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City of Youngstown OKs request for bike-rack sculpture
YOUNGSTOWN
Bike-rack sculptures, designed to promote art and to encourage people to ride bicycles, in the city’s downtown should be ready for use in a month, according to the artist building the racks.
The city’s Design Review Committee, which oversees the exterior of downtown and its surrounding area, approved a request Tuesday from artist Tony Armeni to install a three-piece bike-rack sculpture on the corner of West Federal and South Chestnut streets, near the Home Savings and Loan building.
Armeni already has permission from the city to install a similar three-piece sculpture on the corner of Wick Avenue and West Federal Street, near the Chase Bank building.
“The concept is to place abstract bike racks downtown to bring public art to the area,” Armeni said. “It’s been done in cities nationwide to bring more interest to downtown.”
Armeni’s pieces look nothing like bicycle racks. They are three free-standing stainless steel pipes, ranging from 6 feet to 10 feet high, that connect at the top and run almost parallel toward the bottom.
Another local sculptor, Charles Hughes, installed two bike-rack pieces that look like abstract art bicycles, on West Federal Street, one in front of the Federal Building and the other near the Downtown Circle Convenience and Deli store.
Charles Shasho, a DRC member and deputy director of the city’s public works department, said the sculptures “are very nice, but people might not think they’re bike racks. I’m concerned about that.”
Other committee members agreed with Shasho.
But Armeni said he’s got a plan.
“How do you know they’re bike racks? It seems to be a popular question because they don’t look like bike racks,” he said. “The simplest way is to lock some bikes to them, and that’s what I’m going to do.”