plan to help build legacy cities like Youngstown, he said, should include assistance for the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, rental assistance for families, transit assistance to keep buses running so essential workers can continue to get to work, and small business support so hard-working business owners can keep their workforce.

“The relief effort should be flexible and free of bureaucratic red tape so that the pace of recovery is not stymied by federal mandates,” Brown said. “Transparency of local government spending should be a guiding mandate to reinforce accountability and build trust with our communities. Small cities need assistance. Small cities need assistance quickly. Small cities need assistance desperately.”

Thursday was Sherrod Brown’s first hearing as chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee as well as the first committee he’s chaired during his congressional career.

“It should not be a surprise that our first hearing is about coronavirus,” Sherrod Brown said. “It has affected every American’s health, home, family, workplace and the entire economy for nearly the last year. On this and on all of the issues to come before this committee, we are going to get to work for all the Americans who have not had much of a voice in Washington or in our economy.”

He added the pandemic has “laid bare what so many Americans already knew: that millions of workers have little economic security and they can’t get a foothold in this economy, no matter how hard they work. So many families are one emergency away from draining what little savings they have or turning to a payday lender or getting evicted.”

COVID-19 IMPACTS

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still affecting many Youngstown residents, the mayor said.

“Families are still hurting,” he said. “We need immediate relief during these difficult times. I urge you to think of this as part of a long-term sustainable recovery plan to build back and create thriving communities.”

Youngstown last year received $9.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds. It used $5.3 million to help its general fund, largely paid for salaries for employees related to pandemic work, and $3.8 million for job training and employment services for people impacted by the pandemic as well as assistance for the homeless.

Both the mayor and senator support President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal that includes $350 billion in state and local funding.

But U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the committee, said Thursday he was disappointed Democrats are pushing the package while “the economy has been in a recovery mode.”

He acknowledged some industries and people are hurting because of the pandemic, but the proposal from Biden, a Democrat, largely doesn’t address those needs. Also, the money for state and local funding isn’t needed, Toomey said.

The Biden plan also proposes $1,400 direct payments to numerous Americans.

Toomey said, “A majority of those checks go to those who never lost income.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com