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Youngstown to install two splash pads including one in an area with the city’s lowest juvenile population
YOUNGSTOWN
The city plans to install two splash pads — including one in John White Park on the East Side in an area with the lowest juvenile population in Youngstown.
There are only 145 people under age 18 who live within a half-mile radius of John White, which will get a splash pad, compared with 878 kids within a half-mile of Borts Field on the city’s West Side, according to a report compiled by the Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies using 2010 U.S. Census statistics.
Borts isn’t getting a splash pad this year.
The other splash pad to be installed this year will be at Homestead Park on the South Side. There are 691 people under age 18 living within a half-mile of that park. Several other South Side parks with larger populations of kids living nearby aren’t getting splash pads, but are relatively close to Homestead.
“We should put the splash pads where the population is and where it will get the most use,” said Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th. Borts is in his ward. “John White is not a strong population base. We should put them where they make sense, where the population is. I question the justification of this decision. It doesn’t make sense.”
Robert Burke, city park and recreation director, said there aren’t a lot of kids living near John White, but it attracts a lot of children to its summer-camp program.
“It’s a popular park for kids on the East Side,” Burke said. “I know everyone wants this on their side of town, and we’re working on it.”
Splash pads shoot water from above-ground sprinklers and cost about $40,000 each including installation, Burke said.
The city will open proposals for the splash pads Friday and expects to have them installed by mid-September, Burke said. Because of the installation time, the pads will be open for just a few weeks, and then be ready for long-term use starting in May 2015, he said.
Borts could get a splash pad next year as part of a rehabilitation of that park, including the possible demolition of the closed pool and a new building, Burke said.
Homestead and John White are better locations now, Burke said, because they have indoor facilities that can safely store the pads’ electrical units. Borts doesn’t have one.
Also on the list for a possible splash pad next year is either Ipe Field or Lynn Street Playground on the southeast side, Burke said. The juvenile population at those locations within a half-mile is 894 and 636, respectively.
Councilman Paul Drennen, D-5th, said of the pad at John White, “I’m concerned about the lack of kids close to there, but it’s based on the number of people using the park. If John White has high traffic then it will work out, but I don’t want them put in places where they’re not used.”
Councilman T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd, whose ward includes John White, said that park “is centrally located for the East Side of town. It is heavily utilized. The census doesn’t dictate what we do with our parks. Kids come to the park. The playground and the pavilion there are used. This will attract even more kids and be something for the East Side to be proud of. It will make it more of a destination than it already is.”
Councilwoman Annie Gillam, D-1st, who lives a few blocks from John White, agrees with Rodgers.
“It’s a good location,” she said. “We get crowds of kids [at the park] when there’s an activity there.”