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Neighborhood makes ‘a stand’
By jeanne starmack
youngstown
They want their community back — now.
In front of the Christian Revival and Discipleship Center at the corner of Hudson and Parkcliff avenues, they gathered Tuesday evening — about 35 people who’d walked a few blocks from the Martin Luther Lutheran Church at Hudson and Clearmont Drive and about 100 more who spilled out of the Discipleship Center after church let out there.
Organized by the Newport Neighborhood Association and the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, they came to protest speeding and crime in the Newport neighborhood on the South Side.
And, they said, they want city leaders to pay attention.
They expect action, they say, on behalf of the children in the neighborhood who use the Lutheran church parking lot to play basketball and who play in a playground across the street.
They want justice on behalf of Shelton Harris, 57, of Sherwood Avenue, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while he was riding his bicycle on Hudson exactly one year ago. The driver was believed to be going 70 mph in a 25 mph zone, Vindicator files indicate.
Though their streets are posted with 25 mph and 35 mph signs, said the Rev. Paul Heine, pastor of Martin Luther, the speeders don’t pay attention.
Hudson from Midlothian Boulevard to Indianola Avenue is used as a cut-through so drivers don’t have to use Market Street, he said.
There are houses in the neighborhood, too, the Rev. Mr. Heine told the crowd, where they’re obviously selling something. It isn’t Girl Scout cookies, he said he’s sure.
With the drugs comes violence, he pointed out.
“Something goes wrong — somebody pulls a gun,” he said.
The Rev. Kenneth Paramore, pastor of the Discipleship Center, said the neighborhood’s problem isn’t just for whites, blacks, or young or elderly people. “It’s a community problem,” he said.
“Sometimes it calls for a civil confrontation,” he said, “to say to our city leaders, ‘We need your help.’”
Some neighbors had stories to tell. James E. Harvey of Parkcliff, who is a block captain for his street for the neighborhood association, said he was sitting out in his yard a few weeks ago. He said he looked up to see a car at the intersection of Parkcliff and Firnley avenues.
“The next thing you know, it’s automatic gunfire,” he said. “Someone shooting automatic weapons, people sitting outside — we can’t tolerate that,” he said. “Today is a good day to make a stand.”
Mr. Heine said that as far as speeding goes, Mayor Jay Williams has indicated there might be a traffic camera installed in the area.
Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, said council is waiting for legislation to be written on installing traffic cameras citywide, starting in school zones.
He said the area of Hudson and Parkcliff would be a good spot for a camera.
But a camera may not be enough, said neighborhood organizers. They had Drennen and Charles Shasho, city public-works director, sign a document that calls for other ways to stop speeders — a four-way stop, speed bumps, reversing stop signs so traffic has to stop on Hudson, a blinking caution light or a crosswalk. The organizers said they want action within 90 days.