Rotary seeks support for revitalization

The club plans to work closely with Wick Neighbors.
YOUNGSTOWN -- In celebration of its 90th anniversary, the Rotary Club of Youngstown has pledged its full support to the city's revitalization efforts and is challenging other community groups to do the same.
During a news conference Wednesday at the Youngstown Club, Elaine Bozick, president of the Rotary Club, announced that the service organization's next project will be working with the Wick Neighbors Inc. program, specifically on the Harrison Field project.
Wick Neighbors is a nonprofit organization formed in conjunction with the city, Youngstown State University, museums, community groups and Wick Avenue churches. Its purpose is to build a new neighborhood in the Smoky Hollow area just across from YSU. The area is bordered by the Madison Avenue Expressway and Rayen and Andrews avenues.
The Wick Neighbors' project includes the construction of homes, apartments, commercial buildings and parks in the area. And that's where the Rotary Club of Youngstown's commitment comes in.
2010 plan
The club's board of directors passed a resolution stating that it "endorses the revitalization efforts of the city of Youngstown as outlined in the initial draft of the Youngstown 2010 comprehensive plan."
Harrison Field, located across from the MVR Club on North Walnut Street, will serve as a green space in the new neighborhood. Bozick said the club's members will dedicate their full resources to the project.
"We will be rolling up our sleeves and picking up shovels, if need be. But if the requirement is that they need funding, we'll have fund-raisers," she stressed.
Bill D'Avignon, chief deputy planner of the Youngstown Planning Department, said Youngstown 2010 "has been all about partnerships" and described the redevelopment of the Smoky Hollow neighborhood as the largest undertaking of that initiative. He called it "the jewel of redevelopment of Youngstown."
Margaret Murphy, executive director of Wick Neighbors Inc. applauded the efforts of the Rotary Club, saying its commitment is "an investment in not only our neighborhood and 2010, but it starts to build an opportunity and a model for the rest of the community."
Murphy also noted that Harrison Field is a centerpiece of the redeveloped neighborhood.
"You have the arts, the museum, the educational facility as your front door. What other neighborhood in this region can claim a neighborhood that embraces that five minutes from downtown?" she queried.
Murphy explained that Harrison Field has been reconfigured to run east and west.
"The change was primarily to engage closer into the residential neighborhood and to allow the residential neighborhood area to embrace the park," she said.
Call for support
Bozick stated that the Rotary Club has participated in and established many projects that have benefited the community, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Youngstown and the Easter Seals as well as its work at Harding Elementary School.
She said the Rotary, which has a track record of project successes, will continue to "build bridges and cross them" and will do that with the Harrison Field project. Bozick said the Rotary hopes to serve as a catalyst for other service organizations' involvement in revitalization efforts.
"We are publicly accepting the challenge of the 2010 initiative and calling upon other service organizations and stakeholders in our community to do likewise in lending their full support in the revitalization of the city of Youngstown," she said.