The younger demographic is severely missing in the Youngstown city elections. It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to vote for your local leaders, as their actions DIRECTLY affect you and your quality of life, and your chances for economic prosperity if you choose to remain living in Youngstown. It’s sad enough that roughly only 4,500 people voted in the last election (circa: 2021) where city officials were on the ballot.
Now, it’s a bigger question of how many people under the age of 40 cast a ballot? In today’s society, where the economy is largely driven by things that younger people are typically more adept at, that is—technology and Web-based innovation— the decisions of city leaders should be opening the door for enabling economic prosperity based on those very things.
It’s time for younger people in Youngstown to become more involved with the political process, and that includes not only voting in the local elections for Mayor and City Council, but also in the campaigns. Serious and challenging questions need to be asked of the candidates and incumbents, as to what meaningful initiatives they’ll be bringing and implementing in order to create an environment where people can thrive from their efforts.
If you’re concerned with your economic chances and opportunities, as well as the development of the environment of the city of Youngstown for the future residents (your children, or younger loved ones, and fellow citizens who will soon be adults), then paying very close attention to the politics of the city, along with the positions, actions, and MIND-SETS of those in office, is of the utmost importance!
It’s incumbent for Youngstowners to start holding the leaders accountable and stop giving them the “homie pass”. There comes a time when we need to stop applauding or pretending that mediocrity is ok. It’s ok to hurt feelings when your economic prosperity is on the line. Are you benefiting in any way, shape or form from the “initiatives” or the leaders in City Hall? Is anything that they’re doing resulting in more money in your pocket, a better quality of life in any way at all? Or is it all good theater and feel-good rhetoric? These are the questions you need to not only ask yourself, but to answer honestly. If you truly care about Youngstown, then you will take this charge seriously, and vote accordingly.
As it stands now, any major development that requires technology is outsourced to companies and firms from outside of the Mahoning Valley. The most recent traffic and speed-monitoring system set up in school zones was done by a company from Tennessee, not Youngstown. There are reasons for this of course, mainly the lack of any company to be able to handle such a project, but that’s only the case because no one in city government is taking any initiative at all to develop the environment in which such companies can
form organically or become attracted from outside of the city to set up operations in Youngstown. Meaningful economic development simply is not being done in Youngstown. With $82.7 million in ARP funding given to the city in 2022, there’s virtually nothing being done to invest it in a way that can produce or result in residual economic growth.
Youngstown Council members are doing nothing to foster innovation among their constituents, there’s no entrepreneurship being developed or encouraged that can really lift people out of poverty. Everything is either a hand-out or it is a patch on the great wound of financial hardship. Speaking about anything high-tech to any of these Council members is like speaking a foreign language. They simply can’t, or won’t, engage in those types of conversation about advanced economic development, high-technology and programming/coding — which is where the money is made. The Mayor himself rarely mentions anything along the lines of innovation based on Web technology, which is something with such an unbelievably low cost of entry when it comes to entrepreneurship.
It starts with the voter registration process. Far too many elected officals are aware of the low-voter turnout and as such aren’t pressured to offer any meaningful ideas or initiatives to the people in order to be elected or re-elected. However, when politicians see an increase or a massive influx of voter registration, they then get the hint that citizens are ready to take action. Getting people, young people especially, to be regsitered to vote and exercise their right to voice their opinon in the form of a ballot, which is also a serious civic duty, is key in making sure a city or municipality is running efficiently and for the benefit of all who call it home — and all who WILL call it home in the future.
There once was a time when the only thing that saw money was something giving the police force. However, now since the key leadership, not to be out-of-step with the Democratic Party that controls the Youngstown area, seem to be intent on capitalizing the trend of wokeness and “social justice”, and now adhere to the restraining of the police agenda—leaving crime to run rampant and increase. While the police need tools to keep law and order in place, as well as solve crimes and lock up criminals and those who exhibit antisocial behavior so that society can peacefully function, and of course to keep themselves safe from the violent criminals that roam the streets of Youngstown, crime may be better fought if the citizens had some form of outlet for their ingenuity to begin with.
Many people in Youngstown are hopeless, and despite how wrong or immoral it may be, they see crime as the only way for them to make any form of money. No one in their right mind wants to be in poverty. However, there are also others who engage in criminal activity on a purely anti-social basis, perhaps out of frustration of being alive in an area with little to no opportunity. Then there are those who are insulted by city leaders and prominent figures who seem to try guilt them into staying in Youngstown, as opposed to taking their skills and talents elsewhere to thrive for themselves and provide for their families. These criticisms can be seen in Facebook and other social media posts, and are often made by those who can, but do absolutely nothing to create an environment to inspire folks from Youngstown to stay. People cannot survive on hopes and dreams, feel-good statements, and rhetorical social media posts that only have, at best, poetic truths.
Houses are slated to be torn down rather than renovated. With a good portion of the $82.7 million in APR funds that Youngstown has (whatever is left of it at this point, as this article is being updated on August 21, 2024), the $14 million that Tim Ryan got for the South Side alone, as well as whatever is in the city coffers from the revenue it collects, different, more productive and innovative ideas can be implemented. As it stands and appears, the city government feels as if it’s better to tear down houses, which creates more empty space that will in all likelihood remain undeveloped (which one car argue also contributes to blight). One idea that might be better is to renovate them and perhaps sell at an extremely low cost or give as incentives for businesses or talent to relocate to the city as is being done in many other cities who are looking to attract people.
There isn’t even any semblance of ideas being discussed to look at how the mobility (that is, the lack thereof) of the people is related to economic progress. There isn’t so much of an ideation phase on how a light rail system could be developed, or how a better and more efficient freeway system could contribute to economic enhancement. Not so much of a look is given at how a new industry could be set up in Youngstown by meeting one of its own greatest needs — road repair.
Cleaning up the streets of litter isn’t going to contribute to economic development. It’s necessary, but it’s easy, low-hanging fruit. Doing and focusing only on things like that is either lazy or indicative of being incompetent when it comes to being a city leader that can come up with or align with really meaningful ideas that your city needs. Do they not know (or perhaps even care) just how bad the situation in Youngstown is? How many people does the Mahoning Valley, or just the city of Youngstown itself need to lose in population drain before the city loses all signs of life? It is already in danger of losing its Metropolitan Area Statistical status. What happens then?
These leaders deserve no credit for bringing “initiatives” that only “accomplish” cleaning up a neighborhood of litter and trash. Merely saying “I’m trying to bring jobs to Youngstown…” is just empty rhetoric when you’re doing nothing to develop Youngstown into having a high level of education reflected in the percentage of people with bachelor’s degrees, or further. It’s an insult to the people and a fleecing to them (or shows an outright ignorance/naivete to the fact that in order to bring jobs, you need to develop a workforce that is highly skilled in technology, which Youngstown simply lacks. Using psychology and guilt-trips, or begging people to stay in Youngstown without any sort of substantial reason other than “it’s a city with so much potential…”, is ridiculous!
The current leadership offers its residents nothing but low-hanging fruit. They seem to think of the city as a place that isn’t good enough nor able to reach for anything other than small-time goals, and cute little shrubs downtown or along the sidewalks of Belmont Avenue. You get more parking spaces, or community gardens, but surely nothing modern and truly enabling like a rail system connecting the cities and suburbs, or even an airport that does something other than just sit there.
Perhaps the case is that the type of civic leadership that Youngstown needs simply does not exist among the populace and people who are eligible to run for office. This is truly sad to imagine, as someone who travels around the nation and sees phenomenal economic growth in the most unexpected of places, even in cities in the middle of nowhere — like Fargo, ND where the nearest major city is Minneapolis, a cool 240 miles away!
Nothing far reaching nor out-of-the-box in the area of thinking is being done. If anyone does approach the people who are in the positions of power with any ideas, they’re either given what is equivalent to polite pats on the heads and empty patronizing replies but amounting to no real substance of moving forward (basically, “nice idea, kid but we’re not doing that). Most times, they’re flat out ignored. Many leaders only respond when their feelings are hurt by a public comment which calls out their lack of doing anything meaningful, or if they catch wind that you’re looking for someone to run against them in a political race. Pride being dinged is what gets the current leaders to respond.
If the people on the ground in Youngstown want to see change, then they will need to start taking real steps in participating in their political process in local elections. More than 4,500 people will need to vote for Mayor of Youngstown and City Council. You’re going to have to realize that these elections are not popularity shows for you to vote for your family member or whoever you went to school and sat at the lunch table with. It isn’t about “who’s the homie”, but rather who has a vision and a real plan that’s going to result in YOUR OWN ECONOMIC RISE, and enhance your chances of prosperity. Forget about who’s isn’t going to do much more than litter clean-ups and community picnics.
Who’s going to bring the city of Youngstown FORWARD in a real and meaningful way? Who’s going to make sure the city develops so your kids have a chance at real prosperity without needing to move to Columbus or further away from Youngstown? This is what you need to be holding these leaders accountable to answering, and proving!
If you are a Youngstown resident and are planning to remain in the city, then voting and taking part in the political process is very important. If you want to ensure that the city becomes an environment for thriving, and continues to develop with the changing world, the evolving needs of the people to manifest their potential, then you will need to not only make sure that there are lectd officials in place to steer the city in that direction, but stay invloved in all of the decision making and policy discussing processes. You cannot allow the leaders to be unaccountable.
Make sure you are front and center in the local election campaigns, not just the election itself. Stop accepting mediocrity from candidates who only reach for and low-hanging fruit to pass off to you. Young people, this is the city you’ll inherit. You’ll either make change by ensuring that only competent, well-intentioned, people who have the city’s interest—not just that of their pals and family to get “put on” through unscrupulous grant-giving and municipal contracts—are put into office, which are key decision-making positions with heavy effect on the city that you’ll either thrive or struggle in, OR will have to move away from in order to see any chance of a good quality of life.
