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Support widens for Wick Park barricades
YOUNGSTOWN
The city’s Park and Recreation commission has approved a measure supporting vehicle barricades at Wick Park.
The commission’s approval is contingent on the Wick Park Neighborhood Association submitting the plan in writing by Jan. 13. The association’s president, Gary Davenport, said that wouldn’t be a problem.
Davenport said the association has asked the commission about the gates several times since July when a woman was sexually assaulted in Wick Park on the city’s North Side. He added that closing the park to vehicles at night likely would reduce drug activity.
“We want these gates to prevent vehicular traffic at night,” Davenport said at the panel’s Thursday meeting. “You’ll see a car enter from each end of the park, slow down when they meet and drive away. I don’t think they’re doing community policing.”
The commission had expressed concern in July that the gates would hinder police, fire and ambulance vehicles in an emergency.
“We feel it’s a good idea to have [the gates] street-side rather than inside the park. Police Chief Rod Foley doesn’t see a problem with it,” Davenport said.
Jason Roller, a commission member, said the association’s written plan should include the chief’s input.
“It was more of a health and safety issue. ... But if our city safety officials don’t think that’s an issue, then I don’t think there is any opposition,” he said.
Davenport said the association was not asking for any money, just a “stamp of approval.”
The gates are one of many improvements to the park that will be funded by a $100,000 grant from the Youngstown Foundation.
The design of the vehicle gates, similar to those at the Ursuline High School parking lot, fits into the overall improvement plan for Wick Park, said Sharon Letson, executive director of Youngstown CityScape, an organization involved in revitalizing the park.
“For so long as a city, we just accepted anything. We want this to be an upgrade,” Letson said.