Men’s Garden Club’s 10th Streetscape Saturday

The effort started with some people with some brooms and some flowers.

By ANGIE SCHMITT

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The Men’s Garden Club of Greater Youngstown arrived promptly at 9 a.m. and started unloading flowers from its van.

The men didn’t need instructions; they just set to work planting on a strip between the northbound and southbound traffic on Federal Street downtown.

For the 10th year running, the garden club was doing its part to aid the downtown beautification group, Streetscape. Engaging groups like theirs is the driving force for the organization, whose mission is to revitalize downtown Youngstown through landscaping and clean-up efforts, said executive director Sharon Letson.

Whether volunteers come from the garden club, the United Way or Community Corrections Agency, they’re pivotal to Streetscape’s success, she said.

“When the weeds have been pulled, when the grass has been sprayed — it’s really the details that make the difference in how things look,” Letson said. “We really feel that the visual impact — how our city looks — will make a difference in our redevelopment.”

More than 300 volunteers are expected to convene downtown at 8 a.m. June 2 for Streetscape’s biggest annual event, informally known as clean-up day. This year, the event has the added importance of marking Streetscape’s 10-year anniversary.

“This group really started with some people with some brooms and some flowers,” Letson said. “They could either ignore what was happening [to downtown] or complain about it, or do something.”

How it started

Though the roll-up-your-sleeves approach hasn’t changed much, Streetscape has come a long way since they began as the “visual improvements” subcommittee of a 1997 downtown redevelopment project.

Today it is managed by a 20-member board, which includes the likes of Youngstown’s Mayor Jay Williams and Youngstown State University President David Sweet. Streetscape has become a registered non-profit, raising about $300,000 annually. Two years ago, Streetscape brought on Letson as executive Director.

“The real success of the organization was when we reorganized,” said Scott Schulick, Streetscape committee chairman. “If this organization is to succeed, we need to have the major stakeholders in town on the board.”

When a variety of civic leaders can commit resources simultaneously, efficiency is drastically increased, Letson said.

Collaborative effort reached its height when Streetscape board members met the objective of improving the visual landscape around the new Chevrolet Centre in summer 2005. The board singled out South Avenue for a facelift, but the city couldn’t commit its resources to perform the necessary code inspections, Letson said.

The solution to their problem, however, was found around the board table.

A YSU official stepped up and committed to conducting a study of the road. The Center for Urban and Regional Studies took pictures of every property on the road and presented them to the city for recommendation. An Ohio Edison executive promised to conduct a survey of the street lights and replace any malfunctioning bulbs. An employee of Community Correction Agency volunteered to clear the area of debris.

“Some of the projects, people might look at and say, ‘That’s so small,’” Letson said. “But they’re not.”

The organization, for example, purchased trash receptacles made from recycled materials.

“Before, there was no place to throw your garbage,” Letson said.

Standing recently near the flower beds Streetscape maintains at Federal Street and Champion Street, Schulick looked around.

“There’s no trash lying around,” he said. “Now that the surroundings look good, the expectation gets higher.”