Selling Youngstown history to the highest bidder

Call is nostalgia, call it love, call it what you will. Youngstown's Fire Station 7 has always been 'my' firehouse. It's not difficult to see the beautify and history in this firehouse that this year celebrated its 105th anniversary.

It started in the fall of 1989 when YFD Fire Inspector Hubert Clardy, recently retired, and the crew of Engine 7 brought to St. Edward School the finest fire engine ever to pump a working fire in Youngstown. A fire prevention lesson to a 3rd grade class, some stop-drop-and-rolling, and a chance to sit up in the seat of that magnificent pumper and I was hooked for life.

It was that encounter with that crew, engine and and the connection to that fire station that made me realize that I wanted to be a firefighter. Most young kids grow out of that phase in their life where red lights and sirens cause them to run to the window. I still leap over the furniture. Ask my wife.

My love of the fire service began with Station 7. Yesterday, the city put a price on it. In a move that raised no apparent public debate or outcry, Youngstown sold Fire Station 7 to US Campus Suites LLC to the tune of $1 million. Youngstown gets to lease the firehouse for about three more years at $10 a year until US Campus Suites is ready to build The Flats at Wick student housing complex. In 2012 (or so), like so much of Youngstown history, Fire Station 7 is a memory.

At a time when Youngstown finally is so close to determining its future, with a motivated generation of self-made public planners, and positive development abounds, it takes a giant step backward by selling its history.

Numerous news articles and blog posts have cried out for the need to save the Wick Park Historic District. Homes and houses alike have been burned by arsonists, salvagers and thieves along Park Ave, Pennsylvania, Woodbine, Broadway, North Heights, and Fairgreen. The neighborhood would probably burn with greater ferocity if not for Engine 7, just around the corner.

An unfortunate consequence of these arsonists are the vacant plots of land that dot every street. Why not use this land for student housing? It's within a half block of the existing Cafaro and Lyden housing, cheaply available, and ready to build. Instead, the city sold out in an effort to cut its deficit. The cost was a neighborhood institution, now sitting on death row.

The city will argue that downtown Fire Station 1 is adequate to serve the North Side. They are correct in that Fire Station 1 can handle the additional firefighters and trucks. There is space within the firehouse for three firefighters per shift and an extra truck.

Where they are wrong is the additional time it will take that fire engine to get to fires on the Lower East Side, the far North Side, and the highway responses of the Madison Avenue Expressway. The distance between the two station is 1.1 miles. For someone trapped in a fire, that's minutes. Response times to those neighborhoods will suffer; Fire loss may go up.

Youngstown's efforts were not interested in the protection of a neighborhood. They were out to cut deficits at the expense of the history of the neighborhood they say they are trying to save. Front page stories tell of Pennsylvania Ave homes burning as the city sells the nearest firehouse. Where is the outrage?

The real excuse

Even after I said a few weeks ago that I was going to regularly post, I only threw out two posts in the last two weeks. Well, I figured I should explain myself. Previously, I used the excuse that I wanted a two week vacation from the blog. Well, yes, but it was more deliberate than that. I just plain didn't want to look at this thing. I can't explain why, but I couldn't bring myself to open Blogger.com. It's the same feeling one gets when you know your checking account is in the red and if you don't check your balance online it means you are okay (which isn't something I can speak directly to).

The last mini vacation is directly attributable to the fact that I am (well, actually, until the paperwork catches up, will be) a ProBoard-certified Firefighter I/II. After a 240 hour class on firefighting related topics and now a 40 hour course in hazardous materials, I can now run inside a burning building while the smartest people in the room are running out. It has become my life's passion and so with class four days a week while still spending 45 hours a week driving my desk for a living, I just haven't had the time to keep this thing up to date.

That all changed last week when an exciting opportunity presented itself. I can't share just yet, but there is more to come. Stay tuned.

My Letter to the Editor from today's Vindy

It seems the bloggers have been writing to the Vindy in great numbers recently. I too wrote in last week and saw that my letter appeared in today's Vindy. It isn't about Youngstown, but about my other passion: Firefighting. Besides being a Youngstownphile, I am an active firefighter/EMT in Virginia.

Firefighters earn flags as protectors of the homeland
Tuesday, July 3, 2007

EDITOR: I was disappointed to read a June 27 letter in The Vindicator expressing a belief that firefighters who die in the line of duty should not be eligible to receive an American flag on their casket. I must wholeheartedly disagree with him.

Day in and day out, America's 1.5 million firefighters respond to emergencies around this country. They are now trained not just to respond to fires and medical emergencies, but incidents relating to hazardous materials, technical rescues and terrorism. They are in fact the protectors of the homeland and hundreds of them have given their lives doing that in the face of a known enemy.

On Dec. 7, 1941, three Honolulu firefighters were killed in the line of duty defending our soil against the Japanese. On Sept. 11, 2001, 343 of New York City's bravest were lost in the War on Terrorism. Do they not deserve a flag?

It is true that firefighters are not trained kill. In fact, it is the exact opposite; Firefighters are trained to save lives. Much like the medic on the battlefield who risks his live to save others, firefighters and EMTs respond to thousands of emergency calls per days around this country willing to risk their lives to save others.

The American flag isn't just a symbol of this country; it is a symbol of honor, loyalty and commitment. Firefighters live by those virtues every time they are asked to respond. They understand the dangerous environments in which they must operate, and understand that at any time they may be called upon to lay down their lives to save another. All firefighters give some, some give all. Those who do have earned the right to have an American flag on their casket.

JOSEPH LOWRY
Arlington, Va.

The writer is a former Youngstown resident and a firefighter with the Cherrydale Volunteer Fire Department.

Vote early, vote often

I am not the one who generally does this but I can't help but support a fellow firefighter. I don't personally know Jamie Goodlet, but I know people who have said he is the nicest guy, so I can't help but support him. He is a Youngstown firefighter at Station 6 on the east side. He and his fiancee Carissa are now one of four finalists in the WFMJ Today wedding contest. They could win a $65,000 all expenses paid wedding and honeymoon.

Votes are being accepted at the WFMJ Today website here.

Votes are only being accepted untill 11pm DST on Saturday, March 24th. Please take 30 seconds and put a vote in for them. They are couple #1 Carissa Smith and Jamie Goodlet. More details about their story can be found on YoungstownFire.com.

If you would like to wish the newly engaged couple congratulations or good luck please feel free to post it in our comments section BUT ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE VOTED FOR THEM!!!! Vote First, Congratulate Second! Thanks to everyone and let's get Carissa and Jamie a wedding they will never forget!

Probation for Arson? Only in Youngstown

This should tick you off. Four people were involved in setting their Rhoda Avenue house in Youngstown on fire FOUR TIMES for insurance money. Because the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office and the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court didn't communicate properly, the four ended up with probation only - FOR ARSON. According to Alvin Ware, captain of the Youngstown Fire Department's Arson Bureau, many personal belongings were removed from the house and placed in storage before the four separate fires were set.

Youngstown has a long history of arson fires, including those set last winter when almost thirty arson fires were occurred on North Side. If this is the type of prosecution we can expect for such crimes, where is the deterrence for the criminals? Arson fires put lives at risk, especially those of the firefighters whose job it is to extinguish these blazes. Countless days of lost time have been reported in the last year by firefighters injured in Youngstown arson's, including by several firefighters who have fallen through rotted or burned out floors. Probation for those who commit such crimes, especially when they are committed for personal gain, because of a mix up by the prosecutor's office is sad and shouldn't be tolerated.

Check out the full article at YoungstownFire.com.

Arson finds historic YS&T homes

A bit of Youngstown steel history met an arsonist yesterday as three vacant former Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. houses at 2, 3 and 6 Delmar Ave. in Campbell caught fire. The fires, one in each of the three residences, had been burning for about 30 minutes Tuesday when the fire department was called. No injuries were reported. Total damage is estimated to be $6,000.

The homes were part of the Blackburn Plat, a housing development created during World War I to house workers hired to help Youngstown Sheet and Tube meet its production goals. Blackburn Plat was divided into two sections, one section for white, "foreign born workers," and the other for the African-American workers. The Blackburn Plat consisted of two frontages-sixteen foot and twenty four-foot.

Rent at Blackburn Plat was based on the number of rooms, and whether or not the home contained a coal fired cook stove. A tenant could also rent a garage for an additional fee per month. These rental units were constructed to be fire and vermin proof. The exterior concrete walls were three inches thick with four-inch ribs, all built in uniform size, prefabricated and poured on site.

All of Blackburn Plat's units had the modern conveniences of water, electricity, paved streets, concrete sidewalks, and bathrooms. The Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company deliberately made the houses small to discourage the immigrant practice of taking in borders. There were amenities provided to the workers including a park, playground, and four company stores. In 1922 the company ceased construction of Blackburn Plat.

Vindicator article on fire

Protect your vacant property from scavengers!

This e-mail came across the Youngstown Historic Buildings and Home's listserv about protecting vacant property in Youngstown. It is worth your time.

Subject: [YTownHistoricHomesBldgs] Protect your vacant property from scavengers!
To: YTownHistoricHomesBldgs@yahoogroups.com

The scavengers are at it again on the North Side of Youngstown - BIG time. The Crandall Park neighborhood association is going to resume neighborhood block watch patrols, but here are some things you can do if you own a vacant home ANYWHERE in town and want to be pro-active about protecting it against being stripped by scavengers:

Have ADT install an alarm system with motion and smoke sensors. Motion sensors are more effective than door and window switches at detecting a home intrusion.

Smoke sensors will call the ADT monitoring center (and, therefore, the FIRE department) before there is even an outward indication that a fire has started in the house. If a fire does happen in your vacant property, every moment saved could mean the difference between a damaged home and a destroyed home. With the recent rash of arson fires all over town, your vacant property MAY ALREADY BE a target for the arsonist(s).

For vacant houses without telephone service, ADT has wireless modules that can be added to a basic alarm system so that the alarm box can call for help without a telephone line. Their alarms also have a battery backup that can operate without public power for up to three days. They even offer a "wet basement" sensor that can be tied into the alarm box. The ADT system will notify the monitoring center if either the telephone line or the electric line is cut.

If you are concerned about the cost of an alarm system, just think about what it would cost to replace all of the antique fixtures in one of these old homes at today's prices.

Other measures that can be taken to protect your vacant properties include having LOTS of BRIGHT outside lights around the house and making sure that windows and doors are not obscured by bushes, weeds, etc. DON'T give the scavengers dark corners around your property where they can hide and do their bad deed without being seen from the street.

If you have a spare vehicle, park it in the driveway at your vacant property. Put up curtains in EVERY window. Make it appear as though someone lives in the house - even though it is vacant. Try putting an old portable TV in an upstairs bedroom - on a timer - so that the flickering light from the picture tube can be seen through the curtains at night by passers by. Black and white TV sets are especially good for this ruse.

Keep the grass cut and the yard clean - nothings says "I'm empty, come rob me" to a scavenger more than tall grass and trash laying around.

Let's make it more risky and less inviting for these *&%$! scavengers to do the despicable things that they do! If you have the spare time and want to help make your neighborhood safer - VOLUNTEER for a neighborhood block watch patrol. The Youngstown Police Department needs all the help they can get!

Best Regards to all,

Allan
:)

On this date...

In Youngstown History:
April 18, 1956: J.L. Mauthe, president of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., reveals that the steel company is analyzing the expenditure of another $15 million to $20 million on expanding and improving its Mahoning Valley plants.

April 18, 1931: Youngstown firemen rescue Miss Margaret Calhoun from her upstairs room at 882 Mahoning Ave., where she was overcome by smoke after fire caused by a gasoline explosion damaged the house.

Central Fire Station, corners of West Federal Street and Belmont Avenue, Youngstown, Ohio. This picture was taken in 1985 when Engine 1, Ladder 22, Squad 33, Battalion Chief 1, and Ambulance 55 were all running out of this station. Today, Engine 1 and Ambulance 55 have been disbanded, although some firefighter's still will say, "Send us a 55" when requesting an ambulance to the scene.

Youngstown Safety Forces hard at work

Here is Youngstown Fire Department Engine 2, a 1974 Mack CF based at Station 13 at the southeast corner of Glenwood Ave. and Sherwood Ave. in the Fosterville section of the city. The station closed on January 29, 1992. Photo by Bob Lloyd.


New 1946 Municipal Ambulance #55. Ambulance was staffed by police officers at that time. Later duties were transferred to the fire department. Ambulance services today are privatized, but "send us 55" is still used to request an ambulance.


The old and the new. YPD officer on left uses a call box, while officer on right uses a "new" portable radio. Circa 1967.


Youngstown Sheet & Tube Police, circa 1915.

Hail to the chief! Firefighters gather for holiday...

From the Youngstown Vindicator on 12/24/2004.

Six years ago, the fire chief brought back this Christmas tradition.

YOUNGSTOWN — Thanks, boss! No, thank you!

So it went in the gleaming upstairs kitchen at No. 1 Fire Station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Firefighters, inspectors and retirees filtered in and out Thursday to enjoy Fire Chief John J. O'Neill Jr.'s annual Christmas luncheon.

The kitchen-dining area was used to exchange hugs and handshakes and "Merry Christmas" greetings.

O'Neill was the official cook. Being Irish, he fixed meat and potatoes.

Capt. David Leetch did prep work. (It's not really work, he confided).

O'Neill said he baked a 12-pound ham bought at Santisi's Riverbend, in the former Passarelli Brothers building on Mahoning Avenue. The store even sliced it.

He used a family ham recipe "everyone knows": ginger ale and brown sugar. He also made parsley potatoes.

Pizza, too

A reporter wondered about all the pizza boxes stacked on tables.

"Oh, we made the pizzas," Leetch quipped. "We asked Pizza Joe's for the boxes to put them in."

The fire chief joked that "no P.O.'s" (purchase orders) were involved; he pays for the appreciation luncheon. He said the annual event gives him the chance to thank firefighters for the hard work they do all year long.

Firefighters from all sides of town arrived at staggered times, station by station, so that the city wasn't left unprotected.

O'Neill said he usually starts cooking around 10 a.m. but a fatal fire in the city was reported at 1:30 a.m. Thursday, while he was changing his 3-month-old son James' diaper. He went home after the fire to change clothes and started cooking at 8 a.m. at No. 1 Fire Station.

No one ate until Mike Drummond, a retired firefighter, arrived with his specialty, sausage and peppers. Battalion Chief Tim McGarry's homegrown peppers, canned in vinegar by firefighter John Carbon of Rescue Squad 33, were also a favorite.

"This is really nice," Carbon said of the chance to visit with colleagues. "We don't get to see these guys much, or some of the retirees."

Chance to mingle

McGarry, pointing to the south side of the Mahoning River, said the luncheon gives firefighters over there a chance to mingle with firefighters stationed on the north side of the river.

"They may not run into each other, otherwise," he said. "It's nice to get together."

Fire Inspector Leslie Murphy said she appreciates the chief's gesture each year. She's also glad no one asks her to cook.

"I think it's great to for him to do this, to show appreciation for what we do," firefighter Joe Caraballo said as he lined up for Christmas goodies. "It shows the holiday spirit — it's nice to have a boss like that."

Capt. Gary DiTullio expressed best what the firefighters said: "We get a chance to thank him, too. It's kind of a mutual thing."

Firefighter Jamie Goodlet called the luncheon "outstanding."

O'Neill, fire chief since 1998, said he brought back that year what had been a Christmas tradition. He said the last chief to hold a chief's luncheon was Charles P. O'Nesti, who retired in December 1983.

Youngstown OKs pay raises for employees

Published: Fri, Dec 17, 2004
----------------------------------------

Union workers and managers will help pay for their health benefits.

YOUNGSTOWN — Some city employees and managers are getting larger paychecks, and some will get the boosts before the end of the year.

City council approved three-year contracts with the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which represents 14 dispatchers with the 911 emergency answering system, and Teamsters Local 377, which represents 34 street department employees.

The 911 dispatchers will get pay raises of 2 percent this year, 3 percent for 2005 and 4 percent for 2006. A dispatcher with three years' experience had been making $29,257 a year. This year that salary will rise to $29,842; $30,737 in 2005; and $31,966 in 2006.

The city will continue paying health insurance for the dispatchers this year and in 2005, but a 7 percent monthly copay begins in 2006.

There also is language in the new deal that says a dispatcher not regularly scheduled to work shall not be forced to stay over.

Street department

The street department workers also get raises of 2 percent this year, 3 percent in 2005 and 4 percent in 2006.

A truck driver, for example, who is making $33,238 will make $33,902 for the remainder of this year; $34,919 next year; and $36,315 in 2006.

The health benefits package is the same as for the dispatchers.

Contract language also says that whenever it becomes necessary through lack of funds or other justifiable causes to reduce workers, temporary or seasonal employees will be the first to be laid off.

Council also approved pay raises for all managers in city government. Management positions include the clerk of courts, deputy director of planning, health commissioner and deputy director of public works.

The raises begin with a 2 percent increase in 2005; 2.5 percent in 2006 and 3.5 percent in 2007.

For example, the deputy director of planning made $57,410 this year. That salary will increase to $58,558 in 2005; $60,021 in 2006; and $62,121 in 2007.

Managers have a 10 percent monthly copay on their hospitalization, dental and vision coverage. There also are $10 copays for office visits and $8 copays for generic prescription drugs and $15 copays for brand-name prescription drugs.

Police and fire chiefs

Police Chief Robert Bush and Fire Chief John O'Neill also are getting raises of 2 percent next year, 3 percent in 2006 and 4 percent in 2007.

Bush and O'Neill now both have yearly salaries of $78,499. In 2005, they will make $80,068; $82,470 in 2006; and $85,768 in 2007.

The city also has agreed to pick up a larger portion of contributions toward pension benefits for managers.

In January 2000, the city picked up 8.5 percent of the statutorily required contributions to the Public Employees Retirement System as a fringe benefit for managers.

Council approved an amendment Wednesday that increases the city pickup to 9 percent effective Jan. 1, 2006, and 9.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2007.

Finance department officials were unavailable Thursday to say how much the raises will add to the city's general fund budget over the three years.


----------------------------------------------

© 2004 Vindy.com. A service of The Vindicator.