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Steubenville Herald-Star
By Dave Gossett 
Published August 19, 2015

STEUBENVILLE - U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, met privately Tuesday afternoon with two elected officials to encourage more local accountability for the Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Johnson said he invited the elected officials who make appointments to the JMHA board to meet with him to discuss the ongoing issues with public housing and Section 8 housing in the city.

"The local authorities have the ability to clean this up. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is very supportive of our attempts to clean up the issues," Johnson stated at a luncheon meeting Tuesday hosted by the National Federation of Independent Business at Froehlich's Classic Corner Restaurant.

Johnson was the keynote speaker at the luncheon.

Following the private meeting with Steubenville Mayor Domenick Mucci and Jefferson County Commissioner Dave Maple, the congressman issued a statement saying, "It's important that government housing tenants feel comfortable in their neighborhoods and safe in their homes, and it's important that the business community has the confidence to grow and expand their businesses downtown.

"Today's meeting was one more step in the lengthy and important process of making government-funded properties in Steubenville safe, secure and healthy. Since I became involved in this effort, we've identified some of the major issues, and, working with other stakeholders in the city and county, we're making progress. However, there is no doubt that there is still much work to be done by elected officials and JMHA board members. Part of my childhood was spent in public housing, and I understand the frustration that so many business owners and residents have personally expressed to me regarding the current situation," Johnson said.

Mucci described the meeting as "a very good and frank discussion regarding the JMHA."

During a question-and-answer period at the luncheon, Johnson was asked by Pam Thomas, co-owner of McCauslen's Florist, what local businesses can do to keep crime away from the central business district.

"Stay engaged in the process. My staff has been working on the public housing issue for about three years now. We have made progress after finding problems at the JMHA. My influence here can come in two ways. HUD sets the rules for the JMHA and it is actually looking at the authorities who appoint the board members and have influence on the board. The meeting this afternoon will determine what our next step will be. And I can call people at the state level who have a vested interest in the issues here," said Johnson.

"I grew up poor and when I left my grandfather's farm I lived in public housing projects as a kid. I know what it is like to be afraid to go out at night. I can relate to the people here. I understand the need for Section 8 housing and understand the need to clean up that housing," continued Johnson.

"We have more work to do. We have the tiger by the tail and we won't let it go," Johnson said.

"I am pleading with you. I lost two weddings because people are afraid to come to my shop. I understand the need for the housing but not in the central business district," responded Thomas.
"The downtown doesn't look nice. We don't have pride in our downtown," noted Nathan Marshall, co-founder of Leviathan Creative.

During the luncheon meeting Johnson told the independent business owners, "folks like you get up every day and run your businesses. We don't need Washington telling us how to run our businesses."
"The amount of money that comes out of our economy to do business is essentially a permission slip from the federal government. We need to stop the Clean Power Plan that is shutting down the coal industry. We can create jobs by exporting liquid natural gas," said Johnson.

He also warned of a military buildup by Russia.

"They will soon take delivery of another 120 war planes. They are getting ready. I am not saying we are heading for war, but we need to stop the Russians. I went to the Ukraine in May and I asked the Ukrainian prime minister how to stop the Russians and he said it was simple. 'Cut off their cash flow.' They are already a crippled economy because they are preparing their military. Americans better wake up to what the Russians are doing," stated Johnson.

Johnson said he is supporting legislation that will take 20 percent of revenue from energy recovered from federal lands and give it to the county where the fuel was taken, "for education and infrastructure."

"If we start exporting liquid natural gas, the domestic market price will rise and the global price will decline. Why do we allow OPEC to make decisions on the price of oil. Why aren't we leading the way," asked Johnson.

He called for fair trade and a level playing field.

"We have got to do a better job but we can't do nothing or the Chinese and the rest of the world will pass us by," Johnson said.

He also told the business leaders he doesn't know who the next president will be.

"But the kind of president we need will meet with their cabinet the day after the inauguration and tell them they will not issue any new regulations. Then the new president should tell them they should do an economic analysis during the first six months in office to determine how the current regulations are affecting the American people. The next president needs to be more concerned about the American people living on Main Street than their next election. The next president should be ready to shrink the size of the federal government. That's the kind of president we need," Johnson said.