VIP Café Show – Youngstown, Ohio – Local Guests with Amazing Impact to Our Community

E43: The VIP Café Show with Derrick McDowell - Embracing the Heartbeat of Youngstown: A Tale of Resilience, Moral Dilemmas, and Creative Renewal

• Debbie Larson and Greg Smith • Season 4 • Episode 43

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Have you ever witnessed a city's heart beat in unison with the struggles and triumphs of its people? Join us as we sit with Derek McDowell, the lifeblood of the Youngstown Flea, who shares an emotional rollercoaster of a story that mirrors the very essence of Youngstown's fighting spirit. From the devastation of his brother's murder to his own personal struggles and eventual rise as a community beacon, Derek's journey is more than inspiring—it's a blueprint for transformation. His deep-seated empathy and drive to rejuvenate his city through the Flea serve as a stirring reminder of what can bloom from the cracks of hardship.

The moral compass doesn't always point north, especially when survival is on the line. This episode weaves through the grey areas where need overshadows greed, with candid discussions on the difficult choices faced by those in dire situations. We're breaking down the barriers of judgment as we traverse the delicate terrain of compassion for those compelled by necessity to step outside the law. Join us for a profound look at how childhood environments, the scars of loss, and our human frailties shape our perceptions of right and wrong, and how we wrestle with temptation and the pursuit of immediate gratification.

Lastly, we're painting a picture of innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit that's fueling Youngstown's resurgence. Hear about the transformation of historic landmarks, the fostering of local businesses, and the colorful idiosyncrasies that define our community, from candy preferences to the quirky demands of celebrity tour riders. It's a celebration of the quirks that bind us, the grit that defines us, and the shared love of a city that refuses to be defined by its past. So, let's raise a glass to the dreamers, the doers, and the candy color choosers—this is the story of Youngstown, and you're right at the heart of it.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the VIP Cafe Show. I'm here with my excellent co-host, debbie.

Speaker 2:

Larson, how you doing, debbie. I'm good, I'm good, I'm excited today.

Speaker 1:

Are you? Yes, I'm Greg Smith and we're here with a wonderful guest and really this we just went through Valentine's Day, right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1:

And our guest did something really cool for Valentine's Day. What do you?

Speaker 2:

do. Okay. So this guy is, I'll let you guys tell it, but he's in Youngstown, he's brought the Youngstown. He started the Youngstown Flea in Youngstown and this Valentine's Day he did this big like a kind of a dual Youngstown Flea and a whole vendor thing with all these sweets and bakers and people getting to sell their sweets and deliciousness and from what I saw there were so many sold out products.

Speaker 1:

But you know what else is great about this guest is he bleeds Youngstown.

Speaker 2:

He loves Youngstown, he does, he started.

Speaker 1:

He has put his life and dedicated his life to being a leader here, so let's introduce our guest.

Speaker 2:

All right, our guest today is Derek McDowell, founder of Youngstown Flea, and we are Youngstown. He has a whole more list to his resume, but I'll let him tell you about himself, because I don't have enough time.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for that intro, Debbie and Greg. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1:

No problem. And tell us we usually start, usually early, early years. But tell us about what developed the person you are, the man you are, and usually high school is a good time to start. What happened to shape your leader?

Speaker 2:

Let's just say that you are and shaped you to kind of care and lead people.

Speaker 1:

I'm kidding. What happened in your life that you give a damn?

Speaker 3:

You know what? I think that it took me a while. I had a major incident in my family where my oldest brother was murdered and I was 14 years old and that, quite honestly, I think as a trauma mechanism. I shut down for a good decade. So I went through all a high school, just invisible, and after that I got married and started a family. So for another decade I was just engrossed in what society was doing to me, corporate America was doing to me, and unfortunately suffered a divorce and was able to, for the first time, go back and reevaluate my life in my 30s.

Speaker 3:

And that's what really probably shaped me into who I am today is literally having another traumatic experience like a divorce caused me to force myself to stop for a minute and get to know myself get to know where I'm from get to know my city and get to know who I wanted to be, and I knew at that moment that this is what I was going through was not what I wanted to be in life.

Speaker 3:

And so it was an epiphany like no other, and I committed to making sure that I didn't waste any more time, and I'm a very serious person when it comes to those kind of things, when it comes to making a commitment. You're going to get all of me, and so it was. It was a very interesting epiphany, but it hit me like a ton of bricks and there was no going back from it, and so I fully committed to all of it.

Speaker 3:

But here's the thing I think that what I would truly pin my hat on is what I found was when I evaluated what I was going through. I ran down this list and I'm like I've been traumatized, I've been abandoned, I've been hurt, I've been shot at, I've been almost killed, I've been hungry, starving, growing up in the inner cities, fights, this, that abuse traumatized, and I literally I'm having this conversation on my break at lunch and I'm asking myself who can relate to this. I just need to know that someone can relate to this, everything that I've been through, and it just hit me like another epiphany and I'm like, oh my gosh, like the one person that I felt could relate to everything that I had been through at that point was the city of Youngstown without a shadow of a doubt.

Speaker 3:

It was like oh my gosh, that is probably everything I just described, that I've been through, we've been through. Wow, isn't that something and I just no longer felt alone. I felt so connected to the city of Youngstown and the people that have been going through the exact same thing and you. Oftentimes you know what you go through in life. It isolates you and make you think that you're the only one.

Speaker 2:

That's what I was thinking about, because the story about your brother, so many people who go through something like that, understandably they shut down and they reject the thing that they felt like took that loved one and in your case, if you don't mind me sharing the highlights, your brother was just was a good kid who happened to be with the wrong people in Youngstown and his life was just taken away from him just like that. And so for you to all these years later, be such a voice of Youngstown and to be so passionate about it, it's not because of the lack of struggle or any in nativity, and that's always struck me about you, because here, if anybody would have had a reason to be like, leave Youngstown, this and that it would be you.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I came across this poem and I think I shared it before in another format. We won't get into it, but it was. It's so resonated with me and it said even after all of this time, the sun has never looked at the earth and said you owe me, yeah, so can you?

Speaker 3:

imagine what the sun does for our planet. And it's never looked at us and said, hey, can you understand what you owe me? And I took that and I said, even after what you've done to my family and taking my brother's life the cost of that, like what it did throughout the rippling effect it had through my family, shutting me down. My mom began drinking heavily, wound up, having a stroke, was in a nursing home until her death. That was her baby, that was her oldest born son, and it just thrust us. My childhood was gone. It's just gone.

Speaker 3:

There is no more playing around at that point, and so I was able to hear that poem and think about the magnitude of the sun and what it could have called to the carpet from the earth and said, hey, here's an invoice of things you owe me. And I applied that to the city of Youngstown and just completely went the opposite direction. I'm going to not demand repayment for everything that you've taken for me. I'm gonna dig in and give.

Speaker 1:

And yeah, the other thing you always do is you always see the best in people, you're always looking for the best. Now, where'd that come from?

Speaker 3:

I think it comes from you project what you would desire for yourself. I wanted people to see the best in me. You look across this country and I don't want to get into some of the challenging moments that we've had in our society, but there are people who have been shot and killed in incidents in our community and we look at them like criminal, and I'm like that was me, though. When I was hungry and starving, I stole from the local supermarket, just like a Michael Brown did, who was shot to death, and I'm again not trying to validate that theft is okay. I'm just telling you that the guy you're talking to right now is the quote unquote. Youngstown success story was no different. It's called survival, yeah, and so for me, I never wanted to be that person, though I knew right from wrong. I just didn't see an alternative to dinner tonight. I had to go to the grocery store and steal lunch meat.

Speaker 3:

My brother wanted to be a mechanic, so we went to AutoZone and stole tools for him to get started. Yes, I was a criminal, but I still knew it was wrong, but didn't really have an outlet and alternative to it, and I wanted people to see the good in us. We were good kids. My brother, it is not one of those jokes when you say he was a victim of the wrong place at the wrong time the nineties in Youngstown. There were 68 murders that year. He was murdered. He literally was just taking a friend to pick up some things from another friend's house and his friend got into an argument inside of the home and lost his life. And my brother, sitting out in his vehicle waiting on his friend to return, was a witness at this point. And so what do you do with that?

Speaker 3:

You still to see that there are people who they will exhibit on the surface this behavior that doesn't match what they are on the inside, and that's why I choose to see the best. In our city, it's easy to sit perched up from afar, without proximity to the people you're talking about, and just lob, turn your nose up at them and say they should know better and the statements we make. It all starts at home, and I always challenge people. What happens when it doesn't?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, my father always said great line. He said anybody can burn down a barn, you just need to match and some. Hey. But to build one now that takes some skill. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

See, and that challenges me as well, because up until just when I lived in New York City, my car got broken into twice and the first time my, they stole my speakers. I had specialty speakers in there and then they stole something that was extreme. It was only eight dollars, seven or eight dollars, but I couldn't buy it again and that really, like I was, I felt so violated and so betrayed and so angry that I remember feeling this sense of I if I could hurt this person, I would and being on the receiving end. One of the things that all these years has been a point of point for me, like a sensitive point, is theft, is stealing, and so it is. It's challenging for me as well to not just just blanket and, as much as I hate stealing, to also understand and maybe see the person on the other side of that in Whatever fast say.

Speaker 2:

I'm not saying justification or anything. I'm just saying that it is challenging to have that, to hear that, to know that, hey, you know what? Sometimes, like you said, even the bible says that if a thief be found who's hungry, it's different than somebody who just goes and steals some man's wife, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3:

So yeah, we've lost context in our society. It's you. Go biblical like nobody wants to believe that they could be Judas, except you'll betray a friend and date his ex-girlfriend in five minutes.

Speaker 3:

You just don't equate it to the same thing. I didn't crucify Jesus. Yeah, he was done with the girl and they didn't like each other anymore. So I started dating her and this. But your friends over there, You're a betrayer. You know, we don't believe that human nature would put us in a garden and eat a forbidden fruit that God told us not to. But it's yo. You know. Many times you put yourself in a kitchen eating food that your mom told you not to eat.

Speaker 2:

There's where it starts.

Speaker 2:

It may not be to the same degree, but I'm saying like we all, have a propensity if you put somebody in the right circumstance, you know which one's get gets me and it's convicted me so many times and I'll make this 10 seconds Is when Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup and you're like, what were you thinking? And then there was a couple things that I was like I was about to choose like immediate gratification over, like the smart decision to wait until better, a better outcome, and God reminded me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. I've eased off this one Splinter and logs. Right splinter and logs.

Speaker 3:

There's a old it's called like the marshmallow study or something.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

Yes. They take kids of a certain age, when they're really young, and they put a marshmallow in front of them and say if you could not touch this thing for whatever amount of time an hour or 20 minutes, 20 minutes We'll give you double. And these kids are. And if you absolutely can't touch this thing and they're trying to like lick their finger and get real close, to it.

Speaker 3:

But it was supposed to be a predictor of your Personality and, like, literally, your life. If you can delay gratification within that moment, now you're talking about a Very juvenile, undeveloped brain. Yes, that's asked to like forgo sugar, that's now. If you fast forward that study. I was joking with somebody the other day it's like today. It wouldn't be a marshmallow, it'd be an iPad. Yes, put an iPad in front of these kids now and say to them if you don't touch this, you can vision pro 20 minutes.

Speaker 2:

Get the vision pro $3,000 from Apple. Just don't hit play. It's like sitting there with play vine right there.

Speaker 3:

Imagine how many kids would be like nah, I want my iPad.

Speaker 1:

I'm good with this thing, so let's you're talking about delay gratification. You've put a lot of time and effort into what you're doing now, so let's talk about what you're doing now.

Speaker 3:

Now we have purchased 150 year old historic building in the downtown and we're working to redevelop that. This is 25,000 square feet of a space that we want to invite the community into, needs a lot of remediation, but it has such great potential. It's near the Mahoning River. Um, our neighbors are a penguin city brewing company and so we're in the east end of the downtown, often forgot about as part of the City you have that parking space next that's yours to the parking that belongs to valley foods.

Speaker 3:

Um, so that's another neighbor of ours, brylex, is in that area, so some of these anchor businesses have sustained the downtown for years. Youngstown tube is right down the street, fire line um and so we're just happy to be in that area and it. We actually bought the building during the pandemic in 2020. So while folks were running out of the fire, we were running into it because we just knew that this was the time to really solidify ourselves and and one of the goals of the youngstown fleet is to help bolster small businesses and teach them how.

Speaker 3:

I've been dealing with Pandemics in the inner cities, the housing projects, my entire life. So there might not have been a viral pandemic going on, but there was a hunger pandemic going on in my home. My mom just couldn't keep stable employment. We bounced around, lived with neighbors. I got dressed for my first day of high school out of a car wash, in the trunk of my car. You know what I mean. So for me to be purchasing a building for the youngstown fleet during the pandemic, it was not out of line for us, and now I want to go on and show other small businesses how to be strong and sustainable Through things like a pandemic, and not just strong and sustainable but be able to be creative. Through it, that thing at human nature. We get on a journey and we hate change. It takes major catalysts to get us off of trajectories.

Speaker 3:

And when a pandemic came you had. What did it do to how we educate ourselves? There was no. They had Skype back in the day and all of a sudden pandemic hits and zoom is just Virtual telehealth. Now I can meet with my doctor in my home. What we can do now with meetings I don't have to actually be present for every single meeting that altered the course.

Speaker 3:

Problem with some of us is we want to go back to three pandemic standards and for the youngstown fleet I'm like no, we're charting a course Towards the future of what we can be. It's still in person. Our business runs off the support of the community and folks coming out and experiencing these small businesses that we partner with, but At the same time we've got to look at additional distribution Platforms for our community doing online sales. So really one of the reasons I bought the building was During the pandemic. We were going to create a like a stage in there To bring in one vendor at a time and do a sort of qvc online shopping experience so that folks didn't have to. We didn't want to be the. What they had them back then During the pandemic is the super spreader event of the year where they were Tracing things back to the fleet and saying I got covid downtown youngstown.

Speaker 3:

Nobody wanted to be that kind of thing and we're actually applauded by the health department because we took such extreme measures to make sure, but we still had to get innovative and people think, because the youngstown fleet has a measure of success, that we're not a small business. But we are. We have to innovate and market and advertise and draw folks in, just like everybody else.

Speaker 1:

Talk about some of the some of the businesses you have down there. Talk about some.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, some of the successes that I think people would know right offhand are youngstown clothing code got its start at the youngstown flea in 2016 and they've gone on to enjoy a wonderful amount of success in partnerships with Handles ice cream and the canfield fair and white house fruit farms.

Speaker 3:

They're doing Name image likeness deals with athletes, with ysu now, and so really cool Culture house coffee dough house cookies. Those are businesses that are now occupying brick and mortar spaces, so we're also a micro incubator for small businesses to help you not only Come in and introduce yourself to the community, but realize your dreams of maybe one day going on and owning a business. We're also doing things like community collabs that's what we call them when we go out and take the market into other spaces that don't belong to us. So last year, from mother's day, we did what's called flea at fellows. So for mother's day, we picked the market up and we moved all our vendors over to the flower gardens at mill creek and and the christmas one, that was yeah, flea on felts downtown, in partnership with the city's parade and tree lighting.

Speaker 3:

So, again, we have to remain Creative and we have to introduce new things, and so, as you mentioned earlier, the sweets and treats flea that was just a response to the amount of vendors that we get. We call them our baked good gurus. There's so many folks around here that are just bringing unique items sourdough breads and cupcakes with alcohol infused in them, and so that kind of brings me to the.

Speaker 2:

At the regular young sound flea you have A certain Evaluation process for artisan. Talk to us about the vendors that you choose, because you normally don't have Overwhelming.

Speaker 3:

You don't just let everybody come like a Rogers we want to put our best foot forward and show that youngstown has just as much creativity as every other city. You look at pittsburgh, akron, canton, clavelyn, just in our local market in region, and they have brands. These aren't just side hobbies and hustles. These are folks that are literally quitting their jobs and turning these into full-time businesses. We have a curve here that we've got to learn to begin to work with our hands a lot more. But businesses that literally are making candles, jewelry, vintage clothing that are right from the city of Youngstown, and one of the things we should applaud is that now we're drawing people from those other areas to come here. Now vendors want to come from Cleveland to be a maker in.

Speaker 3:

Youngstown because they see the vitality and the viability of doing business here. They're opening themselves up to a new market that they wouldn't even thought about.

Speaker 1:

So two things. One thing is if you're somebody right now that has an idea, or you have a small business and you want to get involved. What do they need to do?

Speaker 3:

So we have an online application on our website, theyoungstownfleetcom. We want to be a well-curated market, so we limit space per category. If you make candles, you're going to have to bring your A-game, because there's a lot of folks that are vying for that category. If you bake goods, you're going to have to bring your A-game, and that means you don't have to be perfect, but you're all going to have to have some social presence. You're going to have to have some up-to-par photography. You're going to have to come with a display that shows that you care.

Speaker 3:

You can't bring your old camping chairs and a curtain off. You got to get a branded tablecloth and you got to get some decor and some guidelines on how you want to present yourself to the community. And I say that because not just for us. We're leveling up. We purchase tents for all our vendors so that we could have a uniform look at the market. So that means if I'm making an investment, you're going to make one too. And that's also because shoppers are asking for that. There are folks who email the Youngstown Fleet looking for Greg and I'm like mistake number one. They're coming to us instead of being able to remember they bought a product from you and they don't see that product brand and well enough to find you themselves. And so I got to go back to those small businesses and say you have to make sure that if somebody walks past your vendor space that they know your business name as soon as they walk by.

Speaker 1:

That's why that branded tablecloth Explain to people too. Branding, because people don't always understand what that word is.

Speaker 3:

I think most folks would understand it to mean the color choices I use in my business, my logo, my website, those mechanical infrastructure things, whether it be a slogan that they use for their name. But it's more than that. In today's world, where your character, your integrity, your business personality, how well do you treat people when they come past your booth? Those are all things that go into branding that you just can't buy.

Speaker 3:

Your content management. Relationships are super important. There are folks that come to the flea as a vendor and they're sold out because they have such a relationship that they're really there as a pickup point. At that point they're just selling. We had a guy who was doing custom blades. He's a bladesmith, he makes the wooden handles, he sharpens the metal down and he had knives that were two, three hundred dollars and he was very reluctant to come to Youngstown. He was from West Virginia and he had just one that forged in fire. That show and I'm trying to court him to come for Father's Day. I don't want to be sexist. Knives were for everybody, but I thought it would be a good gift for bolstering the flea with for Father's Day.

Speaker 3:

And I said here's what I'll do for you, man I'm going to let you come in May for Mother's Day, test the market out and in hopes that you'll return for Father's Day by the time he got done. When he arrived in Youngstown, he already had two, three knives sold every time. So imagine and we're charging seventy five bucks for a spot and he's selling three or four knives at two, three hundred dollars apiece. I have vendors that are telling me that they're making two thousand dollars a show and they charge him.

Speaker 3:

I'm charging him seventy five bucks for a spot. Curated is important to us because we want to put our best foot forward. The application is not one where we're like overly scrutinizing you. We're just asking you to show us who you are and make sure that you stand out so that you are someone that we can enhance. The experience I've had to tell people, some folks from my own church no, my wife. I've warned my wife. Don't bring your friends and think that they're going to get some in, because they're your friends.

Speaker 1:

Which to protect them?

Speaker 3:

Yeah and it's also to protect your brand and it's also to, because I love the city of Youngstown so much so that I'm not going to let us lower our standard. We've dealt with that for long enough. Yeah, we've dealt with. That's what you can expect from Youngstown kind of standard, and often what we don't see is people who are helping us to realize that if we don't elevate our own standard, nobody else is going to do it for us.

Speaker 1:

Now how can business, people or individuals help or be a part of helping what you're doing?

Speaker 3:

I think one of the things we have to do is understand what supporting local really means. And that doesn't mean I buy my t-shirt every now and again. It means that I'm intentionally looking for these small businesses because I know how important it is to our community. I'm looking to get gifts that we have. That's why I say it takes a lot to change people's trajectory Keeping cash on you just in case a vendor doesn't accept because they're just getting started in credit cards or something like that.

Speaker 3:

We drive right past farmers markets and go straight to the chains to get our produce, versus a Youngstown flea that could offer you some of that stuff. And so the support means truly not haggling people over price, understanding that this isn't hobby lobby where I'm getting my art from, and this is the actual creator of that art that I'm standing in front of, and that's why the price is what it is. We got some sugar cookies from one of my vendors for Singer Night for East High School basketball team the other day, and when the invoice came in I paid it but it was like hey, this isn't IGA's bakery invoice. But I understood that this maker took time to decorate these cookies and used East Golden Bears yellow and blue colors and put all the numbers on there each one of the players and packaged it up and use the ribbon that matches the color and individually wrap them all and make sure. And so that's the difference. And then the quality of that cookie made a complete difference. And so understanding what it means to truly support local and making a commitment to that above everything else doesn't mean that at times you're not going to wind up on Amazon because they got the vacuum part that you need.

Speaker 3:

We don't deal in that stuff. As much as I can I get my gas in Youngstown. As much as I can, I look for gifts for my wife in the city of Youngstown. And when people understand that, then when we have things like a pandemic, you'll realize why downtown going through not just a viral pandemic but then had another quote, unquote pandemic of construction going on that killed business in a sense. Then I'm used to going down there fighting through and saying I'm going to support you through all the challenges of finding parking, your irregular hours, because that's what happened.

Speaker 3:

People were literally saying I'm not going down Youngstown, it's just a mess down there. That's exactly when we need you the most, when it's a mess and we're still working things out, and that's when businesses need you the most. I don't expect people to come to the Youngstown fleet and be perfect. You can be a little bit of a mess, but you have to show us that you're leveling up. We'll guide you through that. And we talked about branding, marketing, merchandising. We have to understand what that means. How do I decorate my table? There are folks who think that they're supposed to put all their product out on the table and that's the best shot at getting somebody to buy some stuff. And I'm like, your table is so confusing.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what you said.

Speaker 3:

For some reason the show's like Shark Tank has everybody thinking that they're an entrepreneur, and then some folks even think they're a serial entrepreneur, where they do apparel and food and jewelry and all one vendor. And I'm like some of the most successful businesses. They just do one thing, Right.

Speaker 2:

That's true. That's really cool, though, that you provide that and that you have you do it with such enough quality where people are driving in from all over the suburbs to come to downtown Youngstown. That's really incredible to have to watch. You also do something called we Are Youngstown. Tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 3:

The business is we Are A Generation we did a downtown video called we Are Youngstown to help support the businesses.

Speaker 3:

But what I call we Are A Generation is a platform I created to model how I've lived my life. A lot of folks look at me and they just can't tell what I do. They go one minute we see you at the Youngstown flea and the next minute we see you taking on the city administration. The next minute you're at a march and you're fighting off folks from tearing down the city over vandalizing and this and that. And the next minute we see you over here doing this and I go. Yeah, those are all things that you can root right back to the love I have for the city of Youngstown. It doesn't confine me to just the Youngstown flea in my small business.

Speaker 2:

So for those of you who don't know, some of you may have seen Derek on the news or in some clips but during the when the bigger cities were facing a lot of the riots and stuff and they would literally bust people into certain cities to cause a pandemonium and to make trouble and stuff just for the effect. So there was a genuine march in Youngstown and Derek helped put that together. But then there were people who came in to cause trouble into downtown Youngstown and Derek had a very strong presence to stop that from happening. And so we really got blessed in the city of Youngstown because these outside entities were not able to have their unhindered access to our city, and largely because of Derek McDowell. And that just moved me so much because that wasn't done in front of the cameras, that wasn't done for profit, that was just done for the love of the city. Keep talking about your generation.

Speaker 2:

but I wanted to add context to yeah and you're absolutely right.

Speaker 3:

There are folks that I literally heard them say I'm here and I'm going to rob your city blind. I'm going to go up in your banks, I'm going to go up in your jewelry stores, I'm going to go up in anything I can and just take everything I can. And I said for two reasons you came to the wrong city. You came to the wrong city because, quite honestly, we don't have a lot of banks. You go rob like that. You know what I mean. This isn't the Emil Denzel days where you're going to just crack banks. But I just said not in my city, if I can have anything to do with it. And so we are a generation was one of the best ways I could illustrate to folks. So I call it a CEO. Right, it's a CEO organization and that stands for community empowerment.

Speaker 3:

A lot of folks look at what I do and it's not that they don't want to get involved, it's not that they don't have the same passions for the things that I do. It's that they don't know how to onboard themselves to something like that, to getting involved and going downtown and speaking in front of city council and letting them know that this day and they have for an organization that wants to do harm to our city. And so I created we are a generation to show folks how to empower themselves. If we can become a community that won't allow. If you wouldn't allow it in Poland or Boardman or Canfield, why are you trying to run it through the city of Youngstown?

Speaker 3:

First energy came through and said we're going to run power high tension power lines right through your amphitheater. And I'm like, nah, that's a $9 million investment we just made and you have householder that just take a $60 million bribe for first energy. And then the reason they want to run these power lines through the amphitheater is because they were purely just being cheap. And I'm like, hey, listen, you could spend a couple of extra million bucks and come up with an alternative route or an alternative installation method. Maybe it's burying them underground, I don't know, but you just don't get to come here and cheaply handle the city of Youngstown while you're bribing people to the tune of $60 million up the street and they were fined another $230 million for getting caught. So you just now almost spent $300 million and won't come to Youngstown and spend an extra $3 million on the project, and a lot of folks didn't like it Now. I get blamed every time there's like a slight power outage in the city of Youngstown.

Speaker 3:

I think it's Derek McDowell who went and fought against first energy, and I'm like nah, that was like the wind that blew one telephone pole down the street.

Speaker 3:

But it's just the kind of person that I am, that I've seen injustices occur my entire life and when you don't feel like you can do anything about it. That's often why Youngstown can be the way it is now, as you have a ton of folks who are exhausted, they have now found themselves in avoidance, apathy, trauma and all those things when you don't feel empowered. They cause you to regress. Emotions are for a reason. When you get angry, you do things about stuff. Sadness makes you sit on your couch, eat ice cream and watch Netflix. It's extreme joy or extreme frustration, or anger causes you to do something about things.

Speaker 1:

There's another part of you that's really tremendous, and that is that you don't have contempt. You don't see anybody better than you, and you don't see anybody less than you. You play on an even keel.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and for me again, it goes back to how I want to be seen. You can judge me from the outside and think there are some folks that read me and say he's angry.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 3:

I'm like you have a complete misunderstanding of who I am actually Really a happy person, but there are tones to me that I carry. My wife's always watch your tone, honey and I'm like, no, I'm about to let them have it.

Speaker 3:

But that's not a personal thing, it's not. I love people absolutely, but I love people enough that I'm not going to let other people do people wrong, and so that's just something that I can't lay my head on my pillow at night and deal with. I remember a short story of my wife and I wanted to get away. We wanted just a day trip to get away somewhere and we found an Airbnb, believe it or not, in Salem Ohio.

Speaker 3:

It was in this wooded area and you would have never thought you were in Salem. And so we booked this thing for the day and we go out there and it's this new built kind of cabin. The whole back of the property is the structure was glass so you could see into the woods. It had a deck on the back. We brought our own steaks and potatoes and wine and we cook and we sit down at the table to go to eat. And I literally just broke out in the tears and I'm just I can't even start to eat and my wife looks over and she goes. I know why you're crying.

Speaker 3:

Come on and you're trying to gather yourself and I'm like what? How do you even know why I'm crying? And even said anything. You don't know why I'm crying. She says I know why you're crying. And I said why am I crying? And she said you're crying because you want this for everybody. You want people to be able to experience what we're experiencing right now Just the joy of having a day to get away and to cook, a grill a steak and enjoy the scenery. And she was absolutely 110% right now.

Speaker 3:

It broke my heart that I can't share that with everybody, that there are casualties to while I'm fighting, that we just lost another battle over here and you have to deal with that. I think they call that survivor's guilt, that everything I've been through. I can say I've quite honestly come through it. But one of the statements people make and I know it's well-meaning is I have two other brothers that are still alive. So my mom had four boys. My oldest brother was the one who was murdered. My other two brothers they went through it as well.

Speaker 3:

My next oldest brother was perennified. He had to provide, he had to go to work, he had to take care of the family. He was like a dad to us. When my mom could get me to clean my room, my brother did. My other brother unfortunately wound up incarcerated, and so when people find out that we're brothers, they go you guys are nothing alike. And I would tell them you're absolutely wrong. We're everything alike.

Speaker 3:

What the difference is between me and them is those two brothers took all the blows in life that I didn't have to. They stood in front of the train like Superman and they took the hit. My mom took the hit. She took it first. When my brother was murdered, she stood in front of the train and said I'll take the hit to try and protect my kids. And my brother, who was older than me, tried to take the hit, and the next one tried to take the hit. And I'm the baby. So by the time it gets to me, the hits are a little less impactful, that I could breathe, I could think a little bit, I could make a different decision. But I promise you we are so much alike. You're looking at people on the surface of what makes us different and they'll make that statement that says, man, you're out here doing such wonderful things in the community and I'm like you're missing it, though You're missing that my brothers would be out here doing the exact same thing If they didn't take the hits for me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, did the one get to become a mechanic? Yeah, he's one of the fine.

Speaker 3:

I don't get him no more.

Speaker 2:

I can't get on his list.

Speaker 3:

I'm not a paying customer.

Speaker 2:

You got to make a little money at the gig.

Speaker 1:

He can't remember from his old days. You're like.

Speaker 2:

I invested in you early, yeah.

Speaker 3:

He's got every tool in the world now and he don't let you touch him. They're organized Like he literally wears gloves now.

Speaker 1:

I'm like, oh you, bougie, now You're an uppity mechanic, but you know how I get ahold of him.

Speaker 3:

Now my wife, my wife's got to call him. Oh, that's a lot, because it's years of his little brother calling him. Like I'm in trouble, I'm stuck on the side of the road driving his beater car.

Speaker 1:

But now again.

Speaker 3:

I say that to say, if we keep looking at Youngstown on the surface of what we perceive presenting itself, these are symptoms and we're really not getting to the heart of people. And that's what I seek to do is just get to the heart of the things going on and see what I can possibly do to help solve it. And I think one way to do that is to empower people to speak up when they see something they don't like, to stand out and just say, hey, I'm willing to take the hit right here and fight against something that I just see as an injustice. And I didn't realize it about myself, but even as a kid I just couldn't stand injustices. I would watch cartoons as a kid and I would be pulling my hair out. Tom couldn't catch Jerry. Yo, this is a problem Like a mouse, can't you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 3:

Like cat can't catch a mouse Like you know, and I know it was satire Even smart enough to know then that this was just a cartoon.

Speaker 2:

I always feel bad for coyote Wiley Coyote. Yeah, it's like you can't run.

Speaker 3:

Everybody else can run in thin air and yo, he's the short end of the stick, all the time, Like I get it, Bugs Bunny can draw a door and run right through that thing and everybody behind him is going to smash into the brick and it just would drive me nuts. No, that's funny, we're not going to let anybody go For me. I had to trace it back to oh, this was a God deposit. Like I've been a justice guy for quite a bit of time.

Speaker 3:

But I'm also well aware, like we talked about earlier, that we all have a propensity to be hypocrites. You know what I mean. I'm not going to run around and tell you I'm perfect, like you said. I try to run on this, even kill. That says I'm capable of all this stuff. I'm capable of robbing and stealing, given the right circumstances. You put somebody hungry enough, without any moral Foundation to stand on, yeah, and the other thing is it's so interesting how hypocritical we can be.

Speaker 3:

Cleveland has six times the population of Youngstown. What's their crime? But we don't mind going to a Browns game as long as we have a good time. You come back, you're upset, your car got broken into, but you don't go on social media and bash the entire city of Cleveland. Yeah, but let one little thing happen in the city of Youngstown and literally the comments are like bulldoze the whole city, start all over their animals, cage a man and just let them kill themselves. These are the kind of comments that people make over the incidents that go on in the city of Youngstown Six times the population in Cleveland. I sent an employee to training when I was in corporate America in Pittsburgh and they got their car broken into. Company paid for it, but the response was just like you would have thought.

Speaker 1:

Like burned on Pittsburgh man for well okay my reaction into everywhere my reaction.

Speaker 2:

I know, but my reaction would have been like that's ridiculous. I'm not going back to this because I hate. Oh my goodness, that is like my pet peeve now.

Speaker 3:

Oh, but we have to understand. It's like it rains on the just and the unjust and cars get broken into in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. There's actually a vendor we used to have that would make wonderful, beautiful jewelry out of broken car glass. Yeah wow, seriously, absolutely, she's sweeping all this.

Speaker 2:

She literally had a Addison sweep it up, she would take all the broken glass and she made jewelry.

Speaker 3:

She would just create a foundational metal piece if it was.

Speaker 2:

I couldn't do it because some of these car that might actually help you in therapy with your issues to get you a piece of.

Speaker 3:

Issues a piece of jewelry that's from broken car glass.

Speaker 2:

No, I couldn't do it.

Speaker 3:

I might irritate your skin.

Speaker 2:

I'm like what happened to break this glass every broken window has a story behind.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, derek, for coming in today. Tell the audience again how they can get in contact with young town flea and be a part of your.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we like this, call folks flea family. What we're doing is a community effort and if you want to join in on that, we're on social media Facebook, instagram, our website. It's all youngstown flea calm or youngstown flea on Instagram, facebook and actually my direct phone number is on the website. You don't get as many phone calls as you think you're gonna get. Maybe I'm scaring folks.

Speaker 3:

I'm not harassing but there's a way to get involved and I think it's really just understanding that we're a community and we're trying To support one another the best way we can. And if we really learn what it means to support community, I think you'll want to get involved.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, derek, and thank you the van a house for letting us host this here. And if you need a great cup of coffee, a great cigar, a nice bottle of wine, and please stop.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, they have a good selection here of all of it. Are we doing our flash rounder now?

Speaker 1:

We can, let's do it. Go ahead, debbie.

Speaker 2:

All right, what is your favorite Variety of, or what's your favorite color of, starburst? That's a new one. I.

Speaker 3:

Don't think I have what about skittles?

Speaker 2:

Come on, everybody has.

Speaker 3:

I just dump skittles in my mouth. I don't know if I look at the color. They don't even have to be any color. I just had probably a pack of skittles on my way here.

Speaker 2:

I heard two guys in a coffee shop talking about the psychology of what color you choose of starburst. So they had a pack of starburst and I was like, oh, that's a good question, but apparently not a Derek McDowell question.

Speaker 3:

No, I used to have this guy work with that would separate M&M's and he didn't like the yellow and I'm like that's all just chocolate only. The color doesn't really have a flavor to it Skittles does I believe in starburst? But M&Ms don't, and he just literally would separate the colors he didn't like and only eat and I'm like you know I like peanut M&Ms. Bro, I'll take all those a band that used to.

Speaker 1:

In their contract they put we won all the brown M&Ms taken out of the bowl and we want a bowl of M&Ms on the piano. And they go to the concert and they look at the bowl and if there was brown M&Ms in there, they, they cancel the show. They cancel the show. There's no way, because they said that they, if they don't pay attention to that, there's other things that are.

Speaker 3:

There's a problem and that could be true. But I've seen writers with folks that come in and they like we want 25 White hot towels and a full-length mirror and a steamer for our club and they don't touch any of it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3:

And my old boss owns the Harley Davidson and he was gonna bring. At least I'm a repressor. So, he had a promoter put in an offer to see what it would be. He says I don't even care if she could sing, I just want the king's daughter to come out here. And she came back on her rider and was like we have to pay for 17 people that fly with her. She had a whole makeup team and hair and we had to get hotel rooms for all 17.

Speaker 3:

Individually and it's like the expense to bring her out here is just like. We got you a room. I don't know how many stars that thing got, but it'll work and we got you a couple of M&M's.

Speaker 1:

Real quick and who holds. What he used to do is you wanted him to go speak. He'd say listen, here's the thing. I want to be picked up at my house in the morning and I want to be in bed at 10 o'clock. You figure out how to do that and that's my fee. There you go.

Speaker 2:

Oh really.

Speaker 1:

Yep, that's all he wanted. Just make sure you pick him up and you bring him home so he could be with his wife when he went to bed at night.

Speaker 2:

That is beautiful.

Speaker 3:

Hey, they say, youngstown invented grit. Let's be gritty. Yeah, let's not be uppity people.

Speaker 1:

That's right.

Speaker 3:

Traveling with 17 folks that need all their own individual, like we invented grit around here.

Speaker 1:

So much for rapid fire, sorry. Thanks, everybody.