YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Following the Easter celebrations and various spring breaks, communities large and small start announcing events that happen as weather is more consistently warmer and sunnier. In our Valley, the Warren Community Amphitheater has a full schedule of tribute band concerts this summer. Annual car shows are being promoted, benefit foot races announced and we now know who will headline the entertainment at county fairs.
In my neighborhood, almost daily announcements are being made of things that will be happening at Covelli Centre, Penguin City, the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre, Stambaugh Auditorium, Powers Auditorium, Wean Park, on the YSU campus, the Youngstown Flea and at various other venues. Summertime is fun and summer events improve the quality of life in Valley communities.
With the SMART2 street reconstruction downtown the past few years, parking has sometimes been rather difficult. With the announcement of some of downtown’s larger buildings being converted into more downtown living space, it’s not uncommon to occasionally hear, “Where are folks going to park?”
To be clear, the above-mentioned venues make just a partial list. Various smaller businesses and restaurants look forward to summertime as a promotion period for what they do best. Summertime is gathering time, whether it’s the annual family picnic in the park, the Panerathon or September’s Y-Live concert. For every event, for every gathering, for just about everything summer oriented, parking is crucial.
I attended a recent city council sponsored meeting about downtown parking. Seems that often visitors just don’t know the basics of which parking is free, which is permit or pay parking, which spaces cater to the handicapped and which spots are needed for business supply deliveries and the like. At the meeting, there was no holding back from the participants about the problems and issues with downtown parking. Gladly, city leaders held the meeting and realize the challenge. Hopefully, committee members will do some research in other communities to find out if there are some “best practices.” It might help also to be in touch with some professional parking companies and/or professional urban planners to see if there are some key issues that will alleviate major confusion or issues with parking as we move forward.
Adding to the parking issues, the lack of operational streetlights downtown has been a major problem for the past few years for a variety of reasons. This writer has highlighted the “unwelcoming” darkness at night as the major thoroughfares leading into downtown have had, and continue to have, major outages. In fact, the city has contracted to have the city’s streetlights catalogued. My understanding is that the report sent to city leaders acknowledges that percentage- wise, the First Ward (downtown) has the most nonfunctioning streetlights of the seven city wards.
Both the parking and lighting issues can easily derail any publicity that heralds
COME DOWNTOWN! WE’RE OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
For sure, all seven wards are very important in the quality of life for our city’s residents, but the fact remains, the downtown/YSU neighborhood draws the most visitors and regular patrons to the center of our city. As we know from the past, events happen morning, noon and after dark. An aggressive and proactive solution to the two issues in this commentary is a must, so we can say, COME DOWNTOWN! THE LIGHTS ARE ON! PLENTY OF (well- marked) PARKING!
Hope we all have a relaxing and enjoyable summer in the Valley!