Downtown — finding a way

“Wayfinding” might not be the most sexy or deliberate term you’ll hear in life.

But within the industry of community development, it’s a core heartbeat for any population center:

Signage and other visual and physical cues to easily guide people in a logical way through a physical space. Enhancements when you look up or look down that ideally keep you on your way and prevent you from losing your way ... and staying away.

Last Thursday, Youngstown private and public leaders listened to three presentations from companies looking to land a contract to improve downtown wayfinding. The proposals range in cost from $50,000 to $75,000 to lay out a system that, once implemented, could cost up to $200,000 to construct and install.

It’s a significant investment that the city will take its time on, said Mayor John McNally, as it looks for the funds to make this happen.

It’s perhaps fitting that wayfinding is the first major outcome of a group — the Economic Action Group — that’s been working for almost a year on charting a new downtown Youngstown.

Downtown itself is on its own wayfinding mission.

What is it now?

What can it be?

What will it take to get there?

And probably most prickly: Who gets it there?

The EAG is just the latest organizing effort, and is chaperoned by Dominic C. Marchionda — the “younger one” if you’re like most who fumble keeping straight the two Dominics of NYO Property Group. The EAG is the latest in a line of groups to carry the downtown torch over the years.

Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. has been at it for many years in various ways.

Youngstown Cityscape/Streetscape has carved out a nice, sustainable niche since 1998 with beautification efforts.

Downtown Business Alliance of Youngstown launched in 2013 and has mostly laid low or been nonexistent after just a handful of active months.

And now the EAG.

Wayfinding has been an EAG topic since it started last year. Meeting No. 10 will take place this week, and Marchionda is excited for the expected turnout of downtown leadership.

It’s to be celebrated for sure, because downtown is fickle.

The pivotal core of the Valley, the downtown, is on a one-step-forward, one-step-backward path. Rattle off all the successes in the past five years, and you can just as easily find head-scratching moves.

Consider the current:

Our downtown can step forward to pioneer the future of U.S. manufacturing with 3-D technology, yet a 24-space surface parking lot that was supposed to open in September 2013, then in July 2014, still sits unused as a trophy of wasted taxpayer funds.

But downtown has to happen, and such bumps have to be endured.

And those in the middle of it all see downtown as going to happen.

Bergen Giordani opened One Hot Cookie bake shop in April 2013, and is part of the new wave of downtown believers. She’s confident the current downtown push will solidify through efforts like the EAG. She’s so confident, the lifelong suburbanite just became a downtown resident in recent months.

“How often does a community have the opportunity for its stakeholders to come together and discuss what the issues are and how to overcome them? Instead of just riding the wave [of growth], we are actually steering the ship,” she said.

Pete Asimakopoulos is on a different business plane than Giordani. He’s a vice president for First National Bank and board chairman of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber. But his views on the current downtown push are similar:

“This group checks their personal agendas at the door. Obviously, that comes with certain challenges, but I am very optimistic that keeping this group together will build rewarding strategies to move our city forward,” said Asimakopoulos.

Agendas and egos are tough to manage in a place like downtown — millionaire property owners, ambitious entrepreneurs, entrenched government staff, etc.

Said one observer about navigating city activities:

“Youngstown is just different. And moves here have to be thought out because a lot of people are worried about being one-upped. And everyone wants a piece of the pie.”

It makes slow the norm.

EAG has moved slowly, and without a true president or vice president, and McNally thinks that’s a plus. He’s attended about half the meetings.

“I sort of like the idea of there being no real boss. There’s a tremendous amount of discussion and participation that may have not existed before, and with a diverse group of faces,” said McNally.

He says getting downtown energies formalized will help, at some point, get more traction.

Last week was not a bad start with wayfinding signs presentations.

It also stood as a good measure of wayfinding for the latest of downtown leadership.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.