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Town One Streetscapes has passion for Poland
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Larry Warren, president of Town One Streetscapes, has been a part of the organization for more than five years. The organization is comprised of community volunteers who work together to help improve Poland Township.
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Neighbors | Submitted.Town One Streetscapes works with community groups to plant and maintain the flower boxes on the bridges of Routes 224 and 170. Kitty Heineman (left) and Barb Delisio plant flowers on the Route 224 bridge. The group will plant flowers for the summer May 22.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Poland's clock tower, located in Peterson Park, was the first project Town One Streetscapes completed. It replaced a gas station, McQuaids, that went out of business years ago.
By SHAIYLA HAKEEM
Town One Streetscapes, Inc. has aided the Poland community in several projects over the last 12 years.
Established Aug. 9, 1997, its first task was building the clock tower located in Peterson Park. The decorated town square was once a vacant gas station that had been shut down.
Larry Warren has been president of Town One Streetscapes since 2002, but has been an active participant in the organization for more than 10 years.
“Our main goal is to work with the public places within the community to enhance and maintain the environment of the community,” Warren said.
Other goals are to assist in preserving the village and township, utilize private and public funding for improvements in the main roadways, buildings, public places and to improve the overall quality of life in the community. It is a nonprofit organization comprised solely of volunteers.
“When you have a group of about 25 people, who are volunteers, you can’t do everything,” Warren said. “But when you have a group come forward that needs help, we’re always there to help.”
The organization has aided in planting trees in the village and replacing the six corporate limit signs. They work with local companies and community officials to orchestrate different projects.
“We kind of marshal private and public resources to do things for the good of the community,” Warren said.
Streetscapes has aided in the dedication of the Ohio Historical Marker in front of the Old Tavern, compiled a Walking Tour brochure for South Main Street and put together various activities of the annual Celebrate Poland event.
Yellow Creek Theatre is yet another project that Streetscapes tackled. This year will mark the sixth season of showing movies under the bridge located behind the Poland Library.
The theatre is scheduled to show its first movie of the summer July 4 and will run through Labor Day. It showcases classic films and has room for hundreds of guests.
Future projects include maintaining the Yellow Creek Theatre patio, improving the town’s clock tower and adding more events to the Celebrate Poland event.
“We don’t want to control things, we don’t have the resources to do all the things, we just try to broker and bring people together to do the things that need to be done within the community,” Warren said.
Town One Streetscapes are always looking for new members. They meet the first and third Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the Poland Library. Contact Warren at 330-757-3631.