By Debora Flora
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Building a Better Belmont – aka state Route 193 – is not a competition between Youngstown, Liberty and Vienna Township. It is a collaboration to build “a better relationship to where these communities can thrive together,” says businessman Ronnell Elkins.
Bike Belmont is not a race. It combines outdoor recreation with a closer look at Belmont’s charm and challenges. It is the signature event in Building a Better Belmont Coalition’s multisector effort to recast Belmont as an inclusive destination for dining, entertainment, culture, retail and healthcare. Youngstown City Councilwoman Samantha Turner, whose ward includes part of Belmont, calls Bike Belmont “our best public awareness campaign.”
“Its strength is in its community engagement,” says Sarah Lowry of Bike Belmont. She is senior director of community impact at the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, a coalition founder. Bike Belmont encourages people to experience the corridor by different means and gain new perspectives, she added.
Thousands of people travel Belmont Avenue daily on their way to work, school, medical facilities, government offices and cultural events. What they see from cars, trucks and buses differs from what several hundred cyclists observed on a Sunday afternoon in May.
Cyclists met at the B&O Station downtown. Half of them rode 32 miles to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport and back. Others took the 12-mile community ride to and from and the Liberty Commons Plaza. Everyone pedaled along a stretch of Belmont/193. Riders engaged with local business owners at a water stop at Liberty Commons. Back at the B&O, they shared their thoughts during a community lunch.
The third annual ride reinforced why Belmont stands out among regional assets. Belmont connects three communities in two counties. It is a gateway to three major employers – the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, Youngstown State University and Mercy Health St. Elizabeth Hospital. It also is essential to reaching Stambaugh Auditorium, DeYor Performing Arts Center and the Butler Institute of American Art. Belmont is “a backbone in a way, holding lots of things together,” Lowry said.
“One of the things that makes Belmont unique is the density of small businesses,” Lowry continued. These include 30 or so locally-owned restaurants serving Italian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and Indian food. “If you are driving between points A and B, you can miss that density,” she said.
Turner and Youngstown CityScape also obtained feedback from city residents, small business owners and anchor institutions during stakeholder meetings and surveys in 2023. Their opinions mirror what Bike Belmont riders said: Pay attention to all property conditions. Expand the diversity of businesses in the retail corridor. Improve traffic safety. Incorporate more transportation modes.
Business owners can influence Belmont’s future by creating an association and promoting their goods and services to locals and Interstate 80 travelers, said Liberty Township Trustee Arnie Clebone. Elevating Belmont as a desirable destination increases business revenues, which enhances the township’s tax base and ability to provide services, he explained.
“We are really interested in hearing from business owners. What keeps you here? What support do you need?” Lowry said.
Elkins, president of YoGo Bikeshare and a Bike Belmont supporter, says Belmont has “great bones” and is gaining momentum from new development. Mercy Health recently opened a new in-patient rehabilitation hospital at Belmont and Trumbull avenues in Liberty. A new Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission facility is under construction on Belmont in Youngstown, near the Carl Nunziato VA Clinic that opened in 2021.
Bikeshares are low-cost, short-term bike rentals.
“As a bikeshare, we have the flexibility of putting bike docks in areas where people need a mode of transportation,” he said. YoGo’s bikeshare subscriptions increased from 600 in 2024 to 800 this year, he noted.
YoGo “wants to be a connector to the Belmont corridor,” Elkins said. He sees the Belmont-Gypsy Lane intersection as a place where bike and bus options can overlap. That would benefit YSU students and enable international students to explore the area, he said. Belmont is one of Western Reserve Transit Authority’s top routes in terms of ridership.
All feedback is leading into developing a technical report, from which short- and long-term improvement plans will be made. Among the priorities, “Belmont should have some sort of feel that crosses borders and boundaries,” Lowry said.
“Our annual awareness campaign of Bike Belmont helps keep us as a group accountable to the work that we started,” Turner said. “It ensures that Building a Better Belmont doesn’t live inside of just one person’s legacy or inside of one town’s legacy. It lives inside all of us and, most importantly, it lives inside the community at large and all of our small businesses and institutions.”
Look for information at https://buildingabetterbelmont.org or on Facebook.