Warren making plans to increase pedestrian traffic downtown, mayor says


By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy,com

WARREN

Mayor Doug Franklin spoke of the redevelopment of the city’s downtown riverfront Friday at the annual Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Good Morning Warren breakfast at DiVieste’s Banquet Centre.

Franklin said increasing pedestrian traffic along the river, especially just west of Courthouse Square, will be a focus of the soon-to-be-released strategic plan written by the Trumbull County Planning Commission.

He said mixed-use zoning will “encourage more pedestrian activity in the area, which drives commerce through foot traffic and attracts a younger demographic who would have otherwise left the area in favor of more progressive locales.”

He said removing 24 commercial buildings over the past 21/2 years has cost $500,000 but improved the city’s “curb appeal.” The city will be adding a 2,000-square-foot splash pad to Packard Park behind W.D. Packard Music Hall this summer.

In his presentation on the Warren schools, Superintendent Steve Chiaro mentioned that the district preschool program that began in recent years now gets the highest rating possible in all 10 of its preschool classrooms.

“We have over 300 3- and 4-year-olds in half- and full-day programs. You literally cannot send your child to a higher-rate preschool program than what we offer,” Chiaro said.

Last year’s graduation rate was 87.8 percent. “For an urban school district, that is significant. I would even challenge to say that is the highest ... probably the highest midsize urban district graduation rate in the state of Ohio,” he said.

He said statistics show the students in Warren schools are the sixth poorest among 600 school districts in the state. “We are in a really super high poverty crisis,” Chiaro said.

The school district, however, is “very, very, very fiscally solvent.”

By using this site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

» Accept
» Learn More