Saturday, July 19, 2008
Two council members fulfilled the park and recreation commission’s request to get public input.
YOUNGSTOWN — Only Anthony Bailey, coach of a South Side football team, showed up at a public meeting Friday afternoon at Gibson Field, held by Greater Youngstown Area Soap Box Derby to gauge support or opposition about its plan to turn part of the field into a Soap Box Derby track.
Council members Janet Tarpley, D-6th, and John R. Swierz, D-7th, had announced the meeting at the field. The two said they took the lack of response from residents in the neighborhoods around Gibson Field to mean that no one was against the idea.
The field is in both wards on the city’s South Side. Swierz, who also is vice president of the local Soap Box Derby board, said information sheets were distributed in the area about the proposed project.
Tarpley and Swierz said that, by having the informal gathering, they fulfilled the city’s park and recreation commission’s request to get public input. Now, they said, the park and recreation commission can approve or deny the derby’s request. They said the proposal had received positive response from the commission.
Bailey, who coaches 6- to 13-year-olds on the Fighting Little Redmen, said he wanted to find out if the track would take up all the space at the field. Some 80 children involved in the football team practice there from July through November.
Tarpley and Swierz said the plans they have envisioned for the derby track would still leave room for the practice field. “This field isn’t being used much, but this would put it to use,” Tarpley said. “It would be an activity for inner-city kids.”
“I wanted to check out what was going on,” Bailey said. “I’m for anything that helps keep kids off the streets and gives them something else to do.”
Bailey said he thought some of the participants in football would be interested in soap box racing.
Andy Bowell Jr., Soap Box Derby board president, said increased participation would tap into the program’s rich history that dates to 1934 nationally and in Youngstown. “There are 150 cities where races are held, and Youngstown is one,” Swierz added.
Bowell said the Soap Box Derby races take place on Fifth Avenue. This year, 45 racers participated. “Safety is a concern,” he said of use of the city street, which must be closed for the event. A dedicated track, he said, would help eliminate the safety issue. And, he also noted, other races and rally races could be held if the track materializes.
If the park and recreation commission approves the project, it would be up to the Soap Box Derby association to raise the funds to make the ideas turn into reality. Bowell said a track in Cleveland cost $250,000 to revamp.
He said the amount to redo part of Gibson Field isn’t known as yet because the proper personnel would have to be hired to ascertain exactly what needs to be done and a monetary estimate derived from that information. An 800-foot track with a 250-foot stopping area is envisioned along with a possible pavilion and parking.
The Soap Box Derby association would work to raise funds and seek grant money. The city would retain ownership of the park. Soap Box Derby racing was held from the 1930s to the early 1970s in the city. It was revived in the city in 2000 by the Uptown Kiwanis Club, Fire Local 312 and individuals.
The Soap Box Derby association is a 501 C (3) organization with headquarters at 123 N. Meridian Road. For information, call (330) 717-8661 or (330) 793-7192 or visit www.gyasbd.com.