Latest / Ron Verb / The Ron Verb Show - 3pm Hour Tuesday - 07/14/26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: WKBN. First, because he's a great architect. Let me just
- 0:25Speaker 1: say that. I get you to plead guilty to being
- 0:28Speaker 1: a great architect, number one, right?
- 0:30Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 0:30Speaker 1: Guilty as charged, right? If you go into Poland and
- 0:34Speaker 1: look at that spectacular Walgreens, as I said to you,
- 0:37Speaker 1: it's like no other Walgreens I've ever seen anywhere else
- 0:40Speaker 1: when you go into Poland. And I said, boy, that's
- 0:43Speaker 1: really unique. And who designed that?
- 0:46Speaker 2: Someone I know. They called from all over Portland, Oregon, everywhere.
- 0:51Speaker 2: They wanted to know how we got Walgreens to do
- 0:53Speaker 2: this because they never have done that in the entire
- 0:55Speaker 2: country but for little old Poland.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Right, and you took care of that, right? I mean,
- 1:00Speaker 1: it is really spectacular when you look at that. And
- 1:04Speaker 1: then if you look at the Poland library, if you
- 1:06Speaker 1: look at it, it is absolutely spectacular. I mean, it
- 1:10Speaker 1: is absolutely spectacular. And guess who designed that? It's the
- 1:14Speaker 1: one and only Bob Mastriana. who's sitting right in that
- 1:17Speaker 1: chair right over there, the architect that has done so
- 1:20Speaker 1: many great things in our community. Now, I want you
- 1:23Speaker 1: guys to pay attention to this because there's a lot
- 1:26Speaker 1: here to talk about. I'm going to ask you in
- 1:29Speaker 1: the beginning of the program, then I'm going to go
- 1:30Speaker 1: back and get some of the history of it. What
- 1:32Speaker 1: is the problem with the Poland Library right now? The
- 1:35Speaker 1: library group says, what, it's sinking? What's the issue?
- 1:40Speaker 2: Well, maybe you can tell me the problem because there
- 1:42Speaker 2: is none, and that's what's so absurd. They're making a
- 1:45Speaker 2: mountain out of a mobile hill. The library is built
- 1:49Speaker 2: on bedrock. You couldn't have a better foundation than that.
- 1:53Speaker 2: We had John Cernick of the No. 1 Soils Engineer.
- 1:57Speaker 2: He was the dean of the School of Engineering in
- 2:01Speaker 2: Youngstown State. He wrote seven books on design of foundations
- 2:05Speaker 2: and that. He was the overseer of the foundation for
- 2:08Speaker 2: the Poland Library, and there was absolutely no problem. And
- 2:11Speaker 2: so for 20-some years, there was no problems. And all
- 2:14Speaker 2: of a sudden, this new director gets in, And all
- 2:17Speaker 2: of a sudden, there's problems there. But before she came,
- 2:21Speaker 2: what they had done is they didn't listen to me.
- 2:25Speaker 2: I heard through the grapevine that because of the flooding
- 2:27Speaker 2: in Boardman Township, we had a little bit of water
- 2:30Speaker 2: in the library. It flooded down Yellow Creek. And Yellow Creek,
- 2:33Speaker 2: where it meets the library, chokes. The creek gets very
- 2:36Speaker 2: narrow and chokes. It's a 90-degree turn, and then it
- 2:38Speaker 2: goes down to the rest of the creek. And what
- 2:43Speaker 2: happened is they... they thought they would be able to
- 2:47Speaker 2: control that by building this concrete wall. And they built
- 2:51Speaker 2: it on top of bedrock, but evidently they didn't design
- 2:54Speaker 2: it with enough weep holes and drainage behind it. And
- 2:57Speaker 2: so what happened is, all these years there was no
- 2:59Speaker 2: problems after we had left the job, and then all
- 3:02Speaker 2: of a sudden they discovered there's some raising of the floor.
- 3:07Speaker 2: What happened is that the, and I checked with the
- 3:09Speaker 2: geotechnical engineers and that, what happened is they sealed the
- 3:14Speaker 2: wall to the bedrock, where it would naturally migrate the
- 3:17Speaker 2: water underneath the building into the creek, because that's the
- 3:20Speaker 2: natural water course. And so what they did is they
- 3:23Speaker 2: sealed it, and so the water started backing up. And
- 3:27Speaker 2: it backed, and it's only 10 feet off the corner
- 3:29Speaker 2: of that building. And so what happened is the water
- 3:31Speaker 2: backed up, and it caused such hydrostatic pressure working its
- 3:35Speaker 2: way back under the building that it had no way
- 3:38Speaker 2: to relief itself, and it ended up raising the floor
- 3:42Speaker 2: in the back corner of the friend's house.
- 3:44Speaker 3: Uh..
- 3:44Speaker 2: Work area and mechanical out completely out of the public
- 3:48Speaker 2: so domain and things like this and it raised it
- 3:51Speaker 2: an inch to they're saying three inches but the but
- 3:54Speaker 2: i've seen is only an inch and a half or
- 3:56Speaker 2: less and so uh... they made such a big deal
- 3:59Speaker 2: about that but that was why they had to uh..
- 4:01Speaker 3: Uh..
- 4:02Speaker 2: Think about all the structural issues with the building the
- 4:04Speaker 2: other thing that they have been negligent on is the
- 4:08Speaker 2: fact that they've never maintain the building so for twenty
- 4:10Speaker 2: it's twenty six years old now and it's never been painted.
- 4:15Speaker 2: It's never had any repair work done on it. It's
- 4:18Speaker 2: never had any love and care that any normal person
- 4:21Speaker 2: would do for their own home or for themselves.
- 4:23Speaker 1: If you didn't do that to your home, look how
- 4:25Speaker 1: it would deteriorate.
- 4:26Speaker 2: Yes, or even ourselves. How would we deteriorate?
- 4:30Speaker 1: Take a look at me.
- 4:31Speaker 2: So they never maintained the building, and that was a
- 4:34Speaker 2: disgrace with the investment.
- 4:36Speaker 4: 26 years?
- 4:36Speaker 1: Yes, yes. Never painted it, never maintained it.
- 4:41Speaker 2: No, they power washed a little bit by the back entranceway.
- 4:46Speaker 2: They power washed that because I was criticizing them. The globes,
- 4:50Speaker 2: if you can believe this, those beautiful Nantucket globes that
- 4:54Speaker 2: I used because I wanted to replicate the ship's lantern
- 4:57Speaker 2: with the water there in Yellow Creek, they were so
- 4:59Speaker 2: black you couldn't even see the bulbs and you could
- 5:01Speaker 2: never even tell if they were on. The clock tower,
- 5:04Speaker 2: the clock in the clock tower, which is the same
- 5:06Speaker 2: clock we have in Peterson Park right in front of it,
- 5:10Speaker 2: for two years it wouldn't work. She wouldn't spend the
- 5:13Speaker 2: money to have a verdant clock company come and fix it.
- 5:17Speaker 2: I mean, it's just been a comedy of errors, and
- 5:19Speaker 2: they've done nothing to protect it and enhance it. And
- 5:23Speaker 2: she's not the only administrator. Other ones before her have
- 5:27Speaker 2: the same thing. It seems like they don't have enough
- 5:30Speaker 2: intelligence to develop a system a maintenance program so that
- 5:34Speaker 2: they would know what they're putting in. So when they
- 5:36Speaker 2: talk about the monies that this is costing per year
- 5:39Speaker 2: to maintain it, it's all a rouge. And they only
- 5:42Speaker 2: talked about 24 and 25. It's because those are the
- 5:45Speaker 2: worst years. But all the other years we've been asking
- 5:47Speaker 2: for two years now, we want to see the records
- 5:50Speaker 2: of all the maintenance for the library. And they refuse
- 5:53Speaker 2: to turn them over because we know they spent nothing.
- 5:56Speaker 2: And it's really sad because when they go to the
- 5:59Speaker 2: county commissioners to ask to be put on a levy,
- 6:02Speaker 2: the number one thing that's on that request is for maintenance.
- 6:05Speaker 2: And so they're telling the public who are voting for
- 6:08Speaker 2: it because of the levy that this is going to
- 6:11Speaker 2: help maintain the library systems, not just Poland, but all
- 6:14Speaker 2: of them. They don't... practice what they peach and they
- 6:18Speaker 2: don't end up doing the maintenance that they're required to do.
- 6:22Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, Bob. Are you saying
- 6:24Speaker 1: that if they wouldn't have built that wall, the concrete wall,
- 6:28Speaker 1: because of Yellow Creek making that thing, if they would
- 6:32Speaker 1: have never built that wall, the back of the library
- 6:34Speaker 1: wouldn't have raised?
- 6:35Speaker 2: Exactly.
- 6:37Speaker 1: So that was the mistake?
- 6:38Speaker 2: And the library did it. It wasn't the architects. We
- 6:41Speaker 2: were long gone from the building. But when I heard
- 6:43Speaker 2: about it..
- 6:44Speaker 1: Do they think maybe they should ask you? Well..
- 6:46Speaker 2: Yeah, you would think. They didn't ask me about that
- 6:49Speaker 2: refresh where they ruined the interiors and all the gorgeous furniture.
- 6:52Speaker 1: Well, we'll get to that.
- 6:54Speaker 2: Anyway, so what I did is I tried to stop
- 6:57Speaker 2: them from doing it, but they had already spent the
- 6:59Speaker 2: money for the engineering.
- 7:00Speaker 1: To put this wall in.
- 7:02Speaker 2: Yes, and so they wouldn't listen. But I, on my own,
- 7:04Speaker 2: called the Army Corps of Engineers to find out what
- 7:06Speaker 2: else we could do without doing the wall. And they
- 7:09Speaker 2: said we could widen out the creek there if we
- 7:12Speaker 2: worked on the banks and not in the water. And
- 7:15Speaker 2: then what... That would have allowed us, and then all
- 7:18Speaker 2: we needed to do was to work with the neighbor
- 7:20Speaker 2: next door who had a very low side yard that
- 7:23Speaker 2: actually is at the water level, and he can't mow it.
- 7:26Speaker 2: He doesn't do anything with it. It just sits idle.
- 7:28Speaker 2: So he would have probably, I heard now, he would have,
- 7:31Speaker 2: if he had been asked, he would have donated to
- 7:34Speaker 2: the town and the library. What would have been the
- 7:37Speaker 2: result is we would have had a beautiful pond there,
- 7:40Speaker 2: a nice, gorgeous pond off the adult reading area, And
- 7:44Speaker 2: it could have been frozen if we ever have freezing
- 7:47Speaker 2: again for a while.
- 7:48Speaker 1: And we wouldn't have the water issues at all.
- 7:50Speaker 2: No, no, no.
- 7:51Speaker 1: So these water issues could have totally been avoided if
- 7:54Speaker 1: somebody would have said, let's go ask the architect before
- 7:58Speaker 1: we build this wall.
- 7:59Speaker 2: Right.
- 7:59Speaker 1: Or what are our options?
- 8:01Speaker 2: Yes.
- 8:02Speaker 1: All of this water stuff.
- 8:03Speaker 2: Because there was never a problem. Right.
- 8:04Speaker 1: But they created a problem by doing it.
- 8:07Speaker 2: They did it.
- 8:07Speaker 1: Yes.
- 8:08Speaker 2: Just like they created a problem with the whole building
- 8:09Speaker 2: because they never maintained it. Everything that's a problem, and
- 8:14Speaker 2: this is why they're trying to disguise all of their
- 8:17Speaker 2: incompetence in what they've done by blaming it on someone
- 8:20Speaker 2: else and we're the natural one. So that thing about
- 8:22Speaker 2: design deficiencies and construction deficiencies is totally a flagrant lie.
- 8:27Speaker 2: I was there every day, normally in architectism, but I
- 8:31Speaker 2: was there every single day watching to make sure everything
- 8:34Speaker 2: was done. And every load of gravel that was brought
- 8:39Speaker 2: in was not active or anything. And we specified gravel
- 8:43Speaker 2: because that's what John Cernico says you always do. You
- 8:46Speaker 2: never use that slag because you don't know if it's
- 8:48Speaker 2: active or not. But the standard slag called when they
- 8:52Speaker 2: heard they were being accused of this and they called
- 8:54Speaker 2: and I talked to their head of the quality control
- 8:58Speaker 2: and he said, Bob, there's no way we would ever,
- 9:02Speaker 2: ever deliver an active group of slags. So what I
- 9:06Speaker 2: think happened is that the What I think happened is
- 9:11Speaker 2: the corner of this is where the library parking lot was.
- 9:16Speaker 2: Because if you look at the picture I brought you,
- 9:18Speaker 2: the library is way back. The original library that we
- 9:21Speaker 2: tore down, it was way behind the historic building that
- 9:24Speaker 2: was out front. And that was not part of the building,
- 9:27Speaker 2: but that was part of the parking lot. And when
- 9:29Speaker 2: we excavated, we took the building, we took all the
- 9:31Speaker 2: excavation out to a certain level, but we only excavated
- 9:36Speaker 2: it down to the bedrock for the footers and foundation
- 9:40Speaker 2: but then in the area between inside the foundation slab
- 9:44Speaker 2: we we just excavated what was necessary so that we
- 9:46Speaker 2: could be at the lower level of the panoramic building
- 9:49Speaker 2: and so that the first floor would all match okay
- 9:52Speaker 2: so this evidently was some material left over from the
- 9:55Speaker 2: previous library that was below our scope of work area
- 9:59Speaker 2: and it was accidentally or just not consciously we didn't
- 10:04Speaker 2: know it was even there and it was never a
- 10:06Speaker 2: problem so it really didn't matter if they hadn't built
- 10:09Speaker 2: that wall because it didn't for 20 some years.
- 10:11Speaker 1: Right so are you paying attention to this folks I
- 10:15Speaker 1: want everybody in Mahoning County to hear this Because as
- 10:19Speaker 1: you're talking to me, I'm just getting more pissed. I'm
- 10:21Speaker 1: just going to tell you right off the bat. No offense.
- 10:23Speaker 1: I mean, so listen to what he said. I can't
- 10:27Speaker 1: get over this. There wasn't any maintenance done to this
- 10:30Speaker 1: building for 26 years, did you tell me?
- 10:33Speaker 2: Well, as of today, 26, yeah.
- 10:35Speaker 1: 26 years. So can you imagine, folks, if over 26
- 10:38Speaker 1: years you did zero maintenance on your house? You didn't
- 10:41Speaker 1: do any maintenance on it. So they didn't do this.
- 10:45Speaker 1: This frustrates me so much with anything doing with governments,
- 10:49Speaker 1: the lack of maintenance. And then all of a sudden it's, well,
- 10:51Speaker 1: we can't do anything with this facility. We got to
- 10:53Speaker 1: tear it down and start new. So 26 years, they
- 10:56Speaker 1: didn't do any maintenance on this building. For the longest
- 11:00Speaker 1: period of time, you didn't have any water issues. The
- 11:02Speaker 1: floor wasn't moving at all.
- 11:03Speaker 2: None.
- 11:04Speaker 1: And it's built on bedrock. I just want everybody to know.
- 11:07Speaker 1: So then they put in this wall, which was a
- 11:10Speaker 1: mistake to begin with, which ultimately put pressure underneath the building.
- 11:18Speaker 1: I'm going to use a technical term. Tell me if
- 11:20Speaker 1: I'm right or not. Hydrostatic pressure?
- 11:21Speaker 5: Exactly.
- 11:22Speaker 2: Exactly.
- 11:24Speaker 1: Let me sit a little higher in my chair. So
- 11:26Speaker 1: I put hydrostatic pressure of the water under the building,
- 11:30Speaker 1: and that raised the floor.
- 11:31Speaker 2: Right. And only the part that was closest to the
- 11:34Speaker 2: creek raised. But you listen to them and the way
- 11:37Speaker 2: they've talked about it, the whole building is settling, and
- 11:42Speaker 2: there's a structural problem.
- 11:44Speaker 1: So this building isn't sinking?
- 11:46Speaker 2: No, it's not sinking.
- 11:48Speaker 1: Did you hear that, folks? This building isn't sinking. And
- 11:52Speaker 1: this is, would you say to a certain extent it's,
- 11:56Speaker 1: I don't, is it a minor issue what they're fixing?
- 12:00Speaker 2: In fact, I even.
- 12:01Speaker 1: And fixable.
- 12:02Speaker 2: Yes, I even called on my own A1 concrete leveling
- 12:05Speaker 2: because they were talking about how the slab had to
- 12:08Speaker 2: be all torn out and everything else. And I just
- 12:10Speaker 2: thought that was excessive and it really didn't need it,
- 12:13Speaker 2: especially when it was so minor. And so I talked
- 12:17Speaker 2: to them and they said all they do is a
- 12:18Speaker 2: slurry mix of concrete.
- 12:21Speaker 1: To raise it.
- 12:22Speaker 2: Yes, they fill the voids that are there from the
- 12:25Speaker 2: hydrostatic pressure. They fill it with this liquid-type concrete. They
- 12:28Speaker 2: drill holes, little one-inch holes all over as many as needed,
- 12:32Speaker 2: and they take care of it, and it's very inexpensive,
- 12:34Speaker 2: and it's easy to fix.
- 12:37Speaker 1: And that could solve the problem.
- 12:38Speaker 2: Yes.
- 12:39Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, Bobby. If we did
- 12:41Speaker 1: that and took the wall down, problem solved?
- 12:45Speaker 2: Well, or just try and develop weep holes and more
- 12:48Speaker 2: drainage behind the wall, too.
- 12:50Speaker 1: Okay, but there's a solution to this.
- 12:52Speaker 2: There's always a solution.
- 12:52Speaker 1: Other than let's abandon a building and let's build a
- 12:55Speaker 1: new building.
- 12:56Speaker 2: Right, but that was her... This is all... It's all
- 13:01Speaker 2: contrived just to get her to do... I think she's
- 13:04Speaker 2: mad at Poland and she despises us because we stood
- 13:07Speaker 2: up to her when she tore out all the bricks
- 13:09Speaker 2: in the back off the meeting room because she said
- 13:12Speaker 2: they were settling and the bricks, believe it or not,
- 13:15Speaker 2: she said, are not ADA compliant. Now, bricks have been...
- 13:19Speaker 2: The bricks are ADA compliant as long as they're level
- 13:23Speaker 2: and things like this. And so there's no problem with
- 13:25Speaker 2: the bricks, but she used that as an excuse and
- 13:27Speaker 2: tore out all the bricks in the back of the
- 13:30Speaker 2: meeting room. And that was a gift from the Moransky
- 13:32Speaker 2: family of $ 25, 000 for that brick terrace behind the meeting
- 13:37Speaker 2: room and also for the brick terrace at the outdoor cafe.
- 13:43Speaker 2: And she never got permits. She snuck this in. No
- 13:47Speaker 2: one even knew about it because it was behind the building.
- 13:51Speaker 2: And we were just livid.
- 13:53Speaker 1: She tore it out?
- 13:54Speaker 2: Yes, tore it out and poured this Pepto-Bismol colored concrete.
- 13:59Speaker 2: And it was just, it's absurd. And no one caught it.
- 14:03Speaker 2: And so it was done unbeknownst to us. She ended
- 14:06Speaker 2: up coming back because we were just livid. This is
- 14:08Speaker 2: where I think the The animosity in the relationship.
- 14:12Speaker 1: I'm even trying to fathom how that changes the appearance
- 14:15Speaker 1: of the building. Who wants to rip out? You know
- 14:19Speaker 1: the beauty of a brick patio? I don't know. I'm
- 14:23Speaker 1: kind of a shade tree architect, so just bear with me.
- 14:25Speaker 1: The beauty of that when you put that down? It's spectacular.
- 14:29Speaker 1: How is it not ADA compliant? You can roll on
- 14:32Speaker 1: it and everything.
- 14:32Speaker 2: If you have a settlement problem, what do you do?
- 14:34Speaker 1: You fix it. Put a little more fill under it. Yes.
- 14:38Speaker 2: And you can't do a thing with the concrete. And
- 14:41Speaker 2: so she did that, but she didn't only do the
- 14:43Speaker 2: back behind it. She did the entire back of the
- 14:45Speaker 2: building with the concrete. And it just– It doesn't look hideous.
- 14:50Speaker 2: It does. It ruins it. And her goal was to
- 14:53Speaker 2: remove all the rest of the bricks. But now she's
- 14:55Speaker 2: so gun-shy of the way– This is the reaction of
- 14:59Speaker 2: the town to her. She ended up at Christmastime when
- 15:02Speaker 2: she thought no one was looking. She had Kushner's Landscaping
- 15:04Speaker 2: come there and level all the rest of the bricks.
- 15:09Speaker 1: Problem solved.
- 15:10Speaker 2: Yeah, except for where she destroyed it. And the problem
- 15:13Speaker 2: we have is that brick company, because of COVID, Old
- 15:15Speaker 2: Virginia Brick Company, which is the brick we have everywhere
- 15:18Speaker 2: in Poland. It's on the clock tower. I use it everywhere.
- 15:21Speaker 1: Stand by. Let me do this break. You are going
- 15:24Speaker 1: to learn a lot, and I want you to stay tuned.
- 15:27Speaker 1: Bob Mastriana is with us, and we'll come back with
- 15:30Speaker 1: more after this. Stay tuned. Now, Ron Verb on NewsRadio
- 15:35Speaker 1: 570 WKBN. Well, I got a good program for you today.
- 15:39Speaker 1: Listen up if you live in Poland, and even if
- 15:42Speaker 1: you don't, I want you to hear what we're going
- 15:44Speaker 1: to be talking about here this afternoon. Welcome to Tuesday,
- 15:46Speaker 1: July 14th. It's hot, it's humid, it's 90 degrees, and
- 15:50Speaker 1: we're glad you're with us here this afternoon. And it's
- 15:52Speaker 1: my pleasure, incidentally, to introduce a guy that I know
- 15:54Speaker 1: you're going to want to listen to. I mean, I
- 15:56Speaker 1: know you want to listen to what this man has
- 15:58Speaker 1: to say. First, because he's a great architect. Let me
- 16:01Speaker 1: just say that. I get you to plead guilty to
- 16:04Speaker 1: being a great architect, number one, right?
- 16:06Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 16:06Speaker 1: Guilty as charged, right? If you go into Poland and
- 16:10Speaker 1: look at that spectacular Walgreens, as I said to you,
- 16:13Speaker 1: it's like no other Walgreens I've ever seen anywhere else
- 16:17Speaker 1: when you go into Poland. And I said... Boy, that's
- 16:20Speaker 1: really unique. And who designed that?
- 16:22Speaker 2: Someone I know. They called from all over Portland, Oregon, everywhere.
- 16:27Speaker 2: They wanted to know how we got Walgreens to do
- 16:29Speaker 2: this because they never have done that in the entire
- 16:31Speaker 2: country but for little old Poland.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Right. And you took care of that, right? I mean,
- 16:36Speaker 1: it is really spectacular when you look at that. And
- 16:40Speaker 1: then if you look at the Poland Library, if you
- 16:42Speaker 1: look at it, it is absolutely spectacular. I mean, it
- 16:47Speaker 1: is absolutely spectacular. And guess who designed that? It's the
- 16:50Speaker 1: one and only Bob Mastriana, who's sitting right in that
- 16:53Speaker 1: chair right over there, the architect that has done so
- 16:56Speaker 1: many great things in our community. Now, I want you
- 17:00Speaker 1: guys to pay attention to this because there's a lot
- 17:02Speaker 1: here to talk about. I'm going to ask you in
- 17:05Speaker 1: the beginning of the program, then I'm going to go
- 17:06Speaker 1: back and get some of the history of it. What
- 17:09Speaker 1: is the problem with the Poland Library right now, with
- 17:11Speaker 1: the library itself? group says, what, it's sinking? What's the issue?
- 17:16Speaker 2: Well, maybe you can tell me the problem, because there
- 17:18Speaker 2: is none. And that's what's so absurd. They're making a
- 17:21Speaker 2: mountain out of a molehill. The library is built on bedrock.
- 17:27Speaker 2: On bedrock. You couldn't have a better foundation than that.
- 17:30Speaker 2: We had John Cernick, the number one soils engineer. He
- 17:33Speaker 2: was the dean of the School of Engineering in Youngstown State.
- 17:37Speaker 2: He wrote seven books on on the design of foundations
- 17:42Speaker 2: and that. He was the overseer of the foundation for
- 17:44Speaker 2: the Poland Library, and there was absolutely no problem. And
- 17:47Speaker 2: so for 20-some years, there was no problems, and all
- 17:50Speaker 2: of a sudden, this new director gets in, and all
- 17:53Speaker 2: of a sudden, there's problems there. But before she came,
- 17:57Speaker 2: what they had done is they didn't listen to me.
- 18:01Speaker 2: I heard through the grapevine that because of the flooding
- 18:03Speaker 2: in Boardman Township, we had a little bit of water
- 18:06Speaker 2: in the library, it flooded, down Yellow Creek. And Yellow Creek,
- 18:09Speaker 2: where it meets the library, chokes. The creek gets very
- 18:12Speaker 2: narrow and chokes. It's a 90-degree turn, and then it
- 18:14Speaker 2: goes down to the rest of the creek. And what
- 18:19Speaker 2: happened is they thought they would be able to control
- 18:24Speaker 2: that by building this concrete wall. And they built it
- 18:27Speaker 2: on top of bedrock, but evidently they didn't design it
- 18:30Speaker 2: with enough weep holes and drainage behind it. And so
- 18:33Speaker 2: what happened is All these years there was no problems
- 18:36Speaker 2: after we had left the job, and then all of
- 18:38Speaker 2: a sudden they discovered there's some raising of the floor. Well,
- 18:43Speaker 2: what happened is that the– and I checked with the
- 18:45Speaker 2: geotechnical engineers and that. What happened is they sealed the
- 18:50Speaker 2: wall to the bedrock where it would naturally migrate the
- 18:53Speaker 2: water underneath the building into the creek because that's the
- 18:57Speaker 2: natural water course. And so what they did is they
- 18:59Speaker 2: sealed it, and so the water started backing up. and
- 19:04Speaker 2: it's only 10 feet off the corner of that building.
- 19:06Speaker 2: And so what happened is the water backed up, and
- 19:08Speaker 2: it caused such hydrostatic pressure working its way back under
- 19:12Speaker 2: the building that it had no way to relief itself,
- 19:16Speaker 2: and it ended up raising the floor in the back
- 19:19Speaker 2: corner of the Friends work area and mechanical, completely out
- 19:24Speaker 2: of the public's domain and things like this, and it
- 19:26Speaker 2: raised it an inch to, they're saying three inches, but
- 19:30Speaker 2: what I've seen is only an inch and a half
- 19:32Speaker 2: or less. And so they made such a big do
- 19:35Speaker 2: about that that that was why they had to think
- 19:38Speaker 2: about all the structural issues with the building. The other
- 19:41Speaker 2: thing that they have been negligent on is the fact
- 19:44Speaker 2: that they never maintain the building. So it's 26 years
- 19:47Speaker 2: old now, and it's never been painted. It's never had
- 19:52Speaker 2: any repair work done on it. It's never had any
- 19:55Speaker 2: love and care that any normal person would do for
- 19:58Speaker 2: their own home or for themselves.
- 20:00Speaker 1: If you didn't do that to your home, look how
- 20:01Speaker 1: it would deteriorate.
- 20:02Speaker 4: No.
- 20:02Speaker 2: Yes, or even ourselves. How did we deter it?
- 20:06Speaker 1: Well, take a.
- 20:07Speaker 2: Look at me. So they never maintained the building, and
- 20:09Speaker 2: that was a disgrace with the investors.
- 20:13Speaker 1: 26 years? Yes, yes. Never painted it, never maintained it?
- 20:17Speaker 2: No, they power washed a little bit by the back entranceway.
- 20:22Speaker 2: They power washed that because I was criticizing them. The globes,
- 20:26Speaker 2: if you can believe this, those beautiful Nantucket globes, that
- 20:30Speaker 2: I used because I wanted to replicate the ship's lantern
- 20:33Speaker 2: with the water there in Yellow Creek. They were so
- 20:35Speaker 2: black you couldn't even see the bulbs, and you could
- 20:37Speaker 2: never even tell if they were on. The clock tower,
- 20:40Speaker 2: the clock in the clock tower, which is the same
- 20:42Speaker 2: clock we have in Peterson Park right in front of it,
- 20:46Speaker 2: for two years it wouldn't work. She wouldn't spend the
- 20:49Speaker 2: money to have a verdant clock company come and fix it.
- 20:53Speaker 2: I mean, it's just been the comedy of errors, and
- 20:55Speaker 2: they've done nothing to protect it and enhance it. She's
- 21:00Speaker 2: not the only administrator. Other ones before her have the
- 21:03Speaker 2: same thing. It seems like they don't have enough intelligence
- 21:06Speaker 2: to develop a maintenance program so that they would know
- 21:10Speaker 2: what they're putting in. So when they talk about the
- 21:13Speaker 2: monies that this is costing per year to maintain it,
- 21:16Speaker 2: it's all a rouge. And they only talk about 24
- 21:19Speaker 2: and 25. It's because those are the worst years, but
- 21:22Speaker 2: all the other years we've been asking for two years now,
- 21:25Speaker 2: we want to see the records of all the maintenance
- 21:27Speaker 2: for the library, and they've refused to turn them over
- 21:30Speaker 2: because we know they spent nothing. And it's really sad
- 21:33Speaker 2: because when they go to the county commissioners to ask
- 21:36Speaker 2: to be put on the levy, the number one thing
- 21:39Speaker 2: that's on that request is for maintenance. And so they're
- 21:42Speaker 2: telling the public who are voting for it because of
- 21:45Speaker 2: the levy that this is going to help maintain the
- 21:48Speaker 2: library systems, not just Poland but all of them, they
- 21:51Speaker 2: don't approve. practice what they peach and they don't end
- 21:56Speaker 2: up doing the maintenance that they're required to do.
- 21:58Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, Bob. Are you saying
- 22:01Speaker 1: that if they wouldn't have built that wall, the concrete wall,
- 22:04Speaker 1: because of Yellow Creek making that thing, if they would
- 22:08Speaker 1: have never built that wall, the back of the library
- 22:10Speaker 1: wouldn't have raised?
- 22:11Speaker 2: Exactly.
- 22:13Speaker 1: So that was the mistake?
- 22:14Speaker 2: And the library did it. It wasn't the architects. We
- 22:17Speaker 2: were long gone from the building. But when I heard
- 22:19Speaker 2: about it..
- 22:20Speaker 1: Do they think maybe they should ask you?
- 22:22Speaker 2: Well... Yeah, you would think. They didn't ask me about
- 22:24Speaker 2: that refresh where they ruined the interiors and all the
- 22:28Speaker 2: gorgeous furniture.
- 22:29Speaker 1: Well, we'll get to that.
- 22:30Speaker 2: Anyway, so what I did is I tried to stop
- 22:33Speaker 2: them from doing it, but they had already spent the
- 22:35Speaker 2: money for the engineering.
- 22:37Speaker 1: To put this wall in.
- 22:38Speaker 2: Yes, and so they wouldn't listen. But I, on my own,
- 22:40Speaker 2: called the Army Corps of Engineers to find out what
- 22:42Speaker 2: else we could do without doing the wall. And they
- 22:45Speaker 2: said we could widen out the creek there if we
- 22:48Speaker 2: worked on the banks and not in the water. And
- 22:51Speaker 2: then what– That would have allowed us. And then all
- 22:54Speaker 2: we needed to do was to work with the neighbor
- 22:56Speaker 2: next door who had a very low side yard that
- 22:59Speaker 2: actually is at the water level. And he can't mow it.
- 23:02Speaker 2: He doesn't do anything with it. It just sits idle.
- 23:04Speaker 2: So he would have probably, I heard now, if he
- 23:07Speaker 2: had been asked, he would have donated to the town
- 23:11Speaker 2: and the library. And what would have been the result
- 23:14Speaker 2: is we would have had a beautiful pond there, a nice,
- 23:16Speaker 2: gorgeous pond off the adult reading area. And it could
- 23:20Speaker 2: have been frozen if we ever have freezing again.
- 23:24Speaker 1: And we wouldn't have the water issues at all. No, no, no.
- 23:27Speaker 1: So these water issues could have totally been avoided if
- 23:30Speaker 1: somebody would have said, let's go ask the architect before
- 23:34Speaker 1: we build this wall.
- 23:35Speaker 2: Right.
- 23:35Speaker 1: Or what are our options? Yes. All of this water stuff.
- 23:39Speaker 2: Because there was never a problem.
- 23:40Speaker 1: Right. But they created a problem by doing it.
- 23:43Speaker 2: They did it.
- 23:43Speaker 1: Yes.
- 23:44Speaker 2: Just like they created a problem with the whole building
- 23:46Speaker 2: because they never maintained it. Everything that's a problem, and
- 23:50Speaker 2: this is why they're trying to disguise all of their
- 23:53Speaker 2: incompetence in what they've done by blaming it on someone
- 23:56Speaker 2: else and we're the natural one. So that thing about
- 23:58Speaker 2: design deficiencies and construction deficiencies is totally a flagrant lie.
- 24:03Speaker 2: I was there every day, normally in architectism, but I
- 24:07Speaker 2: was there every single day watching to make sure everything
- 24:10Speaker 2: was done. And every load of gravel that was brought
- 24:15Speaker 2: in was not active or anything. And we specified gravel
- 24:20Speaker 2: because that's what John Cernico says you always do. You
- 24:22Speaker 2: never use that slag because you don't know if it's
- 24:24Speaker 2: active or not. But the standard slag called when they
- 24:28Speaker 2: heard they were being accused of this, and they called,
- 24:30Speaker 2: and I talked to their head of the quality control,
- 24:35Speaker 2: and he said, Bob, there's no way we would ever,
- 24:38Speaker 2: ever deliver an active group of slags. So what I
- 24:42Speaker 2: think happened is that the... What I think happened is
- 24:47Speaker 2: the corner of this is where the library parking lot was.
- 24:52Speaker 2: Because if you look at the picture I brought you,
- 24:54Speaker 2: the library is way back, the original library that we
- 24:57Speaker 2: tore down. It was way behind the historic building that
- 25:00Speaker 2: was out front. And that was not part of the building,
- 25:03Speaker 2: but that was part of the parking lot. And when
- 25:05Speaker 2: we excavated, we took the building, we took all the
- 25:07Speaker 2: excavation out to a certain level, but we only excavated
- 25:12Speaker 2: it down to the bedrock. for the footers and foundation,
- 25:16Speaker 2: but then in the area between inside the foundation slab,
- 25:20Speaker 2: we just excavated what was necessary so that we could
- 25:22Speaker 2: be at the lower level of the panoramic building and
- 25:25Speaker 2: so that the first floor would all match, okay? So
- 25:28Speaker 2: this evidently was some material left over from the previous
- 25:32Speaker 2: library that was below our scope of work area and
- 25:35Speaker 2: it was accidentally or just not consciously, we didn't know
- 25:40Speaker 2: it was even there and it was never a problem.
- 25:42Speaker 2: So it really didn't matter if they hadn't built that
- 25:45Speaker 2: wall because it didn't for 20 some years.
- 25:47Speaker 1: Right. So, so are you paying attention to this folks?
- 25:51Speaker 1: I want everybody in Mahoning County to hear this because
- 25:55Speaker 1: as you're talking to me, I'm just getting more pissed.
- 25:56Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you right off the bat.
- 25:58Speaker 1: No offense. I mean, so, so listen to what, listen
- 26:02Speaker 1: to what he said. I can't get over this. Now
- 26:05Speaker 1: there wasn't any maintenance done to this building for 26 years.
- 26:08Speaker 1: Did you tell me?
- 26:09Speaker 2: Well, as of today, 26, yeah.
- 26:11Speaker 1: 26 years. So can you imagine, folks, if over 26
- 26:14Speaker 1: years you did zero maintenance on your house? You didn't
- 26:17Speaker 1: do any maintenance on it. So they didn't do– this
- 26:21Speaker 1: frustrates me so much with anything doing with governments, the
- 26:25Speaker 1: lack of maintenance, and then all of a sudden it's, well,
- 26:27Speaker 1: we can't do anything with this facility. We've got to
- 26:29Speaker 1: tear it down and start new. So 26 years they
- 26:32Speaker 1: didn't do any maintenance on this building. For the longest
- 26:36Speaker 1: period of time, you didn't have any water issues. The
- 26:38Speaker 1: floor wasn't moving at all.
- 26:39Speaker 3: None.
- 26:40Speaker 1: And it's built on bedrock. I just want everybody to know.
- 26:43Speaker 1: So then they put in this wall, which was a
- 26:46Speaker 1: mistake to begin with, which ultimately put pressure underneath the building.
- 26:54Speaker 1: I'm going to use a technical term. Tell me if
- 26:56Speaker 1: I'm right or not. Hydrostatic pressure?
- 26:57Speaker 6: Exactly.
- 26:58Speaker 1: Exactly. Well, let me sit a little higher in my chair.
- 27:02Speaker 1: So it put hydrostatic pressure of the water under the building,
- 27:06Speaker 1: and that raised the floor.
- 27:08Speaker 2: Right. And only the part that was closest to the
- 27:10Speaker 2: creek raised. But you listen to them and the way
- 27:13Speaker 2: they've talked about it, the whole building is settling, and
- 27:18Speaker 2: there's a structural problem.
- 27:20Speaker 1: So this building isn't sinking?
- 27:22Speaker 2: No, it's not sinking.
- 27:24Speaker 1: Did you hear that, folks? This building isn't sinking. And
- 27:28Speaker 1: this is, would you say to a certain extent, it's,
- 27:32Speaker 1: I don't, is it a minor issue, what they're fixing?
- 27:36Speaker 2: In fact, I even.
- 27:37Speaker 1: And fixable.
- 27:38Speaker 2: Yes, I even called on my own A1 concrete leveling
- 27:41Speaker 2: because they were talking about how the slab had to
- 27:44Speaker 2: be all torn out and everything else. And I just
- 27:46Speaker 2: thought that was excessive and it really didn't need it,
- 27:49Speaker 2: especially when it was so minor. And so I talked
- 27:53Speaker 2: to them and they said all they do is a
- 27:54Speaker 2: slurry mix of concrete.
- 27:57Speaker 1: To raise it.
- 27:58Speaker 2: Yes, they fill the voids that are there from the
- 28:01Speaker 2: hydrostatic pressure. They fill it with this liquid-type concrete. They
- 28:04Speaker 2: drill holes, little one-inch holes all over as many as needed,
- 28:08Speaker 2: and they take care of it, and it's very inexpensive,
- 28:10Speaker 2: and it's easy to fix.
- 28:13Speaker 1: And that could solve the problem.
- 28:14Speaker 2: Yes.
- 28:15Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, Bobby. If we did
- 28:17Speaker 1: that and took the wall down, problem solved?
- 28:21Speaker 2: Well, or just try and develop weep holes and more
- 28:24Speaker 2: drainage behind the.
- 28:25Speaker 1: Wall, too. Okay, but there's a solution to this. Other
- 28:29Speaker 1: than let's abandon a building and let's build a new building.
- 28:32Speaker 2: Right, but that was her... This is all... It's all
- 28:37Speaker 2: contrived just to get her to do... I think she's
- 28:41Speaker 2: mad at Poland and she despises us because we stood
- 28:43Speaker 2: up to her when she tore out all the bricks
- 28:45Speaker 2: in the back off the meeting room because she said
- 28:48Speaker 2: they were settling and the bricks, believe it or not,
- 28:51Speaker 2: she said, are not ADA compliant. Now, bricks have been
- 28:55Speaker 2: The bricks are ADA compliant as long as they're level
- 28:59Speaker 2: and things like this. And so there's no problem with
- 29:01Speaker 2: the bricks, but she used that as an excuse and
- 29:03Speaker 2: tore at all the bricks in the back of the
- 29:06Speaker 2: meeting room. And that was a gift from the Moransky
- 29:08Speaker 2: family of $ 25, 000 for that brick terrace behind the meeting
- 29:13Speaker 2: room and also for the brick terrace at the outdoor cafe.
- 29:19Speaker 2: And her goal, and she never got permits. She snuck
- 29:22Speaker 2: this in. No one even knew about it because it
- 29:24Speaker 2: was behind the building. And we were just livid.
- 29:29Speaker 1: She tore it out?
- 29:31Speaker 2: Yes, tore it out and poured this Pepto-Bismol colored concrete.
- 29:35Speaker 2: And it was just, it's absurd. And no one caught it.
- 29:39Speaker 2: And so it was done unbeknownst to us. She ended
- 29:42Speaker 2: up coming back because we were just livid. This is
- 29:44Speaker 2: where I think the The animosity in the relationship.
- 29:48Speaker 1: I'm even trying to fathom how that changes the appearance
- 29:51Speaker 1: of the building. Who wants to rip out? You know
- 29:55Speaker 1: the beauty of a brick patio? I don't know. I'm
- 29:59Speaker 1: kind of a shade tree architect, so just bear with me.
- 30:01Speaker 1: The beauty of that, when you put that down, it's spectacular.
- 30:05Speaker 1: How is it not ADA compliant? You can roll on
- 30:08Speaker 1: it and everything. Absolutely.
- 30:08Speaker 2: If you have a settlement problem, what do you do?
- 30:10Speaker 1: You fix it. Put a little more fill under it. Yes.
- 30:14Speaker 2: Yes, and you can't do a thing with the concrete.
- 30:16Speaker 2: And so she did that, but she didn't only do
- 30:19Speaker 2: the back behind it. She did the entire back of
- 30:21Speaker 2: the building with the concrete. And it just– That looked hideous.
- 30:26Speaker 1: It does. It ruins it.
- 30:28Speaker 2: And her goal was to remove all the rest of
- 30:30Speaker 2: the bricks. But now she's so gun-shy of the way this–
- 30:34Speaker 2: the reaction of the town to her. She ended up
- 30:37Speaker 2: at Christmastime when she thought no one was looking. She
- 30:39Speaker 2: had Kushner's Landscaping come there and level all the rest
- 30:42Speaker 2: of the bricks.
- 30:45Speaker 1: Problem solved.
- 30:46Speaker 2: Yeah, except for where she destroyed it. And the problem
- 30:49Speaker 2: we have is that brick company, because of COVID, Old
- 30:51Speaker 2: Virginia Brick Company, which is the brick we have everywhere
- 30:54Speaker 2: in Poland. It's on the clock tower. I use it everywhere.
- 30:57Speaker 1: Stand by. Let me do this break. You are going
- 31:00Speaker 1: to learn a lot, and I want you to stay tuned.
- 31:03Speaker 1: Bob Mastriana is with us, and we'll come back with
- 31:06Speaker 1: more after this. Stay tuned. In need of shredding services?
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- 32:01Speaker 1: Call 1-800-433-8577.
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- 32:01Speaker 1: Certain restrictions apply. Call for details. If you run a
- 32:11Speaker 1: business and need to get your message, Youngstown's News, Weather,
- 32:15Speaker 1: and Talk Station, 570-WKBN. All right, I want all of
- 32:19Speaker 1: you to pay attention as we go along here today
- 32:22Speaker 1: because you will learn a lot that you don't know
- 32:25Speaker 1: that isn't getting covered. Sitting over there is Bob Mastriana.
- 32:28Speaker 1: He is an architect. He is the guy that designed
- 32:31Speaker 1: the Poland Library. Anything that's beautiful in our community, you designed.
- 32:36Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just going to tell it the way
- 32:38Speaker 1: it is. You are really spectacular at what you do.
- 32:41Speaker 1: I mean, you know.
- 32:41Speaker 2: I care.
- 32:42Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you really got to, you are really
- 32:45Speaker 1: terrific at what you do. So I want all of
- 32:48Speaker 1: you to listen, and I review things as we go along.
- 32:51Speaker 1: But this idea to rip out these, I want to
- 32:54Speaker 1: go back to these bricks that were expensive to buy,
- 32:57Speaker 1: put in. She ripped it out, put in concrete. And
- 33:02Speaker 1: so didn't we. Yeah, pink concrete or whatever it is.
- 33:05Speaker 1: And the rest of the bricks, there was such an
- 33:09Speaker 1: outcry that she left them, and they simply leveled them.
- 33:12Speaker 1: It's an easy thing to do to make sure that
- 33:14Speaker 1: they're level if you get any settling.
- 33:16Speaker 6: Right.
- 33:17Speaker 2: That's the end of the bricks versus concrete. Concrete you
- 33:20Speaker 2: can't fix. You have to replace.
- 33:21Speaker 1: And the only part of the library, nothing is– the
- 33:23Speaker 1: library isn't settling, as they like you to think, sinking,
- 33:27Speaker 1: as I've heard. You only got one section.
- 33:29Speaker 2: Right.
- 33:30Speaker 1: It's got, because of hydrostatic pressure, is lifted because of
- 33:33Speaker 1: a wall they put in incorrectly to divert Yellow Creek.
- 33:38Speaker 1: And this is an easy problem to fix, totally.
- 33:41Speaker 2: The other thing is the bricks.
- 33:43Speaker 1: Just bear with me for one minute. So when you
- 33:45Speaker 1: approach this with the director of the library and with
- 33:49Speaker 1: the board, now you've talked to me for 26 minutes
- 33:52Speaker 1: and I fully understand everything that you've said. You can
- 33:55Speaker 1: explain things as an architect so I can understand them.
- 33:58Speaker 1: So it's a simple decision. Well, let's change a wall
- 34:01Speaker 1: and let's fix this. Problem solved. Right, right. Why isn't
- 34:05Speaker 1: that happening?
- 34:08Speaker 2: Because she doesn't want it to. So we convinced her
- 34:13Speaker 2: that she dare not touch one more brick in that place.
- 34:17Speaker 2: And they also had, she went to the design review board.
- 34:22Speaker 2: And she tried to convince them that what she was
- 34:24Speaker 2: doing was acceptable. And it is, and it's clearly spelled
- 34:27Speaker 2: out in the zoning code. You have to match the
- 34:29Speaker 2: existing materials that are there. But she tried to convince
- 34:33Speaker 2: them that she could stain it, keep restaining it to
- 34:35Speaker 2: the color that would be acceptable to the town. But
- 34:38Speaker 2: she had to keep waiting for the weather to get
- 34:41Speaker 2: conducive to that. And so they had a big meeting,
- 34:45Speaker 2: and the architectural review board turned down her proposal five zip. Okay,
- 34:52Speaker 2: and so she was left.
- 34:53Speaker 1: Well, you know how bad that would look. You're telling
- 34:56Speaker 1: me I'll stain this concrete so it looks like the
- 35:00Speaker 1: brick over there.
- 35:00Speaker 2: Yeah, which you can't do.
- 35:01Speaker 1: Right.
- 35:02Speaker 2: So what she did is then, so then what they
- 35:05Speaker 2: did is they did a curve, a ruse, where they
- 35:09Speaker 2: tried to get the direction of the town away from
- 35:13Speaker 2: the bricks, and then they said they can't deal with
- 35:16Speaker 2: any of those other issues of the library because of
- 35:19Speaker 2: the structural conditions they just discovered. And so the big
- 35:23Speaker 2: meeting that was supposed to be to resolve the brick
- 35:26Speaker 2: issue was tabled until, because they didn't know what was
- 35:30Speaker 2: going to happen to the library because of all these
- 35:32Speaker 2: structural problems that they said existed, which was a lie.
- 35:38Speaker 1: So what structural issues are they claiming exist?
- 35:40Speaker 2: The same ones. The heaving, the active slag, and things
- 35:44Speaker 2: like this.
- 35:44Speaker 1: In that one little section? Yes. But the rest of
- 35:46Speaker 1: the library is fine?
- 35:47Speaker 2: Yes, except for the areas that they didn't maintain. And
- 35:50Speaker 2: now that's the trellis, the pergolas. They're just letting everything deteriorate,
- 35:54Speaker 2: and they'll never spend the money to replace all those timbers.
- 35:58Speaker 2: They don't get them covered up. And I've told them
- 36:00Speaker 2: for years to put a flashing on them and things.
- 36:03Speaker 1: But if they had— Zero maintenance for 26 years.
- 36:07Speaker 2: Right.
- 36:08Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
- 36:10Speaker 2: So all of this has been created by the library
- 36:14Speaker 2: director and the board. I've gone through three or four directions.
- 36:17Speaker 1: Are there any architects on the board? No. Okay, I
- 36:21Speaker 1: just want to talk about this board. We don't have
- 36:23Speaker 1: any architects on the board. Do we have anybody that
- 36:25Speaker 1: understands building on the board? So we have people making
- 36:29Speaker 1: decisions on the library board. We have a director of
- 36:32Speaker 1: this library who's from Arizona originally, not from our area,
- 36:37Speaker 1: making big money when she comes here. She comes here
- 36:42Speaker 1: for this big money, who's going to dictate to the
- 36:44Speaker 1: citizens of Poland that That we have to– got to
- 36:48Speaker 1: change this instead of fix it. Fixing it is just
- 36:51Speaker 1: too damn costly, and it's just better to go build
- 36:55Speaker 1: a new one. Right.
- 36:56Speaker 2: And the increase that they've been paying them for all
- 36:58Speaker 2: of their additional administrative people they have, 17 people now.
- 37:04Speaker 1: That they've added?
- 37:05Speaker 2: Yes, that they've added. And eight of them are CFOs.
- 37:10Speaker 2: She gave them all titles so that she was insulated
- 37:12Speaker 2: and not– can't be blamed on anything. So she has
- 37:16Speaker 2: now heads of construction, heads of publicity, anything you could
- 37:23Speaker 2: think of, she has them. And then she has assistants
- 37:25Speaker 2: under them.
- 37:26Speaker 1: So she has hired a bunch of other people and
- 37:29Speaker 1: paid them good? Yes. Stand by. Let me do a break.
- 37:32Speaker 1: We're just getting started here. I might need to, I'm
- 37:37Speaker 1: already fuming, I just want you to know. Back with
- 37:39Speaker 1: Bob Mastriana in a minute. All right, I want all
- 37:46Speaker 1: of you to pay attention as we go along here today.
- 37:49Speaker 1: Because you will learn a lot that you don't know
- 37:52Speaker 1: that isn't getting covered. Sitting over there, Bob Mastriana, he
- 37:56Speaker 1: is an architect. He is the guy that designed the
- 37:59Speaker 1: Poland Library. Anything that's beautiful in our community, you designed.
- 38:03Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just going to tell it the way
- 38:05Speaker 1: it is. You are really spectacular at what you do.
- 38:08Speaker 1: I mean, you know.
- 38:08Speaker 2: I care.
- 38:09Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 38:10Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 38:10Speaker 1: I mean, you really got to you are really terrific
- 38:13Speaker 1: at what you do. So I want I want all
- 38:15Speaker 1: of you to listen. I review things as we go along.
- 38:18Speaker 1: But this idea to rip out these I want to
- 38:21Speaker 1: go back to these bricks that were expensive to buy,
- 38:25Speaker 1: put in. She ripped it out, put in concrete and
- 38:29Speaker 1: and pink concrete or whatever it is. And the rest
- 38:35Speaker 1: of the bricks, there was such an outcry that she
- 38:37Speaker 1: left them and they simply leveled them. It's an easy
- 38:40Speaker 1: thing to do. Right. To make sure that they're level
- 38:42Speaker 1: if you get any settling.
- 38:43Speaker 6: Right.
- 38:44Speaker 2: That's bricks versus concrete.
- 38:46Speaker 6: Concrete.
- 38:46Speaker 2: Concrete you can't fix. You have to replace.
- 38:48Speaker 1: And the only part of the library, nothing is... The
- 38:51Speaker 1: library isn't settling, as they like you to think. Sinking,
- 38:54Speaker 1: as I've heard. You only got one section. It's got...
- 38:58Speaker 1: Because of hydrostatic pressure is lifted because of a wall
- 39:01Speaker 1: they put in incorrectly to divert Yellow Creek.
- 39:05Speaker 6: Yes.
- 39:05Speaker 1: And this is an easy problem to fix.
- 39:08Speaker 6: Yes.
- 39:08Speaker 1: Totally.
- 39:08Speaker 2: The other thing is the bricks..
- 39:10Speaker 1: Just bear with me for one minute. So when you
- 39:12Speaker 1: approach this with... with the director of the library and
- 39:16Speaker 1: with the board. Now you've talked to me for 26
- 39:19Speaker 1: minutes and I fully understand everything that you've said. You
- 39:22Speaker 1: can explain things as an architect so I can understand them.
- 39:26Speaker 1: So it's a simple decision. Well, let's change a wall
- 39:28Speaker 1: and let's fix this. Problem solved. Right, right. Why isn't
- 39:32Speaker 1: that happening?
- 39:35Speaker 2: Because she doesn't want it to. So we convinced her
- 39:40Speaker 2: that she dare not touch one more brick in that place.
- 39:43Speaker 2: And they also had, she went to the design review
- 39:48Speaker 2: board And she tried to convince them that what she
- 39:51Speaker 2: was doing was acceptable. And it is, and it's clearly
- 39:54Speaker 2: spelled out in the zoning code. You have to match
- 39:56Speaker 2: the existing materials that are there. But she tried to
- 40:00Speaker 2: convince them that she could stain it, keep restaining it
- 40:02Speaker 2: to the color that would be acceptable to the town.
- 40:05Speaker 2: But she had to keep waiting for the weather to
- 40:08Speaker 2: get conducive to that. And so they had a big meeting,
- 40:12Speaker 2: and the architectural review board turned down her proposal five zip. Well,
- 40:19Speaker 2: you know.
- 40:21Speaker 1: How bad that would look. You're telling me I'll stain
- 40:24Speaker 1: this concrete so it looks like the brick over there.
- 40:28Speaker 2: Yeah, which you can't do.
- 40:29Speaker 1: Right.
- 40:32Speaker 2: So then what they did is they did a curve,
- 40:34Speaker 2: a ruse, where they tried to get the direction of
- 40:38Speaker 2: the town away from the bricks, and then they said
- 40:42Speaker 2: they can't deal with any of those other issues of
- 40:44Speaker 2: the library because of the structural conditions they just discovered.
- 40:49Speaker 2: And so the big meeting that was supposed to be
- 40:52Speaker 2: to resolve the brick issue was tabled until– because they
- 40:55Speaker 2: didn't know what was going to happen to the library
- 40:58Speaker 2: because of all these structural problems that they said existed,
- 41:02Speaker 2: which was a lie.
- 41:05Speaker 1: So what structural issues are they claiming exist?
- 41:07Speaker 2: The same one, the heaving, the active slag and things
- 41:11Speaker 2: like this.
- 41:11Speaker 1: In that one little section? Yes. But the rest of
- 41:13Speaker 1: the library is fine?
- 41:14Speaker 2: Yes, except for the areas that they didn't maintain. And
- 41:17Speaker 2: now that's the trellis, the pergolas. They're just letting everything deteriorate,
- 41:21Speaker 2: and they'll never spend the money to replace all those timbers.
- 41:25Speaker 2: They don't get them covered up. And I've told them
- 41:27Speaker 2: for years to put a flashing on them and things.
- 41:31Speaker 1: But if they had– Zero maintenance for 26 years.
- 41:34Speaker 2: Right. Yeah.
- 41:37Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 41:38Speaker 2: So all of this has been created by the library
- 41:41Speaker 2: director and the board. I've gone through three or four directors.
- 41:44Speaker 1: Are there any architects on the board? No. Okay, I
- 41:48Speaker 1: just want to talk about this board. We don't have
- 41:50Speaker 1: any architects on the board. Do we have anybody that
- 41:52Speaker 1: understands building on the board? So we have people making
- 41:56Speaker 1: decisions on the library board. We have a director of
- 41:59Speaker 1: this library who's from Arizona originally, not from our area,
- 42:04Speaker 1: making big money when she comes here. She comes here
- 42:09Speaker 1: for this big money, who's going to dictate to the
- 42:11Speaker 1: citizens of Poland that that we have to– got to
- 42:15Speaker 1: change this instead of fix it. Fixing it is just
- 42:18Speaker 1: too damn costly, and it's just better to go build
- 42:22Speaker 1: a new one. Right.
- 42:23Speaker 2: And the increase that they've been paying them for all
- 42:26Speaker 2: of their additional administrative people they have, 17 people now.
- 42:31Speaker 1: That they've added?
- 42:32Speaker 2: Yes, that they've added. And eight of them are CFOs.
- 42:37Speaker 2: She gave them all titles so that she was insulated
- 42:39Speaker 2: and not– Can't be blamed on anything. So she has
- 42:43Speaker 2: now heads of construction, heads of publicity. Anything you could
- 42:50Speaker 2: think of, she has them. And then she has assistants
- 42:52Speaker 2: under them.
- 42:53Speaker 1: So she has hired a bunch of other people and
- 42:56Speaker 1: paid them good?
- 42:57Speaker 6: Yes.
- 42:58Speaker 1: Stand by. Let me do a break. We're just getting
- 43:00Speaker 1: started here. I might need to– I'm already fuming. I
- 43:05Speaker 1: just want you to know. Back with Bob Mastriana in
- 43:07Speaker 1: a minute. Let's start here. So good morning and welcome.
- 43:09Speaker 6: We are now underway.
- 43:11Speaker 1: We're following the events of the day. What we're just
- 43:14Speaker 1: now hearing about.
- 43:14Speaker 2: This is new information.
- 43:16Speaker 1: Throughout the day.
- 43:17Speaker 2: Good day. This is where it stands now.
- 43:19Speaker 1: Pick up the conversation. We'll talk about what's happening. Anytime.
- 43:23Speaker 1: The deal we reached with Iran. The devil's in the details.
- 43:25Speaker 1: Bringing the price of gasoline down. Maintain the Fed funds rate.
- 43:29Speaker 1: Tying Pfizer to the Save Act. NATO has been a
- 43:31Speaker 1: paper tiger for the very latest. We'll see how that
- 43:34Speaker 1: all plays out. News Radio 570 WKBN.
- 43:37Speaker 6: Bond is being denied for a man charged in connection
- 43:44Speaker 6: with the shooting deaths of three people in Cincinnati's Millvale neighborhood.
- 43:48Speaker 3: The victims were fatally shot at a Millvale Court birthday
- 43:51Speaker 3: party on June 20th. 62-year-old James Lewis has been indicted
- 43:54Speaker 3: on multiple counts of murder. Charges are being filed against
- 43:58Speaker 3: a driver who crashed into a new Cleveland business early Sunday.
- 44:02Speaker 3: ReadyLine Auto Detailing on Bel Air Road opened in January
- 44:05Speaker 3: of this year. Earlier this week, police say an intoxicated
- 44:08Speaker 3: driver crashed through their reception area. The driver faces charges,
- 44:12Speaker 3: including OVI. Bond is set at $ 3 million for a
- 44:16Speaker 3: man charged in the July 7th stabbing of a woman
- 44:18Speaker 3: in Canton. Julius Edwards is charged with attempted murder in
- 44:22Speaker 3: the attack on his girlfriend at a home on 15th
- 44:25Speaker 3: Street Southwest. He then led law enforcement in a car
- 44:28Speaker 3: chase through Summit County. I'm Andy Betts.
- 44:43Speaker 1: On News Radio 570 WKBN. I cannot believe what I
- 44:49Speaker 1: am hearing here this afternoon, folks. I mean, you know,
- 44:53Speaker 1: what Bob Mastriana is saying, this man is an architect.
- 44:58Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you come from a family
- 45:00Speaker 1: of them. The 4M Architects is you guys' company, right? Right.
- 45:04Speaker 1: I mean, so 4M is you. So these are all architects.
- 45:08Speaker 1: So you know what you're talking about. You're sitting here saying,
- 45:13Speaker 1: Think of what he's saying, folks. Now, first of all,
- 45:17Speaker 1: this is what really grates me. And I say this
- 45:19Speaker 1: on the air all the time, and I will say
- 45:21Speaker 1: it again. This is your property tax dollars that they're
- 45:24Speaker 1: taking from me. And I've said it before, and I'll
- 45:27Speaker 1: say it to you eyeball to eyeball. The library has
- 45:29Speaker 1: more money than they know what to do with. They
- 45:31Speaker 1: have more money than they know what to do with.
- 45:34Speaker 1: And quite frankly, their biggest problem is the same as WRTA.
- 45:37Speaker 1: How do we spend this money every year? So she,
- 45:41Speaker 1: as a director, which is compensated well, has hired 17
- 45:45Speaker 1: people to be around her as assistants or whatever this is.
- 45:50Speaker 1: So she's hired 17 people at big salaries and benefit packages. Mm-hmm.
- 45:56Speaker 1: Around her. So she's growing the top end of our
- 46:00Speaker 1: library system.
- 46:01Speaker 2: That's correct.
- 46:02Speaker 1: Okay.
- 46:02Speaker 2: They have right now, their salaries and benefits used to
- 46:07Speaker 2: be $ 9.
- 46:07Speaker 1: Million in 21.
- 46:08Speaker 2: Now it's over $ 15 million. $ 9 million in 21.
- 46:10Speaker 1: $ 15 million.
- 46:11Speaker 2: Five years later, it's how much? $ 15 million in salaries
- 46:14Speaker 2: and benefits. And so it used to be 50 percent
- 46:25Speaker 2: of their income was salaries and that. Now it's 75
- 46:28Speaker 2: percent of their income.
- 46:30Speaker 1: And it's just– 75 percent of their income is salaries
- 46:34Speaker 1: and benefits. Yes.
- 46:36Speaker 2: They're not even going to be able to continue paying
- 46:40Speaker 2: for libraries and things like this. So anyway, it's a
- 46:44Speaker 2: real problem.
- 46:44Speaker 1: Because they're hiring too many people.
- 46:47Speaker 2: But this is a matter to– and this was– In
- 46:49Speaker 2: the mic. It doesn't even include– the present year 26,
- 46:53Speaker 2: but as of 25, they have collected from we taxpayers
- 46:57Speaker 2: between the state library funding program, which they get $ 5 million,
- 47:02Speaker 2: or I'm sorry, $ 10 million a year from that, and
- 47:05Speaker 2: then they get $ 10 million a year from our local citizens' taxes.
- 47:10Speaker 2: And so they get in five years, that five-year levy
- 47:13Speaker 2: that they say is only 2.4 mils, provides them $ 100
- 47:15Speaker 2: million every five years. They get 50 from us and
- 47:22Speaker 2: 50 from the state. So $ 100 million every five years.
- 47:27Speaker 2: And they have right now in their kitty just under
- 47:30Speaker 2: $ 50 million sitting there in liquid funds.
- 47:34Speaker 1: Just so I can– I want everybody to listen to
- 47:36Speaker 1: understand what he's– they have $ 50 million in basically a
- 47:40Speaker 1: savings account. Of my tax dollars, because when you're talking
- 47:44Speaker 1: a state, that's my tax dollars. When you're talking a
- 47:46Speaker 1: local property, that's my tax dollars. They have $ 50 million
- 47:51Speaker 1: in a savings account drawing interest that they're not using.
- 47:54Speaker 1: That's my money. So when I talk about they're taxing
- 47:58Speaker 1: more money than they need, that's a shining example of it.
- 48:02Speaker 1: So what's the answer of how to spend money? We
- 48:05Speaker 1: just hire a bunch more people and we'll start spending
- 48:07Speaker 1: more on salary and benefits. Right, right. As opposed to
- 48:11Speaker 1: putting this into maybe doing some maintenance?
- 48:13Speaker 2: Yeah, but remember, for all that money we pay them,
- 48:16Speaker 2: we get free library services.
- 48:19Speaker 1: Isn't that what you always got? We don't even own
- 48:21Speaker 1: the buildings.
- 48:22Speaker 2: We just get free library services.
- 48:24Speaker 1: That's what you would always get. I know. It's absurd.
- 48:29Speaker 1: This is just amazing to me, what you're listening to.
- 48:34Speaker 1: The building that you designed, folks, if you haven't seen
- 48:37Speaker 1: the Poland Library, it is spectacular. It is absolutely breathtaking.
- 48:44Speaker 1: There isn't another one in Mahoning County like this one. Agreed? Agreed, yes.
- 48:49Speaker 2: It was better before she refreshed it, okay, with all
- 48:52Speaker 2: the traditional.
- 48:54Speaker 1: Explain that. Explain what she did to it when she
- 48:57Speaker 1: refreshed it.
- 48:57Speaker 2: When I saw in the news release that they were
- 49:00Speaker 2: refreshing the library, I immediately called and asked to see her.
- 49:04Speaker 2: And whoever was in charge of the project and that.
- 49:06Speaker 1: And who's making the decisions to refresh? Are they architects?
- 49:09Speaker 1: A guy like you that designed the building?
- 49:11Speaker 2: Yes, the library specialists who know everything about it. The
- 49:14Speaker 2: problem is she hired these architects who were contemporary. And
- 49:18Speaker 2: she hired them.
- 49:19Speaker 1: They're out of.
- 49:20Speaker 2: Cleveland, and they know nothing about or care about traditional design.
- 49:24Speaker 2: And so everything they did to the library destroyed the
- 49:28Speaker 2: historic integrity of the building, from the furniture, from the windows.
- 49:32Speaker 2: The wingback chairs, she got rid of these gorgeous wingback chairs.
- 49:36Speaker 2: Are you familiar with history in the wingback?
- 49:38Speaker 1: Yes.
- 49:38Speaker 2: They were because of the drafts in the houses. They
- 49:40Speaker 2: were so great that they had the wings on the
- 49:43Speaker 2: sides of the chairs so that they could sit back
- 49:45Speaker 2: in them and be protected from the winds of them.
- 49:48Speaker 2: And she got rid of them, and she said they
- 49:51Speaker 2: needed reupholstered. I said they didn't need reupholstered. They were leather, okay,
- 49:56Speaker 2: and they– And they last forever. Plus, they said, well,
- 49:58Speaker 2: it was a problem.
- 49:59Speaker 1: They age and they become more beautiful as time goes on.
- 50:02Speaker 2: And then also, so then she said, since I didn't
- 50:04Speaker 2: buy that, she said, well, it was for safety and
- 50:08Speaker 2: security because when they sit back in the chair, they
- 50:10Speaker 2: couldn't see their eyes and they didn't know what they
- 50:14Speaker 2: were planning on doing. So do you believe that? Who
- 50:17Speaker 2: could even come up with these lamps?
- 50:19Speaker 1: This is ridiculous.
- 50:21Speaker 2: And so she got rid of those. She got rid
- 50:22Speaker 2: of the Chippendale sofa. She got rid of. She was
- 50:26Speaker 2: the library director before her, got rid of the handmade
- 50:30Speaker 2: Windsor chairs. We had 300 of these Windsor chairs that
- 50:33Speaker 2: were worth $ 100, 000 and got rid of them. We don't
- 50:39Speaker 2: know where anything is. We heard through the rumor that
- 50:42Speaker 2: some of the furniture someone saw down at the Goodwill store,
- 50:46Speaker 2: and she would notify people. This is just a rumor,
- 50:49Speaker 2: so I don't know if it's true.
- 50:50Speaker 1: That it would be there. It would be a crime
- 50:54Speaker 1: if that was the case. I mean, that's just wrong.
- 50:55Speaker 2: Someone saw one of the library chairs in another person's
- 50:58Speaker 2: living room, and that's what then she found out where
- 51:01Speaker 2: she got it from. And so we went down to
- 51:04Speaker 2: Goodwill Store ourselves to see if we could find any more,
- 51:06Speaker 2: and there weren't any. But somehow these have disappeared, and
- 51:10Speaker 2: a lot of those were memorials that people donated, just
- 51:13Speaker 2: like the bus. My brother and I, In honor of
- 51:16Speaker 2: our parents, we donated $ 12, 000 to pay for all those busts.
- 51:20Speaker 2: So each of the big adult reading areas, we had
- 51:22Speaker 2: a hall of presidents, a hall of authors, and a
- 51:25Speaker 2: hall of mythological figures. So we had over 30-some busts
- 51:30Speaker 2: placed all around the building.
- 51:31Speaker 1: That your family donated the cost of?
- 51:33Speaker 2: Yes, our family donated. They were on the beam going
- 51:35Speaker 2: around it. Well, I asked them, what are they doing
- 51:40Speaker 2: with them? We can't leave them up there because they
- 51:43Speaker 2: collected too much dust.
- 51:47Speaker 1: You know, they actually make rags and stuff. You can
- 51:49Speaker 1: actually clean that. Did you know that? Bob, I'm not
- 51:52Speaker 1: an architect, but you can dust them.
- 51:54Speaker 2: I know, but they're the color of dust. They were white.
- 51:57Speaker 1: Who's going to know this? That's right.
- 51:59Speaker 2: So she had a plan, or their architects did. All
- 52:03Speaker 2: of this, they aren't intelligent enough to come up with
- 52:08Speaker 2: these ideas, and it was all instituted by those Cleveland
- 52:11Speaker 2: out-of-town contemporary architects. And unfortunately, they're the same ones she
- 52:15Speaker 2: used to design the new main library downtown, that they
- 52:19Speaker 2: spent $ 27 million to serve only 9% of the population.
- 52:24Speaker 2: Can you believe that?
- 52:25Speaker 1: $ 27 million to fix that.
- 52:27Speaker 2: To serve 9% of the population. And you know what's
- 52:29Speaker 2: happening now?
- 52:30Speaker 1: What?
- 52:31Speaker 2: Well, part of the problem..
- 52:32Speaker 1: Close the mic for me, please.
- 52:33Speaker 2: Part of the problem with the libraries and the National
- 52:36Speaker 2: Library Association is they're all woke. And what they want
- 52:41Speaker 2: is they want to provide housing for the homeless and
- 52:43Speaker 2: things and opportunities, and that's why the library has expanded
- 52:46Speaker 2: their services from just books to things that shouldn't be there,
- 52:50Speaker 2: like a culinary center to teach them. And what happens
- 52:56Speaker 2: is the people that sign up for the culinary center
- 52:59Speaker 2: when they have classes, they do it for the groceries
- 53:04Speaker 2: that they get. So they get bags of groceries. And
- 53:07Speaker 2: so we heard that– From the rescue mission, when it
- 53:10Speaker 2: closes at 8 in the morning, and this is all,
- 53:12Speaker 2: I haven't been there at 8, but I was told
- 53:15Speaker 2: when the rescue mission closes, then they go to the
- 53:17Speaker 2: nearest library. And this was told from a person who
- 53:20Speaker 2: was in administration in the library, a friend of both
- 53:24Speaker 2: of us.
- 53:24Speaker 1: Okay.
- 53:25Speaker 2: Anyway, so she told us what they do is they
- 53:27Speaker 2: go to the nearest library that offers food and things,
- 53:30Speaker 2: and that's where they hang out for the day. So
- 53:32Speaker 2: all these special study rooms that our library doesn't have,
- 53:36Speaker 2: that the library association is trying to promote, these private
- 53:39Speaker 2: study rooms, are taken over by the homeless. And this
- 53:42Speaker 2: is nationwide. I have articles from Florida, from all over.
- 53:45Speaker 2: They go in and camp out because they're kicked out
- 53:47Speaker 2: of the rescue missions until they can come back.
- 53:50Speaker 1: In the private study rooms?
- 53:51Speaker 6: Yes.
- 53:51Speaker 2: And so what they were designed for, the public and things,
- 53:54Speaker 2: has all gone to the homeless. And the smell in
- 53:57Speaker 2: those rooms is so profound, no one can use them
- 54:00Speaker 2: but them. And so they bring their belongings, they camp
- 54:03Speaker 2: out there, and I'm not And they've been doing this.
- 54:06Speaker 2: I saw them at the downtown library when we were there,
- 54:08Speaker 2: camped out, but not with– taking over the rooms so
- 54:13Speaker 2: that no one else could use them. And so this
- 54:15Speaker 2: is what the library association is promoting, homelessness and things,
- 54:20Speaker 2: and they're trying to say they're helping the people. But
- 54:23Speaker 2: they're way beyond.
- 54:24Speaker 1: And what did she spend downtown?
- 54:25Speaker 2: $ 27 million. And actually it was supposed to be $ 26 million,
- 54:29Speaker 2: but even a good old director had $ 1. 5 million over it.
- 54:34Speaker 2: orders on it, because it ended up at $ 27 million.
- 54:37Speaker 1: Can I ask you, what do you think of the work?
- 54:38Speaker 1: What do you think of the design?
- 54:39Speaker 2: Oh, it's the worst library. When we went down there
- 54:42Speaker 2: for the big town meeting, there was 200 of us there,
- 54:45Speaker 2: and it was all set up. They had already decided
- 54:48Speaker 2: to vote against it. But when we went down there,
- 54:51Speaker 2: and these are supposed to be the number one, or
- 54:54Speaker 2: one of the best library architects in the state, it
- 54:57Speaker 2: was an abortion. I had never seen... more poorly designed
- 55:02Speaker 2: library in my life. The acoustics were horrible. You couldn't
- 55:07Speaker 2: even hear what was going on. The echo, everything was
- 55:10Speaker 2: hard surfaces. They had built-in steps that were wide enough
- 55:14Speaker 2: to sit on, so all the people were just congregating
- 55:17Speaker 2: in the entrance hallway. And the architecture is a disgrace,
- 55:22Speaker 2: what they did. They had an Andrew Carnegie Library, one
- 55:26Speaker 2: of the first in the country here in Youngstown, and
- 55:29Speaker 2: all spearheaded by Reuben McMillan. That's how the name came from.
- 55:34Speaker 2: So an Andrew Carnegie is a classic historic library, and
- 55:37Speaker 2: they're sought after by all the historic towns to restore
- 55:41Speaker 2: and things like this. What do they do? They build
- 55:43Speaker 2: this contemporary flat-roof sloped wood-sided look-alike pavilion next to this
- 55:52Speaker 2: historic building, It desecrates the entire Wick Avenue. It doesn't
- 55:56Speaker 2: blend in with the gorgeous Gothic church next to it.
- 55:58Speaker 2: And everything, it's just, I as an architect, I just
- 56:04Speaker 2: would never do anything like that. An architect should relate
- 56:07Speaker 2: to the community, not to try and do an edifice
- 56:09Speaker 2: for himself.
- 56:10Speaker 1: So it looks hideous.
- 56:11Speaker 2: Yes, and it's hideous. And I was so surprised because
- 56:15Speaker 2: these were supposed to be such renowned architects. And they
- 56:17Speaker 2: were the ones then that ended up.
- 56:19Speaker 1: Yeah, they're renowned contemporary architects.
- 56:21Speaker 2: Yeah, but not even that good.
- 56:24Speaker 1: Right. But I mean– but you don't want contemporary architects
- 56:27Speaker 1: on what you're doing.
- 56:28Speaker 6: No.
- 56:29Speaker 2: No, you don't. So anyway, so– So they took.
- 56:34Speaker 1: The history of that building and hurt it. They didn't
- 56:37Speaker 1: enhance it.
- 56:38Speaker 2: In my opinion. Now, she tried to justify it and
- 56:40Speaker 2: say how– and this is what was so strange because
- 56:43Speaker 2: everything she was complaining about Poland and its historical context,
- 56:46Speaker 2: she was using to justify the design and what they
- 56:49Speaker 2: had done to enhance the downtown library area. And she
- 56:52Speaker 2: was also talking about the gold doors and how the
- 56:56Speaker 2: motto of them– I wish I had my paper. I
- 56:57Speaker 2: could read you the motto.
- 56:58Speaker 1: I'm just going to– pull that mic closer. I need
- 57:00Speaker 1: to be closer there.
- 57:02Speaker 2: The motto that is above the doors, she said it
- 57:05Speaker 2: has to do with how responsive the library is to
- 57:08Speaker 2: the community and things like this, which is a total
- 57:10Speaker 2: fabrication of not. But it's also– they also have– I
- 57:14Speaker 2: don't know if they're gold leaf, but they look like
- 57:15Speaker 2: a gold leaf set of doors. And the architect didn't even–
- 57:19Speaker 2: design anything to use those for the entrance. So they
- 57:22Speaker 2: spend all this money restoring those doors and they have
- 57:26Speaker 2: no access to anything. They're just a symbol of the
- 57:30Speaker 2: original Carnegie building out front. And that's just, you know,
- 57:34Speaker 2: a good architect would never design something false like that
- 57:38Speaker 2: and spend that kind of money and not have it function.
- 57:41Speaker 1: Do you think that this... I'm sitting listening to you,
- 57:44Speaker 1: and if I go back to Poland Library, it's a
- 57:47Speaker 1: crime to me what they did downtown, just based on
- 57:51Speaker 1: what you're saying. They didn't enhance it. But when I
- 57:54Speaker 1: go back to Poland Building, this is fixable, yet they've
- 57:57Speaker 1: already voted. You have people on a board that have
- 57:59Speaker 1: no background in building or in architecture or any of
- 58:03Speaker 1: this stuff making a decision, and a woman running a
- 58:06Speaker 1: library that I don't know if she understands Poland or
- 58:09Speaker 1: the history of Poland because she's not from here. They
- 58:12Speaker 1: hired her from Arizona. And she comes here and decides
- 58:15Speaker 1: we're going to take this beautiful building. We're going to
- 58:18Speaker 1: make these changes of the furniture, the statues, all the
- 58:22Speaker 1: history that you put in there that enhance that building.
- 58:26Speaker 1: And when it happened, that pissed everyone off in your community,
- 58:29Speaker 1: the Poland community.
- 58:30Speaker 2: Right.
- 58:30Speaker 1: And what is it, just the arrogance? We don't care?
- 58:33Speaker 1: We don't care what the taxpayer have to say, what
- 58:35Speaker 1: the customers of the library system have to say?
- 58:38Speaker 2: And 300 of us citizens donated over a million dollars
- 58:42Speaker 2: to make that library special for Poland, and it's all
- 58:45Speaker 2: been ignored and thrown away.
- 58:49Speaker 1: Which takes the cake, so... Whether it's Maransky with the
- 58:52Speaker 1: bricks or your family with the bust, they're gone. And
- 58:57Speaker 1: you guys donate significant money for those to be there forever.
- 59:01Speaker 2: 300 families and foundations and businesses donated to make that
- 59:06Speaker 2: library special. The Alexa family was the biggest supporter. They
- 59:10Speaker 2: donated $ 100, 000 so we could have the dome on the library.
- 59:15Speaker 2: And the reason they did that is I was helping
- 59:18Speaker 2: him design his wife's monument at the Poland Cemetery. And
- 59:24Speaker 2: she had recently died and he wanted to do it.
- 59:26Speaker 2: I have something nice. So he respected my design ability.
- 59:29Speaker 2: So I met him out there and we talked about it.
- 59:32Speaker 2: And so I sketched something for him there and talked
- 59:35Speaker 2: about the shape of it and everything else. And I said,
- 59:39Speaker 2: you know, if you really wanted to honor her, you
- 59:41Speaker 2: might be interested in the cupola of the poem library
- 59:45Speaker 2: because it's a centerpiece of the library and it would
- 59:48Speaker 2: be a fitting memorial to anyone. And he said, well,
- 59:51Speaker 2: how much is it? And I said, it's $ 100, 000. And
- 59:54Speaker 2: without blinking an eye, he said, I'll take it. And
- 59:57Speaker 2: I found out later because she had such bad arthritis,
- 59:59Speaker 2: she couldn't travel, and she lived her life through books.
- 1:00:02Speaker 2: And that was the connection.
- 1:00:05Speaker 1: What you designed in Poland gets attention through architectural everywhere, right?
- 1:00:13Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, even Harvard used it as an example for
- 1:00:17Speaker 2: young architects for the library course on how to design
- 1:00:21Speaker 2: libraries for the community. And I went and did that
- 1:00:24Speaker 2: all on my own. just to learn as much as
- 1:00:26Speaker 2: I could because I wanted to make sure our library
- 1:00:29Speaker 2: was at the foremost of the technology and the designs.
- 1:00:31Speaker 1: I mean, you made something spectacular in Mahoning County. I mean,
- 1:00:35Speaker 1: you know, I sit here looking at you and I
- 1:00:37Speaker 1: think you're a hell of a guy. I mean, you got,
- 1:00:39Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there are architects and there are architects.
- 1:00:42Speaker 1: You follow what I'm saying?
- 1:00:44Speaker 6: Right.
- 1:00:44Speaker 1: I mean, not all architects are created alike.
- 1:00:47Speaker 2: No, it's my life.
- 1:00:48Speaker 1: And it's your community.
- 1:00:50Speaker 2: Yes, it's my community. And what I try and do
- 1:00:53Speaker 2: is I try and glorify God in everything I do.
- 1:00:55Speaker 2: And it shows because when that library was finished and designed,
- 1:00:59Speaker 2: and by the way, the governor came up personally because
- 1:01:02Speaker 2: he heard about it in Columbus. He came up personally
- 1:01:04Speaker 2: for the grand opening. And we had 800 people there
- 1:01:09Speaker 2: inside the library just accolading it. And you should, I
- 1:01:13Speaker 2: brought for you the story from the, from the Vindicator,
- 1:01:17Speaker 2: because they're completely changed now because of her influence in that.
- 1:01:21Speaker 2: But the story that the Vindicator wrote, an editorial on
- 1:01:25Speaker 2: the opening of the library, and this is just amazing
- 1:01:28Speaker 2: because you never get that kind of positive.
- 1:01:31Speaker 1: There's still an effort to try to stop this decision, though, right? Oh, yes.
- 1:01:35Speaker 1: There's hundreds of people that are saying, we're not going
- 1:01:38Speaker 1: to take this.
- 1:01:39Speaker 2: Right, from the state legislature all the way down to
- 1:01:42Speaker 2: the local legislature. Political people, everyone.
- 1:01:45Speaker 1: And the local community. Stand by. All right. Bob Mastriana
- 1:01:48Speaker 1: is here. Architect, Ron Verb, News Radio 570 WKBN from
- 1:01:52Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Mahoney.
- 1:01:56Speaker 2: Your one stop for advertising.
- 1:01:58Speaker 1: I cannot believe what I am hearing here this afternoon, folks.
- 1:02:02Speaker 1: I mean, you know, what Bob Mastriana is saying, this
- 1:02:06Speaker 1: man is an architect. As a matter of fact, you
- 1:02:09Speaker 1: come from a family of them. The 4M Architects is
- 1:02:11Speaker 1: your class. You guys' company, right? I mean, so 4M
- 1:02:15Speaker 1: is you. So these are all architects. So you know
- 1:02:20Speaker 1: what you're talking about. You're sitting here saying, think of
- 1:02:24Speaker 1: what he's saying, folks. Now, first of all, this is
- 1:02:27Speaker 1: what really grates me. And I say this on the
- 1:02:29Speaker 1: air all the time, and I will say it again.
- 1:02:32Speaker 1: This is your property tax dollars that they're taking from me.
- 1:02:36Speaker 1: And I've said it before, and I say it to
- 1:02:37Speaker 1: you eyeball to eyeball. The library has more money than
- 1:02:39Speaker 1: they know what to do with. They have more money
- 1:02:42Speaker 1: than they know what to do with, and quite frankly,
- 1:02:45Speaker 1: their biggest problem is the same as WRTA. How do
- 1:02:47Speaker 1: we spend this money every year? So she, as a director,
- 1:02:52Speaker 1: which is compensated well, has hired 17 people to be
- 1:02:56Speaker 1: around her as assistants or whatever this is. So she's
- 1:03:01Speaker 1: hired 17 people at big salaries and benefit packages. Around her.
- 1:03:07Speaker 1: So she's growing the top end of our library system.
- 1:03:11Speaker 2: That's correct.
- 1:03:12Speaker 5: Okay.
- 1:03:12Speaker 2: They have right now, their salaries and benefits used to
- 1:03:17Speaker 2: be $ 9 million in 21. Now it's over $ 15 million.
- 1:03:19Speaker 2: $ 9 million in 21. $ 15 million. Five years later, it's
- 1:03:21Speaker 2: how much? $ 15 million in salaries and benefits. And so
- 1:03:34Speaker 2: it used to be 50% of their income was salaries
- 1:03:37Speaker 2: and that. Now it's 75% of their income.
- 1:03:40Speaker 1: And it's just– 75% of their income is salaries and benefits. Yes.
- 1:03:46Speaker 2: They're not even going to be able to continue paying
- 1:03:50Speaker 2: for libraries and things like this. So anyway, it's a
- 1:03:54Speaker 2: real problem.
- 1:03:54Speaker 1: Because they're hiring too many people.
- 1:03:57Speaker 2: But this is a matter to– and this was– It
- 1:04:00Speaker 2: doesn't even include the present year 26, but as of 25,
- 1:04:05Speaker 2: they have collected from we taxpayers between the state library
- 1:04:09Speaker 2: funding program, which they get $ 5 million, or I'm sorry,
- 1:04:13Speaker 2: $ 10 million a year from that, and then they get
- 1:04:15Speaker 2: $ 10 million a year from our local citizens' taxes. And
- 1:04:20Speaker 2: so they get in five years, that five-year levy that
- 1:04:23Speaker 2: they say is only 2.4 mils provides them $ 100 million
- 1:04:29Speaker 2: every five years. They get 50 from us and 50
- 1:04:32Speaker 2: from the state. So $ 100 million every five years. And
- 1:04:38Speaker 2: they have right now in their kitty just under $ 50
- 1:04:42Speaker 2: million sitting there in liquid funds.
- 1:04:44Speaker 1: Just so I can– I want everybody to listen to
- 1:04:46Speaker 1: understand what he's– they have $ 50 million in basically a
- 1:04:50Speaker 1: savings account. Of my tax dollars. Because when you're talking
- 1:04:54Speaker 1: a state, that's my tax dollars. When you're talking a
- 1:04:56Speaker 1: local property, that's my tax dollars. They have $ 50 million
- 1:05:00Speaker 1: in a savings account drawing interest that they're not using.
- 1:05:04Speaker 1: That's my money. So when I talk about they're taxing
- 1:05:08Speaker 1: more money than they need, that's a shining example of it.
- 1:05:12Speaker 1: So what's the answer of how to spend money? We
- 1:05:15Speaker 1: just hire a bunch more people and we'll start spending
- 1:05:17Speaker 1: more on salary and benefits.
- 1:05:18Speaker 2: Right.
- 1:05:20Speaker 1: As opposed to putting this in... Maybe doing some maintenance?
- 1:05:23Speaker 2: Yeah, but remember, for all that money we pay them,
- 1:05:26Speaker 2: we get free library services.
- 1:05:29Speaker 1: Isn't that what you always got? We don't even own
- 1:05:31Speaker 1: the buildings.
- 1:05:32Speaker 2: We just get free library services.
- 1:05:34Speaker 1: That's what you would always get, you know, right? It's absurd.
- 1:05:38Speaker 1: This is just amazing to me, what you're listening to.
- 1:05:43Speaker 1: The building that you designed, folks, if you haven't seen
- 1:05:47Speaker 1: the Poland Library, it is spectacular. It is absolutely breathtaking.
- 1:05:54Speaker 1: There isn't another one in Mahoning County like this one. Agreed? Agreed, yes.
- 1:05:59Speaker 2: It was better before she refreshed it, okay, with all
- 1:06:02Speaker 2: the traditional.
- 1:06:03Speaker 1: Explain that. Explain what she did to it when she
- 1:06:06Speaker 1: refreshed it.
- 1:06:07Speaker 2: When I saw in the news release that they were
- 1:06:10Speaker 2: refreshing the library, I immediately called and asked to see her.
- 1:06:14Speaker 2: And whoever was in charge of the project and that.
- 1:06:16Speaker 1: And who's making the decisions to refresh? Are they architects?
- 1:06:19Speaker 1: A guy like you that designed the building?
- 1:06:21Speaker 2: Yes, they're library specialists who know everything about it. The
- 1:06:24Speaker 2: problem is she hired these architects who are contemporary. And
- 1:06:28Speaker 2: she hired them. They're out of Cleveland. And they know
- 1:06:31Speaker 2: nothing about or care about traditional design. And so everything
- 1:06:35Speaker 2: they did to the library destroyed the historic integrity of
- 1:06:39Speaker 2: the building. From the furniture, from the windows. The wingback chairs,
- 1:06:43Speaker 2: she got rid of these gorgeous wingback chairs. Are you
- 1:06:46Speaker 2: familiar with history in the wingback?
- 1:06:48Speaker 3: Yes.
- 1:06:48Speaker 2: They were because of the drafts in the houses. They
- 1:06:50Speaker 2: were so great that they had these wings on the
- 1:06:53Speaker 2: sides of the chairs so that they could sit back
- 1:06:55Speaker 2: in them and be protected from the winds of them.
- 1:06:58Speaker 2: And she got rid of them, and she said they
- 1:07:01Speaker 2: needed reupholstered. I said they didn't need reupholstered. They were leather, okay,
- 1:07:05Speaker 2: and they– And they last forever. Plus, they said, well,
- 1:07:08Speaker 2: it was a problem.
- 1:07:09Speaker 1: They age and they become more beautiful as time goes on.
- 1:07:12Speaker 2: And then also, so then she said, since I didn't
- 1:07:14Speaker 2: buy that, she said, well, it was for safety and
- 1:07:18Speaker 2: security because when they sit back in the chair, they
- 1:07:20Speaker 2: couldn't see their eyes and they didn't know what they
- 1:07:24Speaker 2: were planning on doing. So do you believe that? Who
- 1:07:27Speaker 2: could even come up with these lamps?
- 1:07:29Speaker 1: This is ridiculous.
- 1:07:30Speaker 2: And so she got rid of those. She got rid
- 1:07:32Speaker 2: of the Chippendale sofa. She got rid of. She was
- 1:07:36Speaker 2: the library director before her, got rid of the handmade
- 1:07:40Speaker 2: Windsor chairs. We had 300 of these Windsor chairs that
- 1:07:43Speaker 2: were worth $ 100, 000 and.
- 1:07:48Speaker 1: Got rid of them.
- 1:07:49Speaker 2: We don't know where anything is. We heard through the
- 1:07:50Speaker 2: rumor that some of the furniture someone saw down at
- 1:07:54Speaker 2: the Goodwill store, and she would notify people. This is
- 1:07:58Speaker 2: just a rumor, so I don't know if it's true.
- 1:08:00Speaker 1: That it would be there. It would be a crime
- 1:08:04Speaker 1: if that was the case. I mean, that's just wrong.
- 1:08:05Speaker 2: Someone saw one of the library chairs in another person's
- 1:08:08Speaker 2: living room. And she found out where she got it from.
- 1:08:12Speaker 2: And so we went down to Goodwill Store ourselves to
- 1:08:15Speaker 2: see if we could find any more, and there weren't any.
- 1:08:18Speaker 2: But somehow these have disappeared. And a lot of those
- 1:08:21Speaker 2: were memorials that people donated, just like the bus. My
- 1:08:24Speaker 2: brother and I, in honor of our parents, we donated
- 1:08:27Speaker 2: $ 12, 000 to pay for all those buses. Each of the
- 1:08:30Speaker 2: big adult reading areas, we had a hall of presidents,
- 1:08:33Speaker 2: a hall of authors, and a hall of mythological figures.
- 1:08:36Speaker 2: So we had over 30-some bus placed all around the building.
- 1:08:41Speaker 1: That your family donated the cost of.
- 1:08:43Speaker 2: Yes, our family donated. They were on the beam going
- 1:08:45Speaker 2: around it. Well, I asked them, what are they doing
- 1:08:50Speaker 2: with them? Well, we can't leave them up there because
- 1:08:53Speaker 2: they collected too much dust.
- 1:08:56Speaker 1: You know, they actually make rags and stuff. You can actually—
- 1:09:00Speaker 1: clean that. Did you know that? I'm not an architect,
- 1:09:03Speaker 1: but you can dust them.
- 1:09:04Speaker 2: I know, but they're the color of dust. They were white.
- 1:09:07Speaker 1: Who's going to know this? That's right.
- 1:09:09Speaker 2: So she had a plan, or their architects did. All
- 1:09:13Speaker 2: of this, they aren't intelligent enough to come up with
- 1:09:18Speaker 2: these ideas, and it was all instituted by those Cleveland
- 1:09:21Speaker 2: out-of-town contemporary architects. And unfortunately, they're the same ones she
- 1:09:25Speaker 2: used to design the new main library downtown, that they
- 1:09:29Speaker 2: spent $ 27 million to serve only 9% of the population.
- 1:09:34Speaker 2: Can you believe that?
- 1:09:34Speaker 1: $ 27 million to fix that?
- 1:09:37Speaker 2: $ 27 million to serve 9% of the population. And you
- 1:09:39Speaker 2: know what's happening now?
- 1:09:40Speaker 6: What?
- 1:09:41Speaker 2: Well, part of the problem with the libraries and the
- 1:09:45Speaker 2: National Library Association is they're all woke. And what they
- 1:09:50Speaker 2: want is they want to provide housing for the homeless
- 1:09:53Speaker 2: and things and opportunities. And that's why the library has
- 1:09:56Speaker 2: expanded their services from just books to things that shouldn't
- 1:09:59Speaker 2: be there, like a culinary center to teach them. And
- 1:10:05Speaker 2: what happens is the people that sign up for the
- 1:10:08Speaker 2: culinary center when they have classes they do it for
- 1:10:13Speaker 2: the groceries that they get. So they get bags of groceries.
- 1:10:16Speaker 2: And so we heard that from the rescue mission, when
- 1:10:20Speaker 2: it closes at 8 in the morning, and this is all,
- 1:10:22Speaker 2: I haven't been there at 8, but I was told
- 1:10:25Speaker 2: when the rescue mission closes, then they go to the
- 1:10:27Speaker 2: nearest library. And this was told from a person who
- 1:10:30Speaker 2: was in administration in the library, a friend of both
- 1:10:34Speaker 2: of us. Anyway, so she told us. What they do
- 1:10:37Speaker 2: is they go to the nearest library that offers food
- 1:10:39Speaker 2: and things, and that's where they hang out for the day.
- 1:10:41Speaker 2: So all these special study rooms that our library doesn't have,
- 1:10:45Speaker 2: that the library association is trying to promote, these private
- 1:10:49Speaker 2: study rooms, are taken over by the homeless. And this
- 1:10:51Speaker 2: is nationwide. I have articles from Florida, from all over.
- 1:10:55Speaker 2: They go in and camp out because they're kicked out
- 1:10:57Speaker 2: of the rescue missions until they can come back.
- 1:11:00Speaker 1: In the private study rooms.
- 1:11:01Speaker 2: Yes. And so what they were designed for, the public
- 1:11:04Speaker 2: and things, has all gone to the homeless. And the
- 1:11:06Speaker 2: smell in those rooms is so profound, no one can
- 1:11:10Speaker 2: use them but them. And so they bring their belongings.
- 1:11:12Speaker 2: They camp out there. And they've been doing this. And
- 1:11:16Speaker 2: I saw them at the downtown library when we were there,
- 1:11:18Speaker 2: camped out, but not with taking over the rooms so
- 1:11:23Speaker 2: that no one else could use them. And so this
- 1:11:25Speaker 2: is what the library association is promoting, homelessness and things.
- 1:11:30Speaker 2: And they're trying to say they're helping you know the
- 1:11:32Speaker 2: people but they're.
- 1:11:33Speaker 1: There and what do you spend downtown twenty.
- 1:11:35Speaker 2: Seven million and actually it was it was supposed to
- 1:11:38Speaker 2: be twenty six but even even uh... good old director
- 1:11:42Speaker 2: had a million and a half overage uh... change orders
- 1:11:45Speaker 2: on it because it ended up at twenty seven million.
- 1:11:46Speaker 1: Can i ask you what do you think of the
- 1:11:48Speaker 1: work what do you think of the design.
- 1:11:49Speaker 2: Worst level library but we went down there for the
- 1:11:52Speaker 2: big town meeting there was two hundred of us there
- 1:11:55Speaker 2: and it was all set up uh... they had already
- 1:11:57Speaker 2: decided to uh... to vote against it but when we
- 1:12:00Speaker 2: went down there And these are supposed to be the
- 1:12:02Speaker 2: number one or one of the best library architects in
- 1:12:06Speaker 2: the state. It was an abortion. I had never seen
- 1:12:10Speaker 2: a more poorly designed library in my life. The acoustics were,
- 1:12:15Speaker 2: it was horrible. You couldn't even hear what was going on.
- 1:12:18Speaker 2: The echo, everything was hard surfaces. They had built in
- 1:12:22Speaker 2: steps that were wide enough to sit on so all
- 1:12:25Speaker 2: the people were just congregating in the hallway of, entrance hallway.
- 1:12:30Speaker 2: And the architecture is a disgrace, what they did. They
- 1:12:34Speaker 2: had an Andrew Carnegie Library, one of the first in
- 1:12:36Speaker 2: the country here in Youngstown, and all spearheaded by Reuben McMillan.
- 1:12:41Speaker 2: That's how the name came from. And so an Andrew
- 1:12:44Speaker 2: Carnegie is a classic historic library, and they're sought after
- 1:12:48Speaker 2: by all the historic towns to restore and things like this.
- 1:12:52Speaker 2: But what do they do? They build this contemporary flat-roof sloped,
- 1:12:56Speaker 2: wood-sided look-alike pavilion next to this historic building. It desecrates
- 1:13:04Speaker 2: the entire Wick Avenue. It doesn't blend in with the
- 1:13:06Speaker 2: gorgeous Gothic church next to it. And everything, it's just,
- 1:13:11Speaker 2: I as an architect, I just would never do anything
- 1:13:15Speaker 2: like that. An architect should relate to the community, not
- 1:13:18Speaker 2: to try and do an edifice for himself.
- 1:13:20Speaker 1: So it looks hideous.
- 1:13:21Speaker 2: Yes, and it's hideous. And I was so surprised because
- 1:13:24Speaker 2: these were supposed to be such renowned architects and they
- 1:13:27Speaker 2: were the ones then that ended up.
- 1:13:29Speaker 1: There were now contemporary architects.
- 1:13:31Speaker 2: Yeah but not even that good but but.
- 1:13:34Speaker 1: I mean but you don't want contemporary architects on what
- 1:13:37Speaker 1: you're doing.
- 1:13:38Speaker 2: No no you don't so so anyway so uh.
- 1:13:42Speaker 1: So they took the history of that building and and
- 1:13:47Speaker 1: heard it they didn't enhance it.
- 1:13:48Speaker 2: In my opinion now she tried to justify it and
- 1:13:50Speaker 2: say how And this was what was so strange because
- 1:13:53Speaker 2: everything she was complaining about Poland and its historical context,
- 1:13:56Speaker 2: she was using to justify the design and what they
- 1:13:58Speaker 2: had done to enhance the downtown library. And she was
- 1:14:02Speaker 2: also talking about the gold doors and how the motto
- 1:14:06Speaker 2: of them, I wish I had my paper, I could
- 1:14:08Speaker 2: read you the motto.
- 1:14:08Speaker 1: I'm just going to pull that mic close. I need
- 1:14:10Speaker 1: to be closer there.
- 1:14:12Speaker 2: The motto that is above the door, she said it
- 1:14:15Speaker 2: has to do with how responsive the library is to
- 1:14:18Speaker 2: the community and things like this, which is a, total
- 1:14:20Speaker 2: fabrication of not, but it's also, they also have, I
- 1:14:24Speaker 2: don't know if they're gold leaf, but they look like
- 1:14:25Speaker 2: a gold leaf set of doors. And the architect didn't
- 1:14:28Speaker 2: even design anything to use those for the entrance. So
- 1:14:32Speaker 2: they spent all this money restoring those doors and they
- 1:14:36Speaker 2: have no access to anything. They're just a symbol of
- 1:14:39Speaker 2: the original Carnegie building out front. And that's just, you know,
- 1:14:44Speaker 2: a good architect would never have. something false like that
- 1:14:48Speaker 2: and spend that kind of money and not have it function.
- 1:14:50Speaker 1: Do you think that this, I'm sitting listening to you,
- 1:14:54Speaker 1: and if I go back to the Poland Library, it's
- 1:14:56Speaker 1: a crime to me how that was, what they did
- 1:14:59Speaker 1: downtown just based on what you're saying. They didn't enhance it.
- 1:15:03Speaker 1: But when I go back to Poland building, this is fixable,
- 1:15:06Speaker 1: yet they've already voted. You have people on a board
- 1:15:09Speaker 1: that have no background in building or in architecture or
- 1:15:12Speaker 1: any of this stuff making a decision and a woman
- 1:15:15Speaker 1: running a library that I don't know if she understands
- 1:15:19Speaker 1: Poland or the history of Poland because she's not from here.
- 1:15:21Speaker 1: They hired her from Arizona. And she comes here and
- 1:15:24Speaker 1: decides we're going to take this beautiful building, we're going
- 1:15:28Speaker 1: to make these changes of the furniture, the statues, all
- 1:15:32Speaker 1: the history that you put in there that enhance that building.
- 1:15:35Speaker 1: And when it happened, that pissed everyone off in your community,
- 1:15:39Speaker 1: the Poland community. And what is it? Just the arrogance?
- 1:15:42Speaker 1: We don't care? We don't care what the taxpayer have
- 1:15:44Speaker 1: to say, what the customers of the library system have
- 1:15:47Speaker 1: to say?
- 1:15:48Speaker 2: And 300 of us citizens donated over a million dollars.
- 1:15:52Speaker 2: to make that library special for Poland. And it's all
- 1:15:55Speaker 2: been ignored and thrown away. And..
- 1:15:59Speaker 1: Which takes a cake. So whether it's Moranski with the
- 1:16:02Speaker 1: bricks or your family with the bust, they're gone. And
- 1:16:07Speaker 1: you guys donate significant money for those to be there forever.
- 1:16:11Speaker 2: 300 families and foundations and businesses donated to make that
- 1:16:16Speaker 2: library special. The Alexov family was the biggest supporter. They
- 1:16:20Speaker 2: donated $ 100, 000 to... so we could have the dome on
- 1:16:23Speaker 2: the library. And the reason they did that is I
- 1:16:27Speaker 2: was helping him design his wife's monument at the Poland Cemetery,
- 1:16:33Speaker 2: and she had recently died, and he wanted to have
- 1:16:36Speaker 2: something nice, so he respected my design abilities. So I
- 1:16:40Speaker 2: met him out there, and we talked about it. So
- 1:16:43Speaker 2: I sketched something for him there and talked about the
- 1:16:46Speaker 2: shape of it and everything else. And I said, you know,
- 1:16:49Speaker 2: if you really wanted to honor her, You might be
- 1:16:52Speaker 2: interested in the cupola of the poem library because it's
- 1:16:56Speaker 2: a centerpiece of the library and it would be a
- 1:16:58Speaker 2: fitting memorial to anyone. And he said, well, how much
- 1:17:01Speaker 2: is it? And I said, it's $ 100, 000. And without blinking
- 1:17:04Speaker 2: an eye, he said, I'll take it. And I found
- 1:17:07Speaker 2: out later because she had such bad arthritis, she couldn't
- 1:17:09Speaker 2: travel and she lived her life through books. And that
- 1:17:13Speaker 2: was the connection.
- 1:17:16Speaker 1: What you designed in Poland is... It gets attention through
- 1:17:22Speaker 1: architectural everywhere, right?
- 1:17:23Speaker 6: Right.
- 1:17:24Speaker 2: Yeah, even Harvard used it as an example for young
- 1:17:28Speaker 2: architects for the library course on how to design libraries
- 1:17:31Speaker 2: for the community. And I went and did that all
- 1:17:34Speaker 2: on my own just to learn as much as I
- 1:17:36Speaker 2: could because I wanted to make sure our library was
- 1:17:39Speaker 2: at the foremost of the technology and the designs.
- 1:17:41Speaker 1: I mean, you made something spectacular in Mahoning County. I mean,
- 1:17:45Speaker 1: you know, I sit here looking at you, and I
- 1:17:47Speaker 1: think you're a hell of a guy. I mean, you got,
- 1:17:49Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there are architects, and there are architects.
- 1:17:52Speaker 1: You follow what I'm saying?
- 1:17:53Speaker 6: Right.
- 1:17:54Speaker 1: I mean, not all architects are created alike.
- 1:17:56Speaker 2: No, it's my life, okay?
- 1:17:58Speaker 1: And it's your community.
- 1:18:00Speaker 2: Yes, it is my community. And what I try and
- 1:18:02Speaker 2: do is I try and glorify God in everything I do.
- 1:18:05Speaker 2: And it shows because when that library was finished and
- 1:18:09Speaker 2: designed and By the way, the governor came up personally
- 1:18:12Speaker 2: because he heard about it in Columbus. He came up
- 1:18:14Speaker 2: personally for the grand opening. We had 800 people there
- 1:18:19Speaker 2: inside the library just accolading it. I brought for you
- 1:18:24Speaker 2: the story from the Vindicator because they're completely changed now
- 1:18:29Speaker 2: because of her influence in that. But the story that
- 1:18:32Speaker 2: the Vindicator wrote, an editorial on the opening of the library,
- 1:18:37Speaker 2: and this is just Amazing, because you never get that
- 1:18:39Speaker 2: kind of positive.
- 1:18:41Speaker 1: There's still an effort to try to stop this decision, though, right?
- 1:18:44Speaker 1: There's still hundreds of people that are saying, we're not
- 1:18:48Speaker 1: going to take this.
- 1:18:49Speaker 2: Right, from the state legislature all the way down to
- 1:18:52Speaker 2: the local political people, everyone.
- 1:18:55Speaker 1: And the local community. Stand by. All right, Bob Mastriana
- 1:18:58Speaker 1: is here. Architect, Ron Verb, NewsRadio 570 WKBN from the
- 1:19:02Speaker 1: Kingdom of Mahoning. 570 WKBN. I will be taking some
- 1:19:07Speaker 1: calls coming up for Bob Mastriana. You know, you are
- 1:19:12Speaker 1: a great architect. I mean, just knowing some of the
- 1:19:14Speaker 1: stuff that you've done. I mean, as I say, they're architects,
- 1:19:17Speaker 1: but what you make is spectacular. When you look at this, right,
- 1:19:21Speaker 1: that I have in front of me, the picture of
- 1:19:23Speaker 1: the Poland Library with the lights on, with the design
- 1:19:26Speaker 1: of it, it is truly a spectacular building. It's a
- 1:19:32Speaker 1: spectacular building. And if they leave, what happens to this building?
- 1:19:37Speaker 1: If they leave, actually..
- 1:19:40Speaker 2: We were talking about, and it's going to be controversial,
- 1:19:42Speaker 2: but we were talking about merging the township and the
- 1:19:45Speaker 2: village together to have it as a government center and
- 1:19:48Speaker 2: then also have it as a community center, an event center,
- 1:19:51Speaker 2: and consolidate everything. And that would be a fitting use
- 1:19:56Speaker 2: for the building. It needs to be what it was
- 1:19:58Speaker 2: originally designed for, though, an active part of the community.
- 1:20:01Speaker 2: When this was first designed, every realtor who had a
- 1:20:05Speaker 2: call of someone moving into the area, that was the
- 1:20:07Speaker 2: first place they took them. And it sold every one
- 1:20:10Speaker 2: of them to move to the Mahoning Valley and Poland
- 1:20:13Speaker 2: in particular. And unfortunately, the way the interiors have been desecrated,
- 1:20:18Speaker 2: it's lost that charm.
- 1:20:20Speaker 1: By taking the furniture out and the bust out, what
- 1:20:23Speaker 1: else did they do?
- 1:20:23Speaker 2: They took out all the paintings. They took out all
- 1:20:26Speaker 2: the Baldwin lamps. They took out everything that was traditional
- 1:20:30Speaker 2: in character and made it contemporary. I have pictures, but I.
- 1:20:35Speaker 1: Don't bring them. Boy, that doesn't jive with the building.
- 1:20:38Speaker 1: I know.
- 1:20:39Speaker 2: I know, but she said it wouldn't matter because the
- 1:20:40Speaker 2: building on the outside looks the same.
- 1:20:43Speaker 1: No, you're losing the effect of the building.
- 1:20:46Speaker 4: Of course.
- 1:20:46Speaker 2: People came there. They hung out there more than their
- 1:20:49Speaker 2: homes because it was so pleasant and warm and inviting.
- 1:20:52Speaker 2: They would come there, and even we had chapters, a
- 1:20:54Speaker 2: really good restaurant when we first opened, and they would
- 1:20:56Speaker 2: come there and have dinner there, and then they would
- 1:20:59Speaker 2: have children's playtime there in the children's room. that the
- 1:21:05Speaker 2: Deering family donated $ 45, 000 for. It was the center of Poland,
- 1:21:12Speaker 2: and everyone loved to be there. We had weddings there.
- 1:21:15Speaker 2: Even without alcohol, everything happened. In fact, believe it or not,
- 1:21:20Speaker 2: to this day, it's still featured. If you look up
- 1:21:22Speaker 2: Poland on Pinterest or anything, it's the number one thing
- 1:21:25Speaker 2: that they feature Poland.
- 1:21:26Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about things about our community,
- 1:21:28Speaker 1: you always hear Mill Creek Park. You hear the Butler.
- 1:21:32Speaker 1: You hear about the Poland Library. They're just crown jewels
- 1:21:35Speaker 1: of this community that you hear about all the time.
- 1:21:37Speaker 2: The number one thing that was photographed, and they even
- 1:21:39Speaker 2: used it for billboards, was the Victorian gazebo I designed
- 1:21:42Speaker 2: for Mill Creek Park in the Fellows Riverside Gardens. That
- 1:21:46Speaker 2: was a symbol of Youngstown for all those years.
- 1:21:48Speaker 1: Yeah, just beautiful stuff. Absolutely beautiful. Stand by. We'll take
- 1:21:53Speaker 1: some calls. Callers in line, stand by. Comments for Bob 330-729-9977.
- 1:21:57Speaker 1: This is eye-opening to me. Absolutely eye-opening what's going on here.
- 1:22:05Speaker 1: This is a travesty of what's going on in this
- 1:22:08Speaker 1: community as far as your tax dollars are concerned today.
- 1:22:11Speaker 1: As far as this building is concerned, this whole thing
- 1:22:15Speaker 1: stinks to high heaven to me.
- 1:22:16Speaker 6: 330-729-9977.
- 1:22:17Speaker 1: Call us on the line. Be patient. I thank you
- 1:22:21Speaker 1: for waiting all this time. I'll take your calls. Coming up,
- 1:22:24Speaker 1: NewsRadio 570 WKVN. Ron Verb with Bob Mastriana, and we'll
- 1:22:28Speaker 1: be back. WKBN. I will be taking some calls coming
- 1:22:31Speaker 1: up for Bob Mastriana. You know, you are a great architect.
- 1:22:36Speaker 1: I mean, just knowing some of the stuff that you've done.
- 1:22:38Speaker 1: I mean, as I say, they're architects, but what you
- 1:22:41Speaker 1: make is spectacular. When you look at this, right, that
- 1:22:44Speaker 1: I have in front of me, the picture of the
- 1:22:46Speaker 1: Poland Library with the lights on, with the design of it,
- 1:22:50Speaker 1: it is truly a spectacular building. It's a spectacular building.
- 1:22:57Speaker 1: And If they leave, what happens to this building?
- 1:23:01Speaker 2: Actually, we were talking about, and it's going to be controversial,
- 1:23:06Speaker 2: but we were talking about merging the township and the
- 1:23:08Speaker 2: village together to have it as a government center and
- 1:23:11Speaker 2: then also have it as a community center, an event center,
- 1:23:15Speaker 2: and consolidate everything. And that would be a fitting use
- 1:23:19Speaker 2: for the building. It needs to be what it was
- 1:23:21Speaker 2: originally designed for, though, an active part of the community.
- 1:23:24Speaker 2: When this was first designed, every realtor, who had a
- 1:23:28Speaker 2: call of someone moving into the area. That was the
- 1:23:31Speaker 2: first place they took them. And it sold every one
- 1:23:33Speaker 2: of them to move to the Mahoning Valley, and Poland
- 1:23:36Speaker 2: in particular. And unfortunately, the way the interiors have been desecrated,
- 1:23:41Speaker 2: it's lost that charm.
- 1:23:43Speaker 1: By taking the furniture out and the bust out, what
- 1:23:46Speaker 1: else did they do?
- 1:23:47Speaker 2: They took out all the paintings. They took out all
- 1:23:49Speaker 2: the Baldwin lamps. They took out everything that was traditional
- 1:23:54Speaker 2: in character and went... And made it contemporary. I have pictures,
- 1:23:58Speaker 2: but I.
- 1:23:58Speaker 1: Didn't bring them. Boy, that doesn't jive with the building.
- 1:24:01Speaker 1: I know.
- 1:24:02Speaker 2: I know, but she said it wouldn't matter because the
- 1:24:03Speaker 2: building on the outside looks the same.
- 1:24:06Speaker 1: No, you're losing the effect of the building. Of course.
- 1:24:09Speaker 2: People came there. They hung out there more than their
- 1:24:12Speaker 2: homes because it was so pleasant and warm and inviting.
- 1:24:15Speaker 2: They would come there, and even we had chapters, a
- 1:24:17Speaker 2: really good restaurant when we first opened. And they would
- 1:24:19Speaker 2: come there and have dinner there, and then they would
- 1:24:23Speaker 2: have children's– playtime there in the children's room that the
- 1:24:28Speaker 2: Deering family donated $ 45, 000 for. It was the center of Poland,
- 1:24:35Speaker 2: and everyone loved to be there. We had weddings there.
- 1:24:38Speaker 2: Even without alcohol, everything happened. In fact, believe it or not,
- 1:24:43Speaker 2: to this day, it still features If you look up
- 1:24:45Speaker 2: Poland on Pinterest or anything, it's the number one thing
- 1:24:48Speaker 2: that they feature Poland.
- 1:24:49Speaker 1: You know, when we talk about things about our community,
- 1:24:51Speaker 1: you always hear Mill Creek Park. You hear the Butler.
- 1:24:55Speaker 1: You hear about the Poland Library. They're just crown jewels
- 1:24:58Speaker 1: of this community that you hear about all the time.
- 1:25:00Speaker 2: The number one thing that was photographed, and they even
- 1:25:02Speaker 2: used it for billboards, was the Victorian gazebo I designed
- 1:25:06Speaker 2: for Mill Creek Park in the Fellows Riverside Gardens. That
- 1:25:09Speaker 2: was a symbol of Youngstown for all those years.
- 1:25:11Speaker 1: Yeah, just beautiful stuff. Absolutely beautiful. Stand by. We'll take
- 1:25:16Speaker 1: some calls. Callers in line, stand by. Comments for Bob 330-729-9977.
- 1:25:20Speaker 1: This is eye-opening to me. Absolutely eye-opening what's going on here.
- 1:25:28Speaker 1: This is a travesty of what's going on in this
- 1:25:31Speaker 1: community as far as your tax dollars are concerned, as
- 1:25:34Speaker 1: far as this building is concerned. This whole thing stinks
- 1:25:39Speaker 1: to high heaven to me.
- 1:25:39Speaker 6: 330-729-9977.
- 1:25:40Speaker 1: Call us on the line. Be patient. I thank you
- 1:25:44Speaker 1: for waiting all this time. I'll take your calls. Coming up,
- 1:25:47Speaker 1: News Radio 570 WKVN. Ron Verb with Bob Mastriana, and
- 1:25:50Speaker 1: we'll be back.