In-depth: Youngstown mayor discusses city’s hardships and future

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown went in-depth this week about everything the city has gone through in the past year and what’s to come.

Brown admits it has been quite a challenge since the May 28 explosion of the Realty Building downtown.

“May 28 is a day that I remember not just as a mayor, but as a citizen as well,” Brown said.

“So we’ve gone through that. We want to first always say, you know, our condolences go back out to the Akil Drake and his family. We always remember the workers at Chase Building who were in the explosion. But also, we focus on those who, you know, left that morning and left their home that morning in a Realty Tower and were not able to go back in to get any of their belongings,” he said.

In addition, Brown said the explosion also affected downtown businesses, the roadways, and the International Towers next door in which they had to move 173 people out of their homes for 30 days.

Despite all those hardships, Brown says the community agencies and organizations like the United Way rallied together.

“It gives me goosebumps to know that I live in a community where they just put aside what we normally do and there was a need and let’s figure out how to make that happen,” he said.

Brown says not all days are easy being a leader in any position but he had to take it head on.

“I took it personally first of all because this is the people I work for, but also this is my community where I was born and raised,” he said.

Wednesday Brown will discuss some thoughts on where we are now and where the city is headed.

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