Mill Creek and its sister parks are vital community assets

A Columbus Dispatch columnist writing about the Youngstown area a couple of weeks ago listed the good things he knows about the city from having grown up nearby: "It has the renowned Butler Institute of American Art, a beautiful city park, a symphony orchestra that plays in a historic theater."
The Butler, Mill Creek Park, the old Warner Theater. Ask almost anyone to list five of Youngstown's greatest physical assets and those three will be there. And Mill Creek Park will be at or near the top of the list.
But this marvelous community asset, whose wonders are available free to its tens of thousands of visitors, cannot be run on love or admiration alone. It requires sustenance, and Mahoning County voters are being asked Nov. 6 to renew their support of Mill Creek MetroParks.
Many wonders: It should be noted that Metro Parks is more than the trails, trees, roads and lakes along the old Mill Creek. It is the Ford Nature Center, the Lily Pond, Lanterman's Mill and Fellows Riverside Gardens, with its charming gazebo and its magnificent D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitors Center (which was financed through private donations and state and local grants).
It is the MetroParks bikeways in Canfield and Austintown, Yellow Creek Park in Struthers, The McGuffey Wildlife Preserve in Coitsville Township, the Vickers Nature Preserve in Ellsworth Township, the Wick Recreation Area and the Morley Performing Arts Pavilion.
It is all those places where adults and children can learn about the wonders of nature and enjoy its beauty. Where they can exercise by biking, jogging or walking. Where they can just sit and watch squirrels frolic, birds flutter, goldfish glide beneath the surface of a pond or turtles sunbathe. The less strenuous can just sit and watch the flowers grow.
Quality issue: And while Mill Creek Park and its newer affiliates are offering the people of Mahoning County an array of natural wonders second in an urban setting only to Central Park, they also provide an important economic benefit to the area. Mill Creek MetroParks provide the area with its most recognizable quality-of-life asset.
On Nov. 6, Mahoning County voters will be asked to replace the current 1.9-mill levy with a 1.75-mill levy. The tax was approved in 1988 to run for 15 years and the replacement tax will also run 15 years. The tax will cost the owner of a home with a market value of $50,000 about $30 a year.
Approval of this issue will guarantee that Mill Creek MetroParks will continue being a vital part of life in the Mahoning Valley. The Vindicator strongly endorses its passage and urges a "yes" vote.