Sorry for the Delay...

With the multitude of developments plus the Ohio Primary campaigns sweeping into Youngstown, the past several weeks have been quite hectic to say the least. Accordingly, I've been as busy as ever working to stay on top of it all. However, this has has limited my ability to post with the frequency I normally like to.

It is important to me that I keep an ongoing dialogue with you. Therefore, I deeply apologize for the delay and continue to kindly ask for your patience. I'll be back soon...

Again, thank you for your patience.

Jay

On Wednesday’s Fire

Let everyone in this community offer our collective prayers and support for the victims and families of this unspeakable tragedy. It is impossible to comprehend how any individual could commit such a depraved and cowardly act toward another human being. However, we will work without fail to ensure that justice is served.

- Mayor Jay Williams

Leadership not Perfection

Before any media spin/frenzy ensues, I have decided to articulate the details on the upcoming special city council meeting. At my request, City Council has agreed to hold a special meeting this Friday, December 28, 2007 to amend legislation related to management compensation. There is sure to be much speculation as to reason behind the reconsideration; the best explanation is the truth.

Having served as Mayor for nearly two years I would imagine that my decision tally is probably somewhere in the thousands. While not each decision will be viewed as perfect, precise, or popular, I am genuinely comfortable with the process in which each decision was made and I am content to live with the outcomes of those decisions.

However, in November, I was confronted with what normally has been a routine legislative action. For many years, the City’s practice was to adjust management compensation after the negotiations of the much larger bargaining units’ were complete. When it came time to follow this practice again, the legislation initially sat on my desk, unsigned, for several days because my instinct and experience was not settled.

Typically when making a decision of this nature I contemplate financial, practical, and other pragmatic considerations (political implications are generally less relevant). I also take into account my gut instinct. I refer to the process simply as my “Central Square Test.”

In essence, could I stand downtown in Central Square, with challenge from North, South, East and West and be fully comfortable with my decision based on the process I typically follow. If the answer is yes, I move forward and very rarely do I look back. However, in this instance I did not fully contemplate my own Central Square Test. I also strayed away from my philosophy by not fully evaluating the opportunity to effect significant change.

Back to the special council meeting, despite some opinion, most of the management personnel who are the subject of the increases are well deserving. Furthermore, the actual financial impact of the increase in management compensation is modest in relation to overall cost of compensation associated with the bargaining units. Therefore, we will continue to review the compensation issue appropriately.

However, the opportunity to set the tone and change the precedent as it relates to the overall cost of government is enormous. It is critical to establish a foundation upon which we can more effectively manage personnel cost which typically can exceed 75% of governmental expenditures. As leaders we must be willing to set new precedents and send new messages; at times that can be difficult to say the least. Leaders must also be willing to weather the criticism and detriment that invariably comes with the imperfect process of making those difficult decisions. It’s often referred to as “The Penalty of Leadership.”

I am certain some will deem that City leaders bowed to public criticism, threats or political pressure (those things come daily). While untrue, people are free to believe as they choose. The fact is that the reconsideration given to this issue is a result of leaders who sometimes make imperfect decisions, but who are confident enough to acknowledge the same and do something about it.

It’s not perfection but it is leadership.

Enough is Enough

There are times when I think that my head is going to explode if I have to document another account of a homicide in the City of Youngstown. Not a day elapses that I don’t grapple with this issue in one way or another. Each and every homicide weighs like a ton of bricks, bringing about simultaneous empathy and fury. Even those, (which are generally most of them) brought about by the sheer stupidity of the lifestyle of the people involved, are equally as distressing.

At this point my empathy is reserved for those of us who live within the bounds of the law, while my fury is directed toward those who engage in a lifestyle known to bring about such destruction, and who also affect the rest of us in the process. Why and how this lifestyle has become so pervasive and tolerated in some factions of this community is something that I intend to spend even more time railing against even more vociferously this coming year. (Anybody got Bill Cosby’s telephone number?)

It is painfully obvious that the approaches we have taken over the past decade plus, have brought minimal sustained success. As we prepare for the year 2008 it is time to try something different. Presently, there are ongoing discussions with state and other city officials about employing a crime fighting strategy here in Youngstown that is sometimes referred to as “Operation Ceasefire” or “The Boston Miracle.” Some critics argue that it is a feel good approach that won’t work. Well, as far as I’m concerned it certainly won’t hurt to try. We are working to bring those officials to Youngstown for a series of broad-based community meetings quite soon.

Back to the issue at hand, I love this City. I believe in the goodness of this City. It is why I sought and intend to re-seek the Office of Mayor. Even on days when Youngstown is seemingly at its worst and it would appear easier to quit, I know that I cannot quit. We cannot quit. As tempting as it might be to write this city off, we, just, cannot, we just will not. We must press on in the face of this unyielding epidemic of violence. As many as there are who would love to see us surrender, there are more who believe, like I do, that we can prevail.

I have to believe that there must be solutions to this issue. No, not the dim-witted and impractical opinions which flow from the peanut gallery of cowards who stand on the sidelines and play armchair quarterback. Instead, I am referring to real life battle-harden solutions for people who are willing to continue the fight on the front lines. We must seek solutions that can bring sustained results to a problem with complexity beyond measure.

At times my faith has faltered, but it has not failed. 2008 will bring new opportunity and new determination. If Boston, Massachusetts can have its miracle then we in Youngstown, Ohio should be able to have our very own.

As long as I hold this office we will doggedly pursue an end to the systemic cycle of violence that has polluted our City for far too many years. Until I am dragged out of office by term limits or the voters, I will refuse to believe that it just has to be this way.

Enough is enough.

The Voters Have Spoken

On Tuesday November 6th voters across the Mahoning Valley trekked to the polls to cast votes on a variety of issues and candidates. In the City of Youngstown, several important issues called for voter consideration. The citizens selected six new members of the City’s legislative body and returned an incumbent (congratulations to all of the winners.) On second thought, congratulations also to all of those who had the courage and conviction to put their names on the ballot and go through the grueling campaign process, even if in the end they were not the elected candidate.

The voters also chose to instill greater accountability in the City’s Park & Recreation Department through the approval of three out of four charter amendments. (Thank You)
The fourth charter amendment was defeated. The defeat of the forth amendment is not all that surprising. In my estimation its defeat was probably more attributable to the poor and confusing ballot language than any other reason.

The voters are to be commended for their attention to detail as it related to those charter amendments. Some of them may have researched the fourth amendment on their own before casting their vote. While others may have felt not enough information was provided and also acted accordingly. There is ongoing debate as to why the language of fourth amendment was so lacking. However, the bottom line is that the voters were not provided enough information from their public officials; we, as those public officials, whether City or County, owe the voting public better than that.

Three new school board members and a retuning incumbent will join the existing members in navigating the complexity that is the City School District. Their task will become immensely more difficult with the defeat of the operating levy. It remains to be seen how both the school district and the community will respond to and/or be impacted by the defeat of the levy. Whatever happens, I imagine that it is going to require some degree of soul searching from everyone involved. (More to come on this later. . .)

Jay

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation New Frontier Award

Preface: On November 7, 2007 I traveled to Boston, Massachusetts to accept the New Frontier award, which is bestowed by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in conjunction with the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. I accepted the award not as an individual but rather on behalf of the people of Youngstown, Ohio and the Mahoning Valley who are engaged in the work that the New Frontier award embodies. Below is the text of my remarks from the event. More information about the award can be found at http://www.jfklibrary.org/ .

Remarks by Jay Williams:

I would like to thank Mrs. Caroline Kennedy, Director Leach, Ambassador Shattuck, and all of the members of the New Frontier Award committee for honoring me with this award.

I would certainly be remiss not to thank those who have had the most profound influence on my life, beginning with my parents and other family members who have joined me here today and of course also my wife. I must too acknowledge my Pastor and others who have proven themselves as lifelong mentors to me.

I recognized very quickly in my term, that mayors, like so many others in similar positions, are often shouldered with too much blame, but also too much credit. Therefore, I graciously accept this honor on behalf of the countless others who are doing the work that the New Frontier Award embodies; those who often go unseen and unheard, however, without whose work, I would not have a platform on which to stand and be recognized here today.

From a young child it was instilled in me that serving others is not to be viewed as a burden but rather something to which we should aspire. It is a concept that was unquestionably reflected in the life and values of President John F. Kennedy; and forty-four years after his death, remains an ever present force in the Kennedy family today.

President Kennedy reminded us that public office is not to be endeavored for fame or fortune. Civic-mindedness, vision, pragmatism and tenacity, these were the qualities that the President knew were necessary to identify and address the public challenges of his generation. And they remain the very same qualities needed to address many of the same and new public challenges that we face in the generation of today.

While I am humbled and eternally grateful for this award, I must acknowledge that I accept the honor with a modicum of trepidation. That is because I remain extraordinarily cognizant of the problems and challenges that the City of Youngstown yet faces. I wish to leave no room for cynics and critics to interpret this occasion as a dismissal of the significant work that yet remains to be done.

But I will also interpret this award as a sign of progress. There are times when you are left to wonder if your work (and that of others) is making a difference. There are times when you are left to wonder if the sacrifices of public services are really worth it. I will allow this award to answer those questions. It says to me, it says to all true public servants, not “job well done”, but rather a job that must be continued, pressing toward the New Frontiers of which President Kennedy so passionately spoke.

I also hope that this award will serve as a source of inspiration, hope, and optimism. Not only to the people of Youngstown, Ohio, but to people across this great nation, about the power and importance of civic participation in overcoming deeply rooted civic problems that so often breed cynicism, criticism, hopelessness and despair.

In closing, I am deeply honored to have been considered for this recognition by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. The award has special context to me.

It was two years ago this month after having been elected Mayor of the City of Youngstown, that I found myself wondering, what now? There was a wave of high expectations that had carried over from the campaign. I found myself trying to figure out how to balance those great expectations with the grim realties and daunting tasks that we as a city would together face in our efforts to rebuild a struggling community.

As we prepared for the pomp and circumstance of the inauguration, I wrestled with what I would say as we began this new journey; one that would be fraught with problems, pitfalls, and heartbreaks. Sure, I knew that there would be some successes, but they would come too few and far between.

It was a chance visit to this library in November 2005 that I found the answer to those questions. The answer was spoken by President John F. Kennedy as he addressed the challenges waiting on the horizon of the New Frontier during his inauguration in 1961. It was his words that provided me with both solace and inspiration. It was his words that I shared with my own community.

President Kennedy admonished us to recognize, that as we seek to tackle the problems and challenges of every generation, whether it be crime, racism, social decline, or economic decay, he reminded us:

“All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin”.

Thank You.

There is a Price to Pay

No one is excited about the prospect of paying higher taxes. However, when we contemplate the question of the proposed Youngstown City School District levy, the question is not if we will pay a price, but the question is, to whom will we remit the payment and for how long?

In our area we can choose to pay an average of $11,000 per year to educate a child or $31,000 to incarcerate a former student who did not receive a profitable high school education? It is unquestionably more expensive to incarcerate than to educate (That’s even before you count the very real social cost that are a result of a lack of education.)

I readily acknowledge that incarceration is the only solution for some individuals. And I am not saying that if the levy does not pass every child will end up a ward of the criminal justice system. However, there is a well-established path leading from the lack of educational attainment, to poverty, to prison.

The school system is imperfect. The system has inefficiencies. I defy anyone to identify any similarly situated system in the public or private sector that isn’t flawed. This is not an excuse for poor performance rather a statement of fact. Yet, for every defect and inefficiency, there is also the evidence of success, success that I have witnessed personally.

Must changes be made? Yes. Must some of them be sweeping and controversial? Probably. But even those changes will require sufficient resources if they are to have lasting effect. It is convenient to say, make those changes first and the money will follow. Regrettably, it doesn’t work that way.

The school system is not like an assembly line where you can simply shut down in order to retool. You must make changes while the line is in full production mode, an exceedingly difficult task, especially when the “product” you are working with often comes so ill-equipped from home.

I am not a proponent of throwing good money into a bad system. However, I also realize that starving a system that we must continue to operate is counterproductive. I conclude with my original premise. This is no longer a question of if we will pay a price, rather the question is to whom will we remit the payment and for how long?

Jay

Power…To the People

Typically, I elect not to spend the time correcting various media inaccuracies and distortions that transpire throughout the course of this business. To do so would consume valuable time that can better be spent addressing a myriad of other issues. However, on occasion I do find it necessary to challenge certain viewpoints especially when I believe that a distortion is of substantial enough nature to leave the public wondering.

Thus is the case with a recent feature by David Skolnick. Mr. Skolnick wrote about a series of agency, board, and commission changes that I have facilitated or proposed since taking office. He characterized those changes as a “power grab.” I don’t begrudge Mr. Skolnick his opinion and because I’ve maintained an amicable relationship with him thus far I did not interpret his musings as malicious. However, the use of the term “power grab” was certainly a distortion and needed to be addressed.

Mr. Skolnick identified changes instituted or proposed with the Human Relations Commission, the Park & Recreation Commission, and the Human Resources Department within the City of Youngstown. What Mr. Skolnick failed to communicate in detail, were the very serious problems surrounding each of the agencies that have existed for many years.

While I may only be completing my second year as the Mayor, I have worked in city government much longer. During that time I have clearly seen the severe problems that exist when boards, commissions, or agencies, are allowed to operate without appropriate oversight by the citizens and the officials that they elect. Often, the citizens have no idea of who the persons on those boards are, how they got there, or what their duties and responsibilities are.

Every reasonable citizen that I have spoken with about this issue agrees that no public body should operate with virtual impunity. It is wholly unacceptable to allow any board, commission, or agency that is funded by tax dollars, to escape appropriate accountability and oversight. This is exactly what had happened over the years with two of the aforementioned entities, especially with the Park & Recreation Commission. (The Human Resources Department is yet to be established.) Over many years there had been built up a wall of separation that excluded the citizens of Youngstown.

The citizens of Youngstown elect a Mayor and City Council and expect them to protect and advance the interests of the city. The citizens are also able to hold those elected officials accountable. However, the current structure of the Park & Recreation Commission makes it virtually impossible for the people of Youngstown or the elected officials to address any problems with the City’s Park & Recreation Department. Over the years many serious problems lingered because city officials were practically powerless to do anything about them. (The problems surrounding North Side Pool were just one small example.) Everyone I spoke with agreed, that needed to change.

Unlike the insinuation presented by the headline of Mr. Skolnick’s column, I am not simply seeking for the Mayor and City Council more control or power. I am seeking for the citizens of Youngstown, more efficiency, more effectiveness and most importantly, more accountability. The Mayor and Council are answerable to the people, so any function that the Mayor and Council oversee is also ultimately answerable to the people.

The proposed charter amendments, which still must be approved by the voters, will allow for more efficient, effective, and accountable operation of the City’s Park & Recreation Department. Between now and the November election, we will be communicating with the citizens as to why they should vote “Yes for Youngstown Parks!”

I conclude by stating that if David Skolnick (or whoever wrote the headline) wanted to use the term “power grab” in the title of the column, it was incorrect to suggest that it was power to the Mayor. Instead, the power referred to should have been power to the people, the people of Youngstown. And in my opinion that’s exactly where the power belongs.

Jay

Criminal Gets 105 Well Deserved Years

Kudos to the jurors, Judge Evans, and Prosecutor Tim Franken for sending a strong message to the individual convicted of, among other things, shooting at police in July of 2005. (The story was in the local section of the Tuesday, August 21, 2007, edition of the Vindicator)

In light of the frustrating story on the front page of Sunday August 19, Vindicator, which chronicled the cases of 29 individuals, arrested in a gang sweep last year (only one of whom to date has served any time), the conclusion of this case, at least in my mind, is what we must see more of. I can only hope the verdict and sentence in this case sets the standard for everyone else convicted of similar crimes. I also hope it sends a loud message to others contemplating or currently engaged in a life of crime.

At the moment I have little interest in plea bargaining, probation, or rehabilitation for individuals convicted of crimes of violence or those with multiple offenses. In many instances I say the longer the sentence the better. I realize that this opinion leaves me open to criticism from some who specialize in rehabilitation. But if you engage in these types of activity in my community this is what you should expect. I do find it interesting though, that those who are quick to criticize such a tough stance on crime, very rarely live, work, or play in the neighborhoods where the mayhem is taking place.

I am all for helping people in difficult life situations, it is one of the reasons I decided to run for Mayor. But once the decision is made to pick up a gun or engage in other criminal activity that harms or violates the rights of others, my empathy ends right there.

If someone can be genuinely rehabilitated, and some can, then fine. But in the meantime I am tired of dealing with the failed experiments of those who can’t. For those individuals, I say let Judge Evans and Prosecutor Franken deal with them.

Jay

Thoughts on the West Federal St. Meeting

I want to express my sincere appreciation for all of the individuals who participated in the West Federal Street meeting on Monday, August 6, 2007 in person or via petition.

I reiterate my sentiments by stating that an active engaged citizenry is a positive sign of a community well on its way to reestablishing its vitality. I look forward to many more vigorously productive meetings covering a variety of issues in our community for years to come. This was a great day!

Unfortunately, after the meeting there was some media mischaracterization, whether unintentionally or not, about the winners and losers. The meeting was not about winners and losers the meeting was about having an intelligent dialogue regarding the West Federal Street project and getting additional relevant and productive perspective.

As promised the City of Youngstown is currently digesting the results of the meeting in analyzing how to move forward. There is no issue about whether or not there will be a green canopy and the related amenities along West Federal Street. There will be. The issue is how to address the deteriorating infrastructure while simultaneously enhancing the downtown experience for the greatest number of stakeholders, (with the realization that there is no perfect solution that will appeal to everyone.)

There were several points raised by some participants that needed correction/clarification. I initially was going to address them within this blog. However, for the sake of brevity I will instead articulate the next steps as I currently envision them over the week or so:

• We are presently conducting an internal debriefing to analyze the August 6th meeting
• We will evaluate various options that may arise as a result of the debriefing
• We will communicate our next steps promptly

Again, thanks for the commitment and passion for our City, and more to come. . .

Jay