Tree lovers win: Plan to be revisited

About 700 local residents signed a petition opposing the plan to remove the tree-lined medians.

By ANGIE SCHMITT

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — North Side residents Mary June, 66, and Jean Engle, 59, attended a public meeting Monday with one mission in mind: to defend the trees on West Federal Street.

June helped plant flower beds along the trees’ trunks as a member of the downtown beautification group Cityscape.

Engle is part of a local organization that encourages tree-planting.

So, when the pair heard the city was planning to remove the street’s tree-lined medians to make way for additional parking, they wanted their voices to be heard.

And they weren’t the only ones.

Residents, business people and community leaders packed council chambers, issuing near unanimous criticism of the city’s plan.

Local Architect Robert Mastriana, of The 4M Co., called for its re-examination.

Judge Mary DeGenaro of the 7th District Court of Appeals said court staff was not in favor of the plan. The appellate court is located on West Federal Street.

Michael S. Garvey, president and CEO of M-7 technologies, concurred.

The removal of the trees would threaten the influx of young, knowledge-based professionals to the area, he said.

“I have to express my disappointment that the removal of these trees is even being considered,” Garvey said.

Organized opposition

Phil Kidd, a young activist who helped organize opposition to the city’s plan, announced that he had collected signatures from about 700 local residents opposing the plan.

“What we have here is a concentration of concerned citizens,” said Kidd, who works in the assignment office in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. “We’re hoping we can sit down and maybe take a look at some other options.”

The project to reconstruct and improve West Federal Street had been advertised as a way to increase the visibility of downtown businesses and add parking spaces. It is set to go out to bid later this month.

Efforts were taken to incorporate additional green space in the plan, said Carmen S. Conglose Jr., the city’s deputy director of public works. But the addition of 24 diagonal-style parking spaces required the removal of the median, he said.

After a long public comment period, however, Conglose indicated plans could still be modified.

“We’re in listening mode,” Conglose said. “It is problematic financially to go back and revisit what we have done. That doesn’t mean we will not do so.”

Hunter Morrison, director of Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, said he’s seen this type of response in projects affecting important sites at YSU.

“There are some sacred landscapes and landmarks in the town that people feel very strongly about,” he said. This is “one of the things in Youngstown that works. People love the trees,” Morrison added.

aschmitt@vindy.com