"Without downtown Youngstown, the city dies," said First Ward councilman Julius Oliver Wednesday.

It's what he and dozens of others who came to Wednesday's meeting are afraid of.
They say First Energy's monopole project - which would beef up the city's power grid - would also hurt downtown attractions like the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheater and Covelli Centre.

"I'm sick of these corporations and entities coming into our city and just taking a crap over us and then leaving," Oliver said.

Several business owners and community leaders also urged First Energy to find an alternative - saying that it shouldn't be up to the residents to figure one out.

"What we're asking First Energy to do is to step up to the plate...whatever option is necessary to ensure equity and inclusion and to not impede progress for the investments we've made in this community, First Energy spend millions to do the right thing in Youngstown," said Derrick McDowell, founder and owner of Youngstown Flea.

He's referring to the one alternative everyone seemed to agree on: burying the lines underground.
The company vaguely explained why it can't.

"We really look at each individual project and what's going to achieve the best possible outcome, which in this case is enhancing reliability while minimizing the impact to the environment and surrounding community," says First Energy spokesperson Brittany Al Dawood.

Councilman Oliver says he'll propose a resolution against the project with Fourth Ward councilman Mike Ray.
He says all residents can do now is keep applying pressure.

"Basically get in touch with every elected official you can and make your voice heard, say hey, (State) Rep. (Michelle Lepore) Hagan, (State) Senator (Mike) Rulli, whoever, you know, we don't want this to happen."

The soonest the Ohio Power Siting Board could decide to OK the project is in two weeks at its next meeting.
For those against it, there's that much more urgency with First Energy looking to start construction by this summer.

The group who gathered at Covelli Wednesday says they plan more meetings and in the meantime urge people to continue to submit comments to the Siting Board via its Facebook Group.