By ROGER G. SMITH

By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mike Kovach had a good idea in 1986.
It just took 17 years and an invitation from a new neighbor to resurrect his plan for improving an industrial section of the city.
Kovach, president of City Machine Technologies on Andrews Avenue, is bringing together business owners to create a cleaner, more professional look for the industrial stretch just outside downtown.
"It's a gateway to the city," he said. "It shouldn't look like it does."
He's been thinking about how to change that for a long time.
Kovach bought the business in 1985. Andrews Avenue looked like a typical industrial road: dirty, overgrown, junk cluttering the properties.
"Once you clean up a property ... graffiti stops, trash, tires, debris stops," he said. "You have to respect yourself before people respect your property."
A year later, Kovach talked with business owners on Andrews. They talked about cleaning up their own properties, maintaining empty lots monthly and paying for some new signs.
Kovach envisioned uniform-looking address signs in front of each business. Signs at intersections would give an index of address. Big signs at each end of the road would welcome people to the Andrews Avenue Industrial Parkway.
And then, nothing.
Nobody followed up on the idea, he said. Kovach blames himself for not pushing harder.
Business owners on Andrews were distracted by their own problems. Kovach's operation was growing, too, which dominated his time. He moved on, expanding City Machine Technologies from one plant and two workers to three plants in the city with more than 60 employees.
Opportunity
But the Andrews Avenue Industrial Parkway plan always remained, tucked away in a file cabinet.
"It was a good, stable industrial park before planners called them that," Kovach said.
Seventeen years later, an invitation arrived from a different sort of neighbor.
A couple months ago, the Wick Neighbors asked Kovach to look at what they were doing. Wick Neighbors is a group of churches and community organizations near Wick Avenue. The group is planning to redevelop the old Smoky Hollow neighborhood. Andrews Avenue runs directly behind Smoky Hollow.
Kovach learned about the Wick Neighbors plan and immediately thought about the Andrews Avenue Industrial Parkway.
Hunter Morrison, director of Youngstown State University's Center for Urban and Regional Studies, is fond of saying there aren't any new development ideas -- just good ideas that haven't been acted upon. Kovach said Morrison agreed that the Andrews cleanup and parkway was one of them.
So do today's business owners on Andrews.
"There's a lot more interest in making it happen," Kovach said.
Business supporters
He expects the cleanups and new signs to become a reality in the spring.
Carl Heydle, an owner of Heydle Heating, is one of those willing to help.
Andrews Avenue has been in bad shape for too long, he said. He and his brothers are willing to cut grass and clean up trash at intersections once a month if others will.
"It seems like great idea," Heydle said.
A better look to Andrews will make things more pleasant for customers coming into the industrial area and the people who work there, said Lori Heydle, who handles the customer counter at the business.
Andrews is an important link in the city because its a heavily traveled road near downtown, the Smoky Hollow neighborhood and YSU, said Richard Dascenzo, owner of Dutch Auto Body, which has been on Andrews since 1948.
"It kind of all goes together," he said.
The cleanup effort and new signs will show that Andrews Avenue remains a vibrant business corridor, pushing away lingering negative perceptions, he said.
Just one example
Indeed, Andrews is not merely a side road with a few scattered businesses.
Kovach counts 32 businesses on the road with 216 workers. The companies paid out $6.7 million in payroll in 2002 and paid nearly $500,000 in taxes, he said. The businesses have been on Andrews an average of 13 years; 10 companies have been there 20 years or more, he said.
Kovach credits the Wick Neighbors for reviving interest in the parkway plan.
The Andrews parkway is an example of what Wick Neighbors wants to accomplish and how, said the Rev. John S. Horner, pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church on Wick Avenue and a founder of the group.
Progress in Youngstown too often has been a competition instead of a collaboration, he said. Neighbors getting involved with one another helps both, as the Andrews parkway idea shows.
"This is a more unified approach," the Rev. Mr. Horner said. "No one is ancillary to anyone here."
rgsmith@vindy.com