under a linden tree - a new park for Youngstown's Smoky Hollow neighborhood

Underneath the canopy of a beautiful old linden tree, a community came together today to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new park in the city of Youngstown.


Harrison Commons will be the social and nature-based center of the redesign of the Smoky Hollow neighborhood.


While the overall push to develop the surrounding property into many mixed-use properties has been slower-going because of the nationwide recession, stakeholders are moving forward in the short term with infrastructure and design improvements.

With the recent University Courtyard Apartments in the background...


...along with the metal sculptural gates at YSU's Bliss Hall...


...this new park will have some interesting design components as well.

For example, built in stone spread out on the ground at the entrance to the Park will be a replication of the Smoky Hollow neighborhood as it existed in the early 20th century.

Using old Sanborn fire insurance maps for the 1920s and 1940s, the following map was created:



Interestingly, the neighborhood contained a number of public bread ovens back in the day.



Maybe that would be a fantastic addition to existing neighborhoods in the near future? (go see our friends in Braddock PA to see how it's done)

With shovels in hand,


the space along North Walnut street is seeing new life.


Mmore information on the neighborhood plan is available at Wick Neighbors.

if we're going to build a parking deck, please oh please - let's do it right

from Friday's Business-Journal, on a new parking deck to be potentially constructed downtown along Commerce Street:

"Under the [2010 omnibus] appropriations act, which awaits a Senate vote and approval by the president, the 17th congressional district would receive a total $7.945 million, including $450,000 for the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. to develop a 200-space parking facility to support Phase 4 of the Tech Block downtown. The deck would feature a pedestrian walkway to the $16 million Tech Block project, Ryan said.

Last month, the CIC authorized a financial and engineering feasibility study of a parking deck on the site of a surface lot that now accommodates 255 vehicles. The proposed lot, which could have 600 to 1,000 spaces, would be available for downtown workers and students at Youngstown State University, the CIC said at its November meeting."

In the world of parking decks, there are poorly designed parking decks and well-thought out parking decks.

Youngstown needs a good parking deck . . . with window space for design and limited commercial space on the street level for capacity growth.

Just think, plopping down a monolithic structure with no street interaction effectively creates a dull and lifeless pedestrian zone around the perimeter of the building.

In the space around the perimeter of the structure, there could be spaces for some amenities needed in the downtown neighborhood. For example: a dry cleaning business is needed, in addition to a convenience store or a bodega with basic sundries.

Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about in a recent trip to Baton Rouge:






In a nutshell, we are going to place a parking garage in the downtown which will be in that spot for the next 30 years.

please . . .

Let's do it right and incorporate some long-range planning.

- - -

btw, Baton Rouge also has a Kress Building it is attempting to renovate. Check it out:



word.

ysu lights tower, tops off new business school

The urban landscape of downtown Youngstown changed a bit over the last week, as two YSU projects hit a milestone.

First, the communications tower just between Lincoln and Rayen Avenues received the final touches of its paint black and white paint makeover and *shazam*


the lights went on for the first time.

(photo [with back story] retrieved from YSU's Office of Marketing and Communications)


Second, earlier today the structural steel was topped off at the new $34 million building for the William College of Business.

You can see the design of the building here, and a construction cam of the site here.


here is a view looking up, as the building stretches from Rayen Avenue to Wood Avenue:



In the background of the photo above you can see the Youngstown YWCA, in the middle of its own $8.1 million historic renovation.

a bunch of other design and development news hit the papers this morning as well:

- moving in begins at Realty Towers, loan paid back to city
- HUD awards $10 million to YMHA, one of 36 green energy grants
- remodeled cafe at Butler to serve chicken francaise 7 days a week
- million-dollar upgrade to exterior of the PNC building on the way
- new pool to be installed near Wick Park

free downtown architectural tour - 7pm thursday May 14

The cover of May's Metro Monthly says it all: it's National Preservation Month.

On Thursday at 7pm, Mark C. Peyko, publisher and editor of the Metro Monthly will be hosting a downtown walking tour highlighting the history and architecture of Youngstown.

Everyone is meeting at the Man on the Monument downtown at the intersection of Market/Wick and Federal Street.

Here are a few clips from a tour last year:



Want to know why Daniel Burnham came to Youngstown?

How about where in Youngstown the Warner Brothers got their start?

Or where the Good Humor Bar was invented in downtown Youngstown?

Guaranteed you will learn something.

If you work downtown, take a post-work drink or grab a bite and meet up for the tour at 7pm.

jazzing up the entrances to youngstown

I'm throwing out a request to local designers and artists to sketch out some new entryways into the city of Youngstown.

The top design with accompanying budget and plan of action will be awarded a bottle of absinthe produced in eastern europe.

Currently we have signs of two varieties: one type is along interstates (along I-680 specifically) and are flat little signs existing in the islands of green at certain interchanges, and the other are the street department metal type, essentially street signs usually describing some aspect of accomplishment (ursuline high school championships, sister cities arrangements, for example).

So can we go from blah to bamn! at our entrances, revealing Youngstown as a city with pride and dynamism?

Here is one recent case study, the entrance into the city of Hokitika, capital of greenstone carvers on the southern island of New Zealand.


The rusty allure of the cut letters caught my eye here - perhaps a potential building block of a Youngstown sign.


The oxide runoff on the stone looks cool as well.


similarly colored housing covers the lights to illuminate at night.


with native plants as a backdrop.

or, one can go the natural route:


date for submissions closes on feb 15th.

the bottle contains 750mL of the green fairy, with original seal on top.

pocket parks in "the pearl"

Sometimes a city has the opportunity to do something creative with large tracts of land, turning the space of vacated properties into a prime asset.

Youngstown is building a mixed-used residential/commercial neighborhood adjacent to the univeristy and downtown in Smoky Hollow, but many design elements and construction have yet to be accomplished. What places can they emulate as the project moves forward?

Atlanta created the uninspiring Atlantic Station on the grounds of an old steel mill, a tacky collection of disneyland-esque buildings, a destination adjacent to the interstate north of Midtown with an "in and out, but not staying" existence.

Portland's emerging Pearl District, anchored by many LEED certified buildings and free wi-fi throughout, is a nice mix of old and new, livable and walkable designs of which Youngstown may learn from.

The rest of this post shows photos from three separate smaller "pocket" parks in the Pearl, possible role models for downtown youngstown, wick park, and the smoky hollow. The Pearl's wikipedia article has a good aerial photo of what the railroad yards used to look like.

The Pearl's Tanner Springs Park is located between the light rail lines on 10th and 11th avenues. The space is fascinating, in that this small space (less than an acre) retains an almost rural quality although it is located right in the heart of the neighborhood. Here we have some decorative stone patterns, with a water element flowing from it:

Further down the path, the manicured portion of the park decends into marshy, unmowed wetlands. Large steps from the sides of the park provide a place for people to read books and relax.


The path set away from street level then flows into small pond, filled with orange fish.


The floating path also follows this wonderful serpentine metal wall on the east boundary of the park.


Check out this up-close photo of this textured element:

Further south, Jamison Park, provides a more family-friendly atmosphere, heavily used by children and people walking their dogs. The high sculptures around the perimeter help to anchor the streetcar power lines.


The wonderful central element of this park is a fountain that has the effect of a tidal pool, with its waterfalls filling in and draining a bricked-in area for children to play in.


As the water fills in and empty, people relax and the place has the feeling of a clean urban beach.


Finally, tucked in between three buildings are these concrete columns, left exposed after a previous demolition and wrapped with art. I love how the rebar is sticking out of the top:




Lots to consider and learn as Youngstown goes about planning its park spaces in the future.

Perhaps the next City Parks Commissioner, whenever that position is filled, can lead the charge on similar types of projects in city parks.

In the meantime, it's up to the public to brainstorm and help push the city and stakeholders along to this level of quality for future design.

this is the new standard

Saturday morning, about 75 or so people arrived at Park Vista to discuss the future of Wick Park.

While other news stories and blogs have provided a recount of the day's events (see further below), this meeting was the beginning of a multistep process - a process to engage the public, united with other stakeholder organizations and the city of Youngstown, to make one pocket of the city a much better place.

The evolution of the project, to be chronicled on the website www.wickparkproject.info (purchased over the weekend, with content to come) will use information technology to further engage the public.


The Wick Park Revitalization Project is becoming another component in Youngstown's ongoing efforts with "open source community development".

Simply put, this is the new standard

No more evading the public for planning public spaces.
No more inept leaders of wayward departments.
No more closed door meetings.

This is the new standard of how future projects should progress.


By incorporating aspects of the polder model, Youngstown's methods of open source community development aim to bring more and more people into the discussion of what the civic space will become.


pictured above are the breakout sessions where individuals described what components they would like to see in the park in the future.

And looking around the room...





What will the final project look like?

Get involved, add your opinions to the mix, and find out.

Second public meeting to be announced in the weeks to come...

Defend Youngstown: 1st Meeting Complete

Valley24.com: Reinventing Wick Park

Vindicator: Wick Park workshop draws 80 participants

Tribune Chronicle: Wick Park Effort Begins

u mich city planning ideas now online

Over the summer, city planning graduate students from the University of Michigan came to Youngstown to participate in a design studio. For parts of three days, they met various stakeholders including university and business representatives, city government, and youngstown bloggers, among others.

Then they came back.

Four teams of students presented their ideas and concepts at the downtown convocation center, and recently these presentations have been put online.


You can access the content of the four presentations here. A warning though, the file is a 25 MB pdf because of all the pictures contained within.


Here is just a sample of their ideas, many of them easy to implement and some of them are complex in scale. I particularly liked the presentation that brought the water element into various parts of the downtown.





Please note: this project was a design studio for a university class. It is NOT final design ideas set in stone. Do not get angry if you do not like certain components, because they are at a very preliminary stage of planning and imagining.

However, if you like certain concepts of these plans, be loud about it. Share them with your neighbors and tell others what you think. Perhaps by being loud with your opinions, some of these ideas can become a reality.

And thanks to the students for coming to Youngstown and sharing your great ideas.

the little white paper that could

hello.

a little "white paper" was passed out at today's meeting at City Council Chambers at 3pm.

It was completed a few hours before the plans were officially released to the public today, and is stamped with a date and time of completion. Version 2.0 is the most recent and proper version. It can be accessed by clicking on the green button below:



Additionally, the button will appear on the right hand side of this blog for a while.

- - -

But the paper should now be read with a few caveats.

First, during today's meeting, it came up that not every single one of the mature trees near the sidwalks will be removed. However, all if not most of the mature trees in the medians will be removed.

Second, it was stated that in addition to parking, the medians need to be removed to access the deteriorating wires used for lighting connections. That point was not included in version 2.0 of the paper. However, one attendee mentioned that the wiring could possibly be deactivated and left in the ground with the medians, as an alternative electric source can be connected to power the lighting. Is this a possible solution to part of the problem?

Upcoming posts will be include links to media coverage, in additional to providing some suggestions for compromise and ways to ameliorate public involvement.

Videos were up at wytv.com and wfmj.com as of 9pm.

- - -

But even with those caveats, the story remains the same.

For the entirety of this project, especially since 2005, public input has rarely been sought and public disclosure has rarely been provided.

These criticisms of the process are independent of the final design.

- - -

And if you're reading this blog for the first time and don't have a clue what I'm speaking about, please read the report.

It's not a perfect document, but it gives an alright overview of the issue at hand - one which concerns many people who care about the future of downtown youngstown.

Public Planning Meeting will be the first of many

Tomorrow (Wednesday) kicks off an important step in the Youngstown 2010 Planning Process - The very first public planning meeting will be held at the D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitor's Center at Fellows Riverside Garden (7pm) to discuss ideas about what is currently being called the Garden District.


This neighborhood, the first of nearly 130 within Youngstown City limits to be planned, is bordered on 2 sides by Mill Creek Metroparks. It is also hugged by Calvary Cemetery to the west and Mahoning Avenue on the north.


Public meetings like these are priceless to the City Planning Department as it gives them an opportunity to hear directly from the residents of that area. Without that valuable input, it can be difficult to determine exactly what the best plan for an area is.

If you live in the area, if you don't live in the area, if you want to move to the area, or if you have ever passed through the area to get to Fellows, please try to contribute to this discussion. You can have a say in what happens here.

The format will be somewhat informal, with the Planning Department presenting several preliminary thoughts, ideas, and observations about the neighborhood. These rough ideas are meant to initiate discussions by the public about what may or may not work in this particular neighborhood. From there, the Planning Department will have some material to work with to generate new and improved plans, which will again be presented in a public forum at a later date.

Be there and be vocal.

- - -

In addition (and because it wouldn't be a Youngstown Planning Meeting if they didn't use Youngstown-based technology) participants will be using Turning Technologies' audience response system.

During the presentation, the public will have the ability to voice 'Yay' or 'Nay' the ideas with the touch of a button.

---

'Garden District' Public Planning Meeting

June 27, 2007 7pm

D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitor's Center

Fellows Riverside Garden