YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Recently completed downtown renovation work is going to mean the need for greater community participation and greater financial support for this year’s Streetscape planting day, Youngstown CityScape’s executive director said.
This year’s event will take place May 31, said Sharon Letson, CityScape’s executive director for 20 years. Letson and Mayor Jamael Tito Brown unveiled the theme for this year, “Peace, Love and Flowers,” during a Friday morning news conference and breakfast.
“CityScape supporters will tell you that beautifying downtown is about more than just plants. It’s about aesthetics, arts, amenities and, most of all, about forming community partnerships,” Letson said.
Brown said people are “blown away” when he tells them that a single individual or entity isn’t responsible for downtown’s appearance but that multiple organizations and partners come together to work on how the central business district looks.
“There’s different types of ships in life. There’s wooden ships, metal ships, and then there’s partnerships,” he said. “A wooden ship sometime will rot away because the water gets too strong. Metal ships will rust. Partnerships will stand forever – and this is a test of time across the years, how our partnerships have been able to last.”
Any time devoted to improving downtown – “the hub of the wheel” – is time well spent, said Germaine Bennett, chairwoman of CityScape’s board.
“Anyone that comes to visit this area will travel through downtown, and they will judge us accordingly,” she said. “Your neighborhood and your grass can look great where you live, but they don’t necessarily make it out there. They will travel through your downtown area and your main corridors, and they will look and see exactly what’s going on there, and then they will make the judgment if they think this is a thriving place or not.”
About 1,000 people came downtown to participate in the 2024 Streetscape, which took place less than a week after the May 28, 2024, natural gas explosion at the Realty Tower, which destroyed most of the building’s first floor.
Participating in this year’s event is “every bit as important” as last year, Letson said.
“Last year was a healing experience for some people. But this year, I think we all need to show up once again now that the construction is finished. There are a tremendous number of beds downtown and work to be done, and it’s just as important.”
Completion of the recently completed SMART2 Network project has increased the number of plant beds that will need to be planted and tended during this year’s event, Bennett said.
“This is the first year that we really will feel the full impact of all the work,” Letson said. Work to maintain the downtown beds already is up 75%.
In addition, CityScape typically raises $50,000 to purchase plants and mulch for the event and for ongoing maintenance of the beds. “My guess is we’re going to need more than that,” she said.
During the news conference, CityScape board member Andy Profanchik gave a personal check to Letson to support this year’s Streetscape.
“I know that board members give up their time, and it’s very, very important,” he said. “But also it’s important that we give financially. CityScape does so much for the city.”
Also during the event, Letson detailed a series of initiatives and accomplishments over the past year, including its 18th annual beautification awards program, the recent recognition of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society and its executive director, Bill Lawson, during the 15th annual Grass Roots Gala and the Sparkle 2024 holiday parade and tree lighting.
“But CityScape’s most significant work in ’24 involved the restoration and renovations of our greenhouse facility, CityScape at Briel,” she continued. In 2021, CityScape purchased the former Briel’s greenhouse property, which it is converting into a neighborhood gardening and resource center.
The center will provide a demonstration kitchen, educational space and room for a maker’s market, nonprofit organizations and cottage industries, as well as space for CityScape to grow its own plants, she said. She predicted the center, which she expects to be completed this year, would “ultimately help drive the revitalization of the Garden District and the Mahoning Avenue commercial corridor.”
Cityscape at Briel “will be the perfect blend of retail and educational opportunities for people who want to keep their dollars in the city and support cityscape and provide space for local gardeners, makers and suppliers,” she added.
After the news conference, Letson reflected on this year’s theme.
“It’s really very simple, but it really is heartfelt,” she said. Given the current temperament in the county, everyone “just wants peace, love and flowers,” she said.