PART 2 OF 2 Austintown group looks beyond Centerpointe flap

ACC members say they want to work with trustees to improve the township.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- There's still a shadow of beauty in the vacant building at Mahoning Avenue and Wickliffe Circle.
The green shingles look like the clay tiles on the roof of an Italian villa and are bright and intact, and there's no rust on the wrought iron railings outside the second-floor windows.
In most places, however, the building has lost its grandeur. The simple yet attractive stonework along the outside of the building's second floor appears dirty, and the brick under the glass block window pattern on the first floor is crumbling away.
Inside, piled on a dirty white floor, are wooden benches, paint cans, and some old, empty wine bottles in wooden crates. It was once an Italian grocery store.
Most buildings and homes along Mahoning Avenue in Austintown are in better condition. Scacchetti's Italian Steakhouse at Four Mile Run Road looks more like a home, and the Medco building near Meridian Road has a well-kept front yard.
The few buildings that are crumbling, however, are easily noticeable. Near Wickliffe, there's the former Body Images Tattoo building, which is topped by a large sign painted over in white, with a few patches of blue from a previous coat of paint still visible.
Just east of Four Mile Run Road at Mahoning Avenue, a small brick building is nearly hidden behind overgrown bushes and weeds.
Citizens group's concerns
The blight worries members of Austintown's Concerned Citizens, a group that has been fighting the plan to create the Centerpointe Business Park along Interstate 80. Trustees approved a request Nov. 14 to change the zoning for the property that would help clear the way for the development of the park.
ACC members such as Jack Kumik said that once the debate over Centerpointe has ended, the group will work with trustees and other township residents to address blight and other community problems.
"This made me open my eyes and realize there are problems in Austintown," Kumik said. "We want to help them to make this township a better place to live.
"This is a steppingstone. It can be carried on beyond the industrial park," he said.
Kumik and other ACC members said they think their group, other residents and township officials need to promote the township and encourage businesses to clean up their property. The ACC also wants to encourage township officials to pay more attention to problems of residents and businesses in the Wedgewood area.
Jamie Williams, ACC chairman, added, "We're not going to disappear."
Ideas for future projects
ACC members, however, haven't decided how they will help the community in the future. Kumik and fellow ACC member Paul Cubellis said the group could form committees that meet on a regular basis to analyze and solve community problems. Kumik added that township residents on the committees could apply their job skills to improving Austintown.
Engineers could work on improving buildings, and those who work in advertising could help to promote the township.
Kumik said the ACC also could help the Austintown Growth Foundation and the Austintown Council of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber with other efforts to better the township. The growth foundation is working to develop a comprehensive plan for the township, while the chamber is trying to clean up the township's appearance.
The ACC also wants to work with township trustees to improve the community, Kumik said.
That might seem a departure for ACC, as its members have been critical of trustees in recent weeks. Kumik said he believes trustees have failed to encourage development west of state Route 46 on Mahoning Avenue.
Williams added that he doesn't trust trustees with home rule, a limited form of self-government.
Centerpointe disagreement
The dispute between trustees and the ACC stems from the controversy over Centerpointe. The ACC believes trustees didn't act in the best interest of residents when they approved the zoning change for the park.
Some residents have said they were worried the park could cause drainage, traffic and noise problems, destroy the natural setting of the area and decrease the values of neighboring homes.
At a Nov. 14 public meeting on the park, Trustee David Ditzler argued with Cubellis after Cubellis chastised another man for criticizing the ACC.
That meeting was attended by about 350 residents; about 100 were at a similar Sept. 26 meeting.
ACC member Lisa Liposhcak stressed that she thinks the dispute over the park has demonstrated that township residents are willing to join together to improve their community.
"That's why the meeting was so full -- people care about Austintown," she said.
hill@vindy.com