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Family honored for improvements to neighborhood
Lien Forward Ohio
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Willie Mae Johnson, far right, stands with her daughters, Sandra and Vickie, and son, William, as the family receives the Good Neighbor Award, a plant and gardening gloves Monday from Lien Forward Ohio. The Johnsons have been cleaning and landscaping vacant lots at Norwood Avenue and Wirt Street for the past three years.
The family beautifies vacant lots on two corners of the intersection.
YOUNGSTOWN — A North Side family has been recognized for its dedication to improving the neighborhood’s appearance by beautifying vacant lots.
Willie Mae Johnson and her family received the first Good Neighbor Award from Lien Forward Ohio on Monday for the cleaning and landscaping of vacant lots at Norwood Avenue and Wirt Street near Johnson’s residence.
The award recognizes those who restore empty, tax-delinquent lots to worthwhile use and whose efforts benefit their neighborhoods, said Debora Flora, Lien Forward’s executive director.
“We’re here to honor you folks because it’s folks like you that care about your city,” Lisa Antonini, Mahoning County treasurer and Lien Forward’s board president, told the Johnsons before presenting the award to them.
“We can make this city strong again just by revitalizing all of the abandoned property,” Antonini said, adding that she hopes similar beautification efforts can be made citywide.
The Johnsons have removed brush and litter, planted perennials and installed brick and stone borders at the two corners of the intersection they maintain, expanding the landscaped areas annually.
The Johnsons got involved three years ago when the Eagle Eye Block Watch launched an effort to landscape vacant lots with neighborhood youth providing the volunteer labor.
“It makes the neighborhood look better, and we get a lot of compliments on this. I just enjoy getting out here working and keeping it up,” said Willie Mae Johnson. “We just take pride in keeping it up.”
Johnson acquired one of the lots there through Lien Forward, a partnership of the city and county that uses tax lien sales to restore vacant, tax-delinquent land to productive use. Lien Forward is observing its third anniversary this month.
“It says that people care,” Councilman Jamael Tito Brown, D-3rd, said of the Johnsons’ project, which is in his ward. Brown, who called such efforts “a home run” for the city, also is operations director in the county treasurer’s office.
Brown said he encourages other county residents considering similar projects to “get off the couch and outside and contact Lien Forward about the lot they may be considering using or owning.”
Flora said a 45-by-125-foot vacant city lot can typically be acquired by neighbors for a few hundred dollars with Lien Forward’s help. “We have funding so that the legal costs that they may incur in acquiring these properties can be defrayed,” Flora said.
In its three-year existence, Lien Forward has restored 135 parcels of land to productive use, and it is working on doing the same with 250 more parcels, Flora added.
milliken@vindy.com