DOWNTOWN YOUNGSTOWN Readers share vision of civic-center project

Contributors are split on their enthusiasm for a downtown civic center.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bill Schroeder of Boardman has lots of ideas for his ultimate civic center.
He has a three-page vision outlining everything from events he thinks the building should hold to the wide role that his ideal "arena district" would play.
"I work downtown and I care what happens!" he wrote in an e-mail.
Apparently, he is among the few who seem to.
The Vindicator ran items in the newspaper and on its Web site over two weeks last month asking people to describe their version of the ultimate civic center via regular mail or e-mail.
The city is scheduled to release its request for proposals on the project as soon as this week. The document will give private developers an idea of what the city has in mind for a civic-center project.
The newspaper hoped to get dozens of responses to its query -- hundreds maybe -- from people expressing what they want to see built.
Instead, the paper didn't receive even a dozen. The total was 11.
Reasons for results
Why? Here are a few possible reasons:
The 80 Vindicator News Contacts who responded via e-mail to a subsequent civic-center question were split on their enthusiasm for such a project at all.
Some said nearly two years of talk about a civic center -- but little tangible action -- leaves them uninterested in the project. Some said they don't care about what happens in Youngstown.
Still others are under the impression that the $26.8 million federal funding available for a civic center can be spent on something else. The project's definition is loose. Generally, however, the money can't be spent on building a new city hall, cleaning up downtown or bringing manufacturing jobs here as some people presume.
Nonetheless, there are a few people out there who have some definitive ideas on what the potentially massive project should be.
A hopeful proponent
Schroeder is one of them.
He is 36 and a graduate intern architect at MS Consultants. His work involves elements of such projects, but that wasn't why he spent his time and effort voluntarily detailing his ideas.
Instead, Schroeder is a true believer that a civic center can be the start to changing how the region views downtown.
"For all the pessimism we have here, I don't have that," he said. "I think it truly will work."
Elements that surround such a building need to be planned so a mixture of uses keeps the "arena district" and businesses within it viable year-round, Schroeder said. Each element needs to be considered as part of the whole downtown, and together, they all will survive, he said.
Potential 'crossroads'
Dan McCown, 47, of Poland, is another among the few who expressed an interest in a civic-center project.
He used an aerial map of the site -- between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges -- and superimposed his vision of the project.
McCown has 20 years' experience managing trade shows around the country. A civic center will fill a major gap in a region that doesn't have -- but can support -- a large venue, he said.
"It's a gaping hole in the urban fabric ... of Youngstown," McCown said. "There's no facility for these events."
A civic center can be a linchpin for other development, he said.
"It has the potential to be a crossroads," he said. "It's an idea whose time has come."
His civic center would sit back off Market and Front streets. A skating rink would be on the corner, and open plazas would run along the two streets.
A park would run along the riverfront and curve along the South Avenue bridge. Across the river would be a new residential area.
Between the center and the park along the bridge would be parking lots, an amphitheater and a hotel.
More details of Schroeder's and McCown's ideas are summarized in an item accompanying this story, as are the visions of the nine other people who shared their thoughts on their ultimate civic center.
rgsmith@vindy.com