Deterioration of West Side neighborhood is sad to see

Deterioration of West Side neighborhood is sad to see
EDITOR:
Seeing the article and picture in the paper on the conditions of two houses on Wesley Avenue made me sick to my stomach. I vividly remember growing up on that street during the late '60s and '70s. All the homes when I grew up there were meticulously kept. Yards were pristine, and the part of the street where I was living was lined with trees on both sides.
This was the kind of neighborhood the "remember when" e-mails we all see had in mind. I remember playing kick the can in the summer and baseball in the street, playing football in the backyards and hoards of kids everywhere. There was such pride in that neighborhood.
Where has that pride gone? "Changing demographics" has been the catch phrase of late, one I am learning to not like very much. Even if the demographics change, isn't there any sense of pride left there? The businesses there play a key part in it, too. A walk up Mahoning Avenue from Schenley toward Austintown will show you "we ain't in Kansas anymore, Toto!"
I urge the 4th Ward council representative and challenge all the neighbors on and near Wesley Avenue to do something about this. I became concerned more deeply for that neighborhood ever since the closing of several key institutions, most notably St. Brendan School, and the moving of West Elementary down the street on Schenley. I don't know what's going to happen with my old "stomping grounds," but I hope and pray people put the pride back in the West Side and wake up before it is too late.
RICK MYERS
Austintown
Trip here for a wedding becomes an unhappy visit
EDITOR:
I had occasion to visit your city Nov. 3 through 5 to attend a wedding of my great-niece. I drove 450 miles from Indiana for it, but I didn't make it. I was involved in an accident one half block from the church.
The accident happened at 12:25 p.m.. We called 911 five times, and two hours later a rude policeman finally showed up. He acted as if we had made him miss a coffee break or something.
But while we were waiting that two hours, a couple of Youngstown police in their uniforms came by in a pickup truck. They rolled down their window and asked if anyone was hurt. We told them no, and they rolled up the widow and drove off.
Here in Indiana, I've seen police in their civilian clothes tending to accidents. So to say the least, I was very unimpressed with your city and its officers.
The lady I was involved in the accident with kept apologizing because it was taking so long for the police to arrive. I asked her if someone was breaking into your house would the response be the same. She said about the same. So I'm glad I was just visiting your city instead of living there.
DANIEL D. MORGAN
St. Mary of the Woods, Ind.
Fly the flag -- correctly
EDITOR:
I sometimes wonder why the Center Street Bridge was renamed the World War II Bridge. Veterans Day came and went and there wasn't an American flag flying. I wrote before about the flag on this bridge; at that time the flag was torn and tattered. As soon as my letter appeared, in this column the flag was changed.
When a flag is flying, the lights are not aimed on it at night. Now I see that the flag at the Shirley Road exit on I-680 isn't even lighted at night.
Get with it. We have many men and women fighting and dying to defend our country.
KATHY BAIRD
Campbell