recap of first use of Youngstown's new community oven (and our blog's first video)

"a harbinger of a fully-developed neighborhood"

For the first time in many many years, an outdoor neighborhood bread oven was used to prepare nourishing food in the Smoky Hollow Neighborhood of Youngstown.

It happened yesterday at the weekly lunch of the Rotary Club of Youngstown.

The leadership of Wick Neighbors Inc, a CDC advancing the development of the Wick Ave area and the adjacent neighborhood, joined the Rotarians at the MVR to literally "break bread" together - in the form of artisanal hand-crafted pizzas.

The outdoor community bread oven was installed in the Hollow earlier this year at the park now known as the Harrison Commons.

Besides the oven and an herb garden planted around its periphery, Harrison Commons is also home to cut stone benches, a decorative pergola which doubles as a stage, and the replication in granite of a very old Sandborn map highlighting the previous locations of multiple bread ovens throughout the Hollow.

(please see this post from SY in July 2011 for a full overview)

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Another first-time events aligns with the first-time feast from the oven...

As seen below, it's the first ever topical neighborhood video produced by the New Media Team employed at Shout Youngstown.

Check it out:



You can learn more information about Wick Neighbors and their ongoing efforts here.

Next up?

Fixing up and construction along the Hollow's Walnut Street corridor.

more details coming soon . . .

kiwi fruit, community bread ovens, & other great people lead Youngstown CityScape's 5th Annual Beautification Awards

Some of the homes, churches, business, and neighborhood improvements that are taking place in the city of Youngstown are simply amazing.

For example, check out this well maintained kiwi fruit trellis (with furniture underneath) that provides both shade and fruit during the year:

Here's another great project - the working community bread oven with herb garden in the Smoky Hollow at Harrison Commons:

What do these two projects have in common?

They are two of the many great projects from 2011 recognized during the 5th annual CityScape Beautification Awards in the City of Youngstown.

Here's a video recap of the event by our friends over at Defend Youngstown.




Congrats to all the award winners!

Go here to nominate your friends, churches, or any other effort that inspires you at this web site.

wednesday morning 8am update: at this link, you'll find a list of all the Beautification awardees, courtesy of The Business-Journal.

wednesday morning 8:30am update: at this link, you'll see a video from the event (which two videos later has a story on new downtown signs) courtesy of WKBN.

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To all global readers interested in Youngstown happenings, if you're not signed up yet to receive Defend Youngstown's daily updates, SY highly recommends it.

For example, if your schedule is really busy, it's a great way to get important hyper-local information synthesized to your email box every weekday.

You can sign up for the daily news updates here.

casting call: looking to interview this Saturday those familiar with Paramount Theater

Last weekend's recordings of personal stories tied to the Paramount Theater in downtown youngstown were an amazing success.

It's just stunning, when family history and city history and even world history come together.

for example, were you one of the moviegoers at the Paramount when they announced the U.S. had been attacked at Pearl Harbor?

Do you or does someone you know, a friend or a family member perhaps, have the ability to contribute stories to once-in-a-lifetime oral history project?

 

A few slots still exist this Saturday from 11am to 4pm for people to share their favorite stories about downtown youngstown and the Paramount Theater.

Please call the McDonough Museum at 330.941.1400 to discuss how you or your loved ones/friends can contribute to this outstanding project, such that generations in the future can listen to your perspective.

The content will be used for an upcoming gallery event from Jan 13 to Feb 3, as the Museum will be transformed into a celebration of all things Paramount. Very cool stuff.

Moment of Geek: Dr. Rachael Maddow mentions this blog and Youngstown's "cool" new bike racks on msnbc

Lean Forward.

That's what I tried to do Thursday night while listening to Rachael Maddow's news show on msnbc amongst the cacophony in our living room.

"Did Dr. Maddow just give a shoutout to our new bike racks downtown?"
"What . . . did she just mention the SY blog on national cable television?"

While the segment was overwhelmingly about concentrated poverty, "Occupy Youngstown" and larger political forces at work across the country that was really worth listening to, there was a smaller snippet of airtime introducing Youngstown as "a place with an amazing determination to stick it out."

Clip here...



But the stories behind the content of that snippet are pretty cool themselves.

Just how did this picture pop-up on msnbc tonight?

The neat "story behind the story" is a great tale of the good things happening in Youngstown, which then flow together into a single moment and a single photo.

First, metal sculptor extraordinaire Tony Armeni had completed the basic structure of the three, 10 foot tall bike racks to be positioned downtown. With a professional and amazing attention to detail, he needed to figure out the exact position of the racks and went downtown on a Saturday morning. (Tony's website of sculptures)

Next, photographer extraordinaire Tony Nicholas came downtown to volunteer and shoot pictures of the positioning, which would then have the black ground stands photoshopped out in order to create mock-ups of what the racks would really look like upon installation. (Tony's website of photos)

Finally, YSU students that weekend voluntarily organized a bike tour of the urban gardens developing in various spots in our city, and coming from the NorthSide Farmer's Market, rode through downtown so see the other recently-installed artisan bike racks down Federal Street.

By sheer coincidence, the sculpture team was positioning the pieces as the bike tour rode by. The bike tour stopped to inspect, the artist was in his place, and the photographer captured that exact moment on film.

And that exact moment captured by Tony Nicholas made it onto nationwide television tonight.

And now you know the rest if the story.

rare event: studio space above Silver's Vogue open this Saturday

I remember my first time.

It was cold outside, snow on the ground.

A friend of a friend had an invite one evening to the Pernotto Studio above Silver's Vogue Shop.

It's a rare place to visit.

I heard of the vast & colorful space, with super-high ceilings, art etched into the floor, and Youngstown memorabilia and history woven into the fabric of each room.

Had to jump at the opportunity.

Good decision.

Now you can have the opportunity to check out this unique downtown space as well.

Held at the Pernotto Studio, Youngstown's first "Night of Decadence" will take place this Saturday, November 5.

The party will be a fundraiser for the Next Best Art, formed to establish a new contemporary arts center downtown, independent of academic of institutional control, by artists for artists.

Lasting from 6pm to 10pm, the Night of Decadence will feature:

• imported decadent chocolates
• flowing gallons of wine
• plates of handcrafted biscotti and desserts
• inspired tastes from downtown caterers

• jazz by Teddy Pantellas
• dj'ed dance beats
• silent art auction

Tickets to the fundraiser and entry to the Pernotto Studio are $20, half that if members of the YSU Student Art Association.
 

If you're interested in checking out the space, get a ticket.
It's a fundraiser after all,

to take the first steps
in building additional gallery
and art research space
in downtown youngstown.

Or, you can leave your name in the comment section below (which will not be posted, automatic comments disabled) telling SY that you are interested in a ticket.

lights in the trees installation on The West Side

A thousand kudos to Casey Malone for posting on this Halloween night these wonderful photos and story behind the "lights in the trees" one often sees while driving on the West Side.



These lights have come up over and over and over again in the past few months in conversation, and the existing web content on these lights have been lacking. More and more installations going up all over the city...

is steampunk the ultimate rust best chic asthetic?

When someone told me my personal fashion was "steampunk" six months ago, and I have to admit it was the first time I'd heard the term.

An insult, I know, for those heavily interested in the steampunk genre, but since the remark I've been researching various forms of the steampunk design movement from special exhibits at Maker Faires to DIY Victorian weaponry and gadgets on YouTube.

In a twist regarding the local steampunk movement, artist Rob Joki is adapting his yearly production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at Youngstown's Rust Belt Theater Company to have more of a steampunk visual influence.

 

So thanks to Rob and The Rust Belt Theater Company, 
Steampunk meets Rocky Horror in Youngstown.

Reprinted at "The Boiler Room News", but originally written for the Vindicator (in a really well written and explanatory article), Joki's costumes are hand-made and use recycled and repurposed materials.

Along with the Zombie Prom at the Calvin Center, this version of Rocky Horror should keep you in the Mahoning Commons this weekend. (link to both events)



So in looking at the various aspects of steampunk fine and performing arts, is steampunk the ideal or ultimate design in the aesthetic of rust belt chic?

- - -

btw, is it better to be gypsypunk or steampunk?

the artistry behind the newest world-class downtown bike racks

3 racks in, 2 to go.

Here is a video of the craftsmanship and installation behind these soaring stainless steel beauties now installed in our central square:



Here are some other amazing photos by another super-talented Tony Nicholas, hands-down one of the best photographers in the Midwest.

All of the weld points are now entirely smoothed out, as the photo just above and below were before the final installation. (as indicated by all the green remaining on the leaves, instead of the shades of reds and yellows)

Kudos to Tony Armeni for a great effort on this particular rack, and more to come.

And thanks to all who made this possible, from the larger funders to the discothequers at the Rack and Roll bike party in 2010.

Here's some more of that sweet, sweet, local monome from The Realtime Digimob of Youngstown city, like granddaddy used to play it:

youngstown's new mayor has neat cameo in Zombie Crawl 2011 trailer

The design and promotions behind the annual zombie crawl just keep getting better and better.

Check out the video for the 2011 version, created by local talent Dan Mizicko:



Also making a cameo appearance is Youngstown's new mayor, who in the video is wandering down the street, attacked by zombies, and becomes a zombie himself.





This continues the proud tradition of the chief executive of the city of being involved in the annual zombie crawl, set in 2011 for October 22.

Nice video!

video highlights of the first-ever Volney Rodgers Emerald Pierogi Award in the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood

80 residents came out to watch the award ceremony for the first annual Volney Rodgers Emerald Pierogi Award!

Here are some highlights!



It's time for you or your friends to move into the Rocky Ridge, no?

Other fine west side houses are adjacent to Mill Creek Park in the Garden District.

Here is a video from that group's September meeting:

will you "jump the vatra" this Saturday?

The Youngstown region maintains some "uniquely distinct" annual local ethnic traditions which go way beyond the norms found at standard food/music/entertainment festivals.

The gem events (in my book) are The Baby Doll Dance, Ostatki, The Gathering of the Clams, Pabstolutely Fest, and the wintery Kulig.

Now add one more keeper to this list:

THE VATRA

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"Vatra" means bonfire in the Carpatho-Rusyn language, and this fine fire-jumping and folk-music festival continues to attract a wider audience beyond the region.

This year's Vatra will take place on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at the Shrine of Mariapoch (17486 Mumford Rd in Burton OH - just NW of Warren up route 422)

The events get underway at noon, when the kitchen open with:
- Vinegar cucumber and sweet onion / dill salad
- Slanina (bacon in the fire) with diced onions, tomatoes on bread
- Holubki (stuffed cabbage) and pirogies
- Haluski with dumplings
- Kolbasi with sauerkraut (kapusta)
- Kolachi for sale by pieces or whole rolls

From a music perspective, top-notch groups will be playing until the evening such as:
- The Slavjane Folk Ensemble of the Pittsburgh area, will dance and sing on a wooden - - Living Traditions Folk Ensemble from Cleveland
- The Lucinka Slovak Folklore Ensemble also from Cleveland
- The Byzantine Eparchial Choir from Munhall, PA.

AND

- the group Harmonia, master musicians with Eastern Sloviakian vocalist Beata Begeniova who will play authentic folk instruments throughout the evening and well into the night while people are jumping the Vatra.



Overnight tent and trailer camping sites are be available!

first Youngstown "Pecha Kucha" will be downtown thursday 25 August

Pecha Kucha - coming to downtown youngstown

See the countdown per second, with Youngstown's #1 meeting here among those around the world.

All presentations will be in the Pecha Kucha "20 x 20" format...
- 20 slides, for 20 seconds each, which is 6 minutes and 40 seconds total
- short, impactful, creative/"what interests you" is key



Here are the FAQs:

1. What is Pecha Kucha Night?
“Pecha Kucha” is a Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit-chat”).

Pecha Kucha Night is a presentation format in which people from different professions can share ideas about their creative works in an enjoyable and entertaining ambiance, regardless of who they are: famous or obscure, professional or amateur, adult or child, teacher or student, veteran or novice, etc.

Pecha Kucha Night is, therefore, the night to “strut your good stuff” with freedom, equality, and creativity.

2. Who initiated it?
Pecha Kucha Night was originally devised by employees of Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa) in Tokyo six years ago.

3. Who has already organized it?
The Pecha Kucha Night format has spread virally to nearly 450 cities across the world, and now it's in Youngstown.

4. Who will be there?
Anyone wanted to watch creative presentations, or who will be sharing their creative ideas through a powerpoint conversation.

Interested?

You can ask questions to
youngstown.pechakucha@gmail.com

the Rocky Ridge neighborhood-wide Garage Sale is saturday, August 6

The section of the west side known as the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood is holding a neighborhood-wide garage sale, from 9am to close, on Saturday August 6.

Look for green balloons around the neighborhood, as those people have the $5 sale permits from the city, but also maps to distribute of all the other participating houses which are spread throughout the streets.

Can you create a managed cluster of commerce to bring people into the neighborhood?

Tours of the neighborhood and its amenities for homebuyers will be available...


The participating homes are located all throughout the Rocky Ridge, and you can find a map of the neighborhood on this link: (map)

Can the neighborhood-wide sale grow into a city-wide sale at some point?

In the Netherlands, it's a country-wide garage sale on Koninginnedag, April 30 of every year.

"Koninginnedag" means queen's day, and across Nederlands people (especially kids) sell stuff in the morning on blankets, and lots of parties go on throughout the day, usually ending up with debauchery on boats floating in canals in the evening.



Maybe we've found a new use for the Mahoning River...

the design elements of the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood logo

Design excellence is a craft which is often appreciated, but not often pursued.

One example of recent thoughtful graphic design:

The logo of the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood designed by Sandra Cika, creative director of Youngstown's Insite Consulting.


To get to the final logo, Insite performed face-to-face and paper interviews with residents, toured the neighborhood, created and displayed multiple design options, and after a truly iterative process, this new neighborhood association chose the design and colors above.

The image really captures many of the distinctive elements of the neighborhood.

- First, the leaves represent the neighborhood's connection to Mill Creek MetroParks. Some people have to drive to a park, but for Rocky Ridge, Mill Creek Park is their backyard.

- Instead of one leaf, there are multiple leaves showing that the many people of a neighborhood group is better than one.

- The design of the leaves themselves are oak leaves, native to this section of Northeast Ohio.

- Notice the negative space between the stems of the leaves, which outlines the well-kept houses that are the norm in the rocky Ridge section of the west side of Youngstown.

- You'll also see the outline of the ridge itself between the words “rocky” and “ridge”. The physical ridge with its jagged rock forms, is visible along Bears' Den Drive at the neighborhood's southern edge within Mill Creek Park.

- Additionally, the outline of the ridge is a representation of the sled riding hill in the neighborhood which people from around the region enjoy during the winter.

- Having a clear, crisp logo with a single color (Rocky Ridge Green - pantone number 3298) will allow for easier use and replication on letterheads, t-shirts, tattoos, etc.

Design is important.

Thoughtful design creates a response.
Thoughtful design produces clarity.
Thoughtful design improves function.

Look around downtown youngstown and/or the output of local organizations.

Do they follow good design techniques which improve function and meaning?

is double-parking and impeding traffic around 20 Federal Place becoming a safety issue?

Over the past few months, the particular practice of drivers picking up and dropping off call center employees on Federal Street is becoming slightly annoying, and potentially dangerous.

Here is how it works:

Cars normally park diagonally in various free spots surrounding 20 Federal Place, a building now home to various call centers.


Because employees prefer a pickup or drop-off immediately adjacent to the doors of the building, drivers looking to collect or deposit their human cargo double-park (and seen yesterday for the first time, triple-park) along the narrow street.

The result...
Parked cars taking up lanes of space, which other vehicles have to move around throughout the work day. Additionally, after picking up the employees the stopped cars have to re-merge into traffic, which have caused accidents.

check out these photos:


The black car in the above and below photos is actually parked left of the center line, and was observed impeding the flow of traffic in both directions. Also it was too hot for the gent driving the car to sit there, so he was leaning on his vehicle watching the traffic move around him.


One of the issues concerning the downtown is a lack of police presence in the downtown area.

While it is one of the safest parts of the city, normal everyday urban experiences like illegal parking, loitering and begging, littering, and drinking alcohol in public are definitely on the upswing.


Here's a question:
If a police officer was stationed downtown and issued tickets for littering cigarette butts and parking citations (in addition to other essential services), would it be a revenue neutral effort or even a money-maker for the police department?

first of the new artisan bike racks installed in downtown youngstown

On Monday, downtown bike commuters and restaurant patrons were able to see the first of several hand-crafted bicycle racks that were installed over the weekend.


Future posts will go over the stylings of each artist involved in the overall project.

For the two installed over the weekend, the designs encompass a classical sleek bike design, as well as the black handlebars and wheels forming the graceful "YO" which is often a shorthand for the city's name.


Here is the smaller of the two pieces, which can accommodate at least two bikes.


Going downtown Monday morning, bikes were already attached to the artisan sculptures.


Wow.

Check em out!

They are there for all to use...take a ride downtown and hitch your bike to them when patronizing our downtown.

2011 "Universal Cafe" Season features Hal Walker

July and August of every summer brings the Universal Cafe to First Unitarian Universalist Church in Youngstown (the location of the northside farmers market)

Monday's event features Hal Walker from Kent, in a program called "Music to Watch"



Programs continue every monday at 6:30pm, and can be found here.

Light food, beverages, wine and beer available.

one Rocky Ridge Resident will win the 2011 Volney Rogers Emerald Pierogi Award

"This park was conceived in his heart,
and realized thru his devotion."

Volney Rogers was a king among men.

Born on December 1st 1846, Mr. Rogers was the founding father of Youngstown's Mill Creek Park - established in 1891 as the first park district in the state of Ohio.

Today, Mill Creek Park and its gorges and waterfalls wind through the neighborhoods of Youngstown, with hundreds and hundreds of houses bordering its sinuous landmass.

Generations of families have enjoyed its trails, its trees, its architecture, and its beauty.

It is with this great history in mind that a new award was created in Volney's honor - an award for the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood, a section of the city surrounded by Mill Creek Park.

presenting the Volney Rogers Emerald Pierogi Award for home beautification:



The Volney Rogers Emerald Pierogi Award will be bestowed upon a resident of the Rocky Ridge Neighborhood in August 2011.

In order to win the award, you must live somewhere on this map:


The application is due July 31 and can be downloaded by clicking on each of the two images below (2 pages of application). Nominating neighbors is allowed!

If you would like a pdf of the application or have more questions about the award, please email [ RockyRidgeNeighbors (at) gmail (dot) com ].




note: Youngstown artist Lynn Cardwell (etsy page here) produced the award at her studio.


from the wikipedia entry for Volney Rogers...

In 1920, less than a year after Volney Rogers' death, Youngstown Mayor Fred J. Warnock presided over the public unveiling of a massive bronze likeness of Rogers that was designed to honor his achievements. Rogers had been alerted to plans for the tribute before his death and was deeply moved.

The Volney Rogers Memorial still stands near the main entrance of Mill Creek Park. At the time of its unveiling, Warnock captured the sentiments of many community residents when he stated:

"We do not erect monuments to selfishness.... We erect monuments to those who live for the community and whose high ideal is the welfare of the many. That is why we are honoring Volney Rogers today."

it's now been 30 days since the city issued a citation on the vinyl siding - what's the status?

According to this story in the Business-Journal, on June 14 a citation was issued by the City of Youngstown to the owner of 25 West Federal Street.

The reason: vinyl siding was applied to the facade of the three-story structure without a building permit. Furthermore, the vinyl siding was a material that was rejected by the city's Design and Review Committee.

Due to this double-whammy of installing undesired materials without a permit, the owner of the building had 30 days from the day the citation was issued to correct the situation and install the previously approved materials.

If the building is not improved in 30 days, then every single day afterward, the city is to issue a $100 fine until resolution.

- - -

So now it's been 30 days.

To casual observers on the street, building has not been touched.

Has a fine of $100 been sent?

- - -

here's the facade with the vinyl front:


a zoom-in of the quality of the work around the windows:


a crew was there the weekend of Friday June 10 to put up the vinyl siding:



Nothing personal, just maintain your property as agreed to...

Anyone have an update on the situation?

video update on the YBI : July 2011