Convention Center Plans in Youngstown and Toledo

While Toledo frets over where and with what money to build an arena, Youngstown, another economically stressed Ohio city is putting the roof on a new facility. Youngstown hopes to open the Youngstown Convocation Center in November.

How Youngstown came up with the money for an arena makes for a good political yarn - but it won't help Toledo, Toledo officials said. Most of the money for the $41 million structure is a federal grant of $26.8 million channeled through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and arranged five years ago by then-U.S. Rep. James Traficant (D., Youngstown). It's not likely to happen here, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said.

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