JULIUS OLIVER PROFILE | ‘You can’t have 21st-century thinking and 20th-century policy’

Julius Oliver, Youngstown's 1st Ward councilman, said he's looking to change the morale and mindset of Youngstown residents if he is elected mayor.

He told Mahoning Matters he plans to bring his experience as an entrepreneur and City Council member to make changes in Youngstown.

"I want to run for mayor because I'm a progressive thinker," Oliver said.

Oliver said he wants Youngstown to be conducive to future generations' growth, development and prosperity.

Youngstown has always been a place of entrepreneurship and self-made people, families and companies, he said.

He said he is running for mayor so that everyone can realize the potential in themselves and how they can help the city.

"You have to have somebody in front of you [who's] encouraging," Oliver said, adding effective leadership can "inspire and empower people."

He said city government's service to its residents has been lacking for decades, and Youngstown needs leadership that will encourage and empower residents.

"I think that's what needs to be returned to Youngstown: a government of the people, by the people, for the people," Oliver said.

About Julius

Oliver is a lifelong resident of Youngstown. He graduated from Chaney High School in 1999 and then served six years in the U.S. Army as a member of the Army's Engineer Corps.

After his service, he studied sociology and business administration at Youngstown State University. Oliver did not graduate from YSU because he started his own business in 2008.

He owns Kingly Hand Wash and Wax, which has a location at Eastwood Mall in Niles and one on Marshall Street in Youngstown. Oliver rented his main location in Youngstown on West Front Street to a former employee who wanted to start his own business. Oliver said he plans to open a new location in Youngstown.

He is married to Dr. Jazmine Sutton-Oliver, who works at the Cleveland Clinic, and their first son was born April 10.

Oliver was elected 1st Ward City Council member in 2016.

He said he first ran for council because he saw Youngstown as ugly and in turmoil and wanted to know why. In his six years on City Council, he said he's seen city government on autopilot since the 1960s, with old procedures and policies.

"You can't have 21st-century thinking and 20th-century policy," he said.

Challenges of Youngstown

Two of the biggest challenges Oliver said he expects, if elected, would be changing the morale of city residents and economic development. Oliver said he wants to change the mindset of Youngstown residents; residents shouldn't settle for blighted properties, trash and violence across the city.

He said it will take a push and inspiration from a leader to be able to change that mindset.

"I think that's one of my biggest issues is dealing with the ... morale of the city," Oliver said.

Currently, Youngstown is one of the most impoverished cities in the country, partly due to how the city has handled the tax abatement program, Oliver said. Recently, the city took action against the Chill-Can plant after failing to meet benchmarks.

Oliver serves on the council's tax incentive review committee. He said he's seen companies save millions through city tax breaks but forego hiring Youngstown residents.

He said he would like to work to make sure city residents get those jobs created by abatements.

COVID-19 and Youngstown

Oliver is critical of the city's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the pandemic first hit, Oliver suggested using Northside Hospital as the main staging ground for the city's response to the pandemic. That way, it would separate the COVID-19 population from the regular population and not overwhelm hospitals.

Since the city did not work to separate people from those infected with COVID-19, more health care workers and residents were affected, causing the virus to spread throughout the community even more, Oliver said.

Oliver said city leaders should have pushed regular updates on the city's response, as Gov. Mike DeWine has done since early last year.

"There was a lot of missing information that our citizens needed that they weren't getting," Oliver said regarding information about COVID-19 testing and vaccines.

Oliver still thinks the city is not doing enough to inform residents about the pandemic. Though local media have pushed daily updates in print, online and on TV, not all residents have internet access or a television, he said.

The city should be sending weekly mass mailers with the information residents need to know, Oliver said.

"Our citizens still really don't know what they're supposed to be doing," Oliver said.

He believes the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected businesses in Youngstown, especially those downtown. Before the pandemic, businesses did not get support from the city, and the pandemic exacerbated the situation, Oliver said. Downtown Youngstown became a ghost town when state mandates closed bars and restaurants, which make up most of downtown, he said.

Oliver said COVID-19 relief funds should have been used to market downtown businesses, urging residents to support them while following safety guidelines.

"I think it damaged businesses throughout the city, and it's going to take a little bit of time for us to recover from that," Oliver said.

Pandemic recovery

The city is expected to receive $88.6 million in federal pandemic relief through the American Rescue Plan and will have until 2024 to spend the funds. The city expects to receive the first half of the funds in May and the remainder in 2022.

Oliver said the city has to figure out how to work so all businesses can grow together.

He wants to hire a grant writer to help multiply that $88.6 million by using it as a local match for grants. The city has, in the past, lost grant opportunities for lack of a local match, Oliver said.

By multiplying the $88.6 million, officials can stretch its impact beyond the 2024 deadline, making it "a legacy pot" for years to come.

Oliver said he also wants to develop a five-year plan for a city beautification program that will both improve the entire city and offer jobs to residents.

Since people have been living in blight for so long, part of the program would show people how to take care of their property, he said. The program could also create landscaping jobs to clean up vacant lots, he said.

"The city should put together that program with that gap funding from these COVID dollars to help citizens take pride in their own neighborhood, rebuild in their own neighborhood and reinvest in our own neighborhoods," Oliver said.

The city already has a bond to work with banks and Realtors for demolitions. Instead of using the funds to demolish homes, the bonds would be used to remodel the home instead.

If elected, Oliver wants to get input from as many people as possible for spending plans for the relief funds. He said he would host an event at the Youngstown Amphitheatre or Covelli Centre with the most prominent families in the area, major stakeholders, business corporations, local businesses and residents.

Ideas will be presented to the audience there, and people will be able to vote on what they think should be the top priority for the city to focus on, such as health care, beautification or construction.

"You make it a community event [to] make people feel welcomed, [and] you make people feel included," he said.

Youngstown City Schools

Although the Youngstown City School District and the school board are currently controlled by the state via House Bill 70, also called the "Youngstown Plan," Oliver said he would integrate himself into the school system as much as possible as mayor.

No matter what system the district is working under, Oliver said it's important to let students know they can prosper.

"Everybody needs to work together to be able to push our school system forward," he said.

City safety services

Oliver said he would like to focus on reducing the number of high-ranking positions in the Youngstown Police Department and hire more officers.

Oliver cited studies showing the Youngstown Police Department and Youngstown Fire Department need to be right-sized. The departments are sized for a time in which there were more than 100,000 people living in the city. Now, there are about 60,000 people living in the city.

The department sizes also bring challenges for the city to afford overtime and hire new officers.

With people staying in high-ranking positions for years, younger officers can't move up in rank and end up leaving the department. Reducing the number of high-ranking officers will also save the city money by reducing higher salaries.

Oliver would also like to hire more officers to reduce the amount of overtime the department uses.

"I think that's where we've been lacking in both safety departments is the management of manpower," Oliver said.

Additionally, Oliver said both departments require a culture shift.

More than 70 percent of safety department employees do not live in Youngstown, he said. Many of these employees don't understand the residents or the city's neighborhoods.

To change the culture, officers need training to understand the area they are policing.

Oliver said officers need to understand they can change the lives of residents without hurting or stereotyping people.

"If [they] perceive you as a criminal because of where you live or the streets you're driving down, it's going to be a problem, and that problem is going [to] further separate trust in the community," he said.

Oliver said he believes that a citizen's review board would be beneficial to the community.

The future of Youngstown

If elected, Oliver will meet with city government officials and stakeholders to see what has worked and what's not working, and then determine in what direction to move the city.

From there, a plan can be created to add to the goals he already has on his mayoral platform.

He would also assess each city department to determine how to increase efficiency.

Oliver said he would also do a job-needs assessment in Youngstown to see how economic development can be accomplished.

The assessment would include what jobs residents want, what's not available and how those opportunities can be brought to the city.

In 10 years, Oliver sees Youngstown as a place for makers and entrepreneurs.

He said bigger industries will be brought to the city for more job opportunities, but he also wants to see people who are born and raised in Youngstown start their own businesses.

"You return Youngstown to a place where you empower the citizens to use their old skills in their own passions to be able to put that into the city and grow it," Oliver said.

"I see Youngstown as a place for entrepreneurial growth," Oliver said.

This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "JULIUS OLIVER PROFILE | ‘You can’t have 21st-century thinking and 20th-century policy’."