WARREN Leaders spur renewal

Two men are being honored for their work in the demolition of the neighborhood.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- John Taylor and Clyde "Skip" Cole liken their urban renewal efforts to the more than two-year expedition undertaken by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, sent to explore the Pacific Northwest.
Taylor and Cole are being recognized for planning that began more than four years ago to tear down a crime-ridden neighborhood on the city's southwest side.
Tonya S. Short, program associate for the Washington, D.C.-based Points of Light Foundation, said the foundation gives national recognition to individuals and organizations that help meet critical needs in a community.
The two are being honored by the organization as the Daily Points of Light for Monday, which Short said means they will be profiled all day on the foundation's Web site, www.pointsoflight.org.
The nonprofit foundation was established by former President Bush to encourage volunteer service to help solve serious social problems.
Each weekday, a different organization or individual is recognized on the foundation's Web site. Judges sort through 100 to 200 nominations and choose honorees every three months, Short said.
Accomplishments: Taylor and Cole are being recognized for their efforts to spur demolition of the former Westlawn neighborhood, built in the 1940s as temporary housing for Ravenna Arsenal workers.
The two formed the Warren Development Association and say they used their personal lines of credit to borrow money to buy the lots. The city then borrowed money through the sale of bonds to buy the properties.
Taylor, past president of Trumbull 100, a group dedicated to revitalizing the Warren area, is president of Paige & amp; Byrnes Insurance Agency Inc. on Franklin Street S.E. He lives on Country Club Drive with his wife, Sally, and their three children. In the May primary, Taylor will oppose city Treasurer Patricia Leon-Games, who is up for re-election.
Cole, current president of Trumbull 100, is chairman of the board at Cole Valley Pontiac-Cadillac on Elm Road N.E., and lives on Howland Wilson Road N.E. in Howland. He and his wife, Mary, have four sons.
Taylor and Cole were nominated by Chuck Johns, former administrator at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital. He was unavailable to comment.
Local dentist Ralph Snelson, also a Trumbull 100 member, said he understands why the two were nominated.
"These two men took it upon themselves to get that neighborhood cleaned up," Snelson said. "They gave from their hearts; They did what nobody else could do; They weren't looking for any personal accolades."
Showed compassion: Taylor's daughter, Shelley, 25, said her father and Cole deserve recognition because they not only spurred demolition of the crime-ridden neighborhood but did it without putting people on the street.
"They made sure everyone had a place to live," she said. "They put a lot of time and money into the project."
City schools Superintendent Betty J. English said Taylor, in his role as a Trumbull 100 member, helped spearhead an initiative to raise about $360,000 to renovate libraries in each of the district's 12 elementary schools.
The library at McKinley Elementary is still being renovated, but some books, chairs, tables, paint and carpeting have been replaced in the other schools, English said.
"John believes in identifying where there is a need in the community and then makes things happen," she said. "He's a real go-getter."
Taylor's life work may be insurance, she added, "but it's his love for the community that drives him."
How it started: Taylor said former city schools Superintendent Dale Frederick contacted him and Cole, saying that he could work on problems within the nearby Western Reserve Middle School if the community was able to do something about the adjacent Westlawn neighborhood.
"We did this for the school," he noted. "There was not a dime of profit for us at any time."
Cole said the area is much safer without Westlawn.
"Parents were afraid to let their kids walk to school," he said. "Now that's not a problem."
Taylor went on to say the driving force behind the project was Trumbull 100.
Taylor, who moved here in the 1970s from Marion, Ala., said the project would not have gotten off the ground if it weren't for Terry Nicopolis, the city's director of environmental service; Jack Foley, the city's former community development director; Trumbull Savings and Loan, which loaned them money to buy the properties; and Albert J. Timko Jr., the city's former police chief.
Cole said years of waiting to see the project through will culminate when the property is developed.
Taylor agreed, saying the last few years have "truly been an expedition."