YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Eastern Gateway Community College officials closed the Champion Street parking deck last week due to maintenance issues.
Fred Ransier, Eastern Gateway executive director, decided to “permanently close what remained of the parking garage as a precaution,” a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Budget and Management said in an email. “The parkers were notified that the closing is permanent and have made arrangements at other locations.”
The spokesman cited “maintenance concerns with the structure that could impact safety.” He estimated that 65 to 70 people were parking in the deck before its closure.
OBM Director Kimberly Murnieks chairs the Eastern Gateway Community College Governance Authority, which was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to oversee the closure of Eastern Gateway. The authority appointed Ransier executive director.
The college, based in Steubenville with a campus in downtown Youngstown, stopped enrolling students after last summer, and its then-trustees announced it would cease operations. The decision came after years of financial and accreditation issues mostly related to its free college benefit program for which it contracted with an outside provider. The program enabled union members from across the country to take classes – mostly online – and earn degrees at no cost to them. But the U.S. Department of Education ordered an end to the program and alleged that the college was charging students who received Pell Grants more than those who didn’t.
Problems with the condition of the college’s parking deck emerged in August 2023 when officials announced they were closing four of the deck’s floors. At that time, an official said ongoing litigation with the deck’s former owner impaired efforts to secure funding to repair the structure.
Officials said the concerns were with the entrance and exit ramps leading to and from the upper floors. Those floors have remained closed, but those who parked in the garage basement weren’t affected and continued to park there until last week’s closure.