YOUNGSTOWN Making a good 1st impression

City hall is collaborating with Streetscape to improve the look of some important gateways into Youngstown.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The all-volunteer Streetscape group has focused its efforts since 1998 on brightening up downtown's core.
But there's more to downtown, and the city, than just Federal Plaza.
The entrances to both -- gateways, if you will -- leave first impressions with people passing through. That's why city hall is collaborating with Streetscape to improve how some important entries look.
City council has set aside $50,000 in federal money that the improvement group will leverage to fund several substantial gateway beautification projects.
"I think the possibilities are endless," said Scott Schulick, Streetscape's chairman. "This is more than I ever anticipated."
The group had been thinking about such gateway projects for a while. The focus until now, however, had been on raising the $15,000 to $20,000 needed each year to plant flowers and fix up other landscaping in downtown's core.
Unexpected money: Money from the city's Community Development Agency became an option early this year. The agency received some unexpected funding for reducing slums and blight. It was looking for a productive way to spend the money, said Jay Williams, CDA director.
The city is confident Streetscape can do that because the group has shown it generates volunteers and accomplishes its goals, he said.
"This was an opportunity to ... see a noticeable and marketable result," Williams said. "You're going to see a difference when you drive downtown, and that's a good start."
If the first funding produces the desired results, chances are good that more could come later, he said.
The look of main streets such as Belmont Avenue and Market Street are just as important visually as downtown, said Councilman Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, who is council's CDA committee chairman.
He envisions improvements all along Belmont, from Gypsy Lane to Martin Luther King Boulevard. Businesses on Belmont and St. Elizabeth Health Center either are doing, or are willing to do, their part, Atkinson said.
The Streetscape group is a good way to coordinate such an effort, he said.
"I think it's going to be an exciting time," said Atkinson, who lives on the city's North Side. "This is a step. Maybe it will take off and businesses will pick it up from there."
A couple of smaller gateway projects will come under Streetscape's annual downtown work, Schulick said. Projects that don't fit into their regular budget will use the gateway funding instead.
Possibilities: No ideas are firm, Schulick said, but possible improvement projects include:
U The two John Young memorials -- on Oak Hill Avenue and at the end of Federal Street, across from the main fire station. The city is named after Young.
U Belmont Avenue.
U South Avenue and Front Street.
U The hillside below Choffin Career Center.
Most of those projects wouldn't otherwise be considered without the city's help, Schulick said. "We can really put those ideas to action. It fits into our goals. We'll be able to do it right."
rgsmith@vindy.com