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I was at the meeting Monday afternoon. I don't understand. The City Engineer gave a very inteligent consise explanation of the plan and the history of the project and alot of these "activists" did not seem to comprehend it. Many of them just read prepared statements and never even took the time to take in the plan with an open mind. It is a good design. Taking the trees and plantings out of the center of the street and putting them out on the sidewalk areas where people can actually ENJOY them is a great idea. It seems like these so called experts in planning and architecture have very narrow minds. My prediction is that nothing will be built.

I too was at the meeting and respectively disagree that the "activists" did not seem to comprehend it. It is not that we are narrowly focused on saving the trees, we are more interested in civic dialogue that considers the desires of all of the citizens effected by such a plan.
You are absolutely right that the City Engineer gave an intelligent and concise explanation of the plan. That being said, I do not believe that the plan presented is the right plan. I share this belief with the majority of employees with organizations located on West Federal Street, the members of the judicial system, YSU professors, and other concerned residents.
Within one year, I will be recruiting knowledge based professionals from across the country to help build a National Defense Center of Excellence. My concern is trying to recruit these professionals to work in a small midwest town that lacks civil and enviromental consciousness and would rather tear up mature trees (that create a sense of intimatcy in an urban setting) than engage in civil dialogue to figure out how this local amenity can be saved without getting in the way of infrastructure concerns.
It wasn't the "tree lovers" that won yesterday, it was the entire City of Youngstown that won.
Things are already being built - civic dialogue in a city that historically resented any opposition. If that is narrow minded, then we are guilty as charged and willing to take our punishment!

"My concern is trying to recruit these professionals to work in a small midwest town that lacks civil and enviromental consciousness and would rather tear up mature trees (that create a sense of intimatcy in an urban setting) than engage in civil dialogue to figure out how this local amenity can be saved without getting in the way of infrastructure concerns."

So it is about the trees. Also as Mr. Conglose said, there has been ample opportunity to comment publicly on this project in the PLANNING stage which was 2 years ago. Yet none of the crowd attended the meetings, and only 3 or 4 subbmitted comments? The civic dialogue is great but at some point we have to let the proffessionals do their job. Exactly what happens in 10 years when the trees in the island start lifting the pavement up? Just because they are trees doesn't mean that they are in the proper place or are the correct species for the application.

My opinion is this. Everyone that I know avoids that area of downtown unless they have to go to Home Savings. You do not feel safe walking there because of the tree cover. All of the activity is on the new section and that cannot be disputed.

"At the Meeting" (name please?):

I'm certain I speak on behalf of the "activists" when I state that we take great exception to the comment that we "did not comprehend" the plan outlined by the City Engineer. Not only was it absolutely well comprehended WELL IN ADVANCE of the meeting but there was, in addition, a great amount of time invested in studying the plan(s) themselves, matched by at least an equal amount of time invested in preparing our own white paper/position paper (which takes into consideration not only the city's plan but the history in which this plan was attempted to be administered). The public notification system certianly leaves much to be desired if CityScape themselves along with individuals like myself - an Youngstown information junkie on steroids - missed BOTH "public input meetings" (heck, we were able to organize nearly 100 people and gain over 700 signatures in only a matter of one week!). 100 letters of protest were written by CityScape, asking for a revision, which, to the city's credit, it created (although, obviously, still not to the liking of at least over 700 concerned citizens). Upon inquiry into the project, we were all but dismissed at virtually every juncture despite a very reasonable and civil approach in our inquiry.

In one horrible instance, a MAJOR stakeholder in the downtown was outright threatened that they would recieve no assistance from the city if the plans were challenged. It was at this point that we felt that it was time to take the gloves off and fight for a stay of not only the exection of the trees but for the right to be heard (not simply "informed" one week prior to the start of the bid process) by those individuals who will actually live, work and play and spend the $$$ in the Phase III "modernized" zone over the next 20 or 30 years.

Based on interpretations of the comments made by city officials up until and including the time of meeting itself, it indeed appeared that the city took our position lightly and underestimated our understanding of not only the plans, themselves,but the procees as a whole, start to finish. Believe me when I state that given the manner in which we were treated and the way in which this plan was virtually pushed through pipe running through a ground swell of staunch city revitilization advocates, I think it chose, again, to embrace a diplomatic approach. Given this history and the few jabs thrown out by Carmen in his opening remarks, I thought the fact that we continued to remain diplomatic was a sign that we are truly committed to progress.

As a result, the meeting was very productive in my opinion and in the opinion of many others. That is why this meeting should not be viewed as a "victory" for one side over another, contrary to how the media would like to portray it. We should never look at any rational meeting of the minds among city advocates with an "us" vs. "them" mentality. We all love Youngstown and want to see the best for the city and the people who live, defend and support it. Mayor Williams certainly agrees that agreeing to disagree is absolutely fine - it is the ablity to have the opportunity to do so that is the sign of true strength of a community. In this new Youngstown, we must strive to not only raise standards and expectation well above where they have traditionally lied but, more importanlty, to think and work agressively together - government and the people - in order to make it a reality. Monday was sign that we are turning that corner and that means "victory" for Youngstown.

At The Meeting

I agree, your name would be helpful.

You wrote:

"My opinion is this. Everyone that I know avoids that area of downtown unless they have to go to Home Savings. You do not feel safe walking there because of the tree cover. All of the activity is on the new section and that cannot be disputed."

I've worked in that tree covered section of West Federal for about ten years. I arrive between 5 and 5:30am. In the winter, it is pitch dark at that time. I've left as late as midnight. Never once have I felt unsafe.

Nor have any of the over 200 people who now work at the Incubator.They all work downtown, play downtown, and if we ever get around to it, would like to live downtown.

You have my name. Now here's my mobile 330.518.4813. Please stop by for a visit. I'd love to meet the person who claims "trees make them feel unsafe."

I feel we all win when trees win. I remember a sorry little sign on 224 several years back when a big house with nice trees got torn down to make room for a big box store -it said. simply: "remember the lorax." Maybe it was a girl scout project where the sign maker wanted to remain anonymous.

It is great to see "Team Lorax" on a roll! (One group working on this actually call ourselves "Tree People".) The point is we are speaking out and being heard!

I work a lot on "fix it first" type projects. It is so uplifting to me to see that something we "fixed" a long time ago will not get "unfixed". I volunteered with a team of Northeast Ohio Legal Service beutification (and beautiful) people who before their time were showing faith and pride it what was to become a much nicer downtown.

We even got some support from friendly Sisters, one of whom was up in years and thought it was a "beatification project". Maybe she had it right after all. Blessings to us all!

Part of the Restoring Prosperity initiatives include building neighborhoods of choice. Trees are high on the list. So is "walkability". Expanded parking was not even on the list - AT ALL.

Phil,
I get it. It is great to have this open discussion. Your little group wants to be heard. However, the city has, after two or three public input meetings mind you, put forth probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 to 80 thousand dollars in design fees to create the drawings and specifications to start construction and now because of some people that "want to be heard" are considering revisiting this plan and will shell out what another 30 grand to revise the plans? That is selfish on your groups part and irresponsible on the Citys part. And yeah I know that 650 people signed the petition. (Funny, I didn't realize that Tiger Woods was so interested in local conservation.) But I would be willing to bet my mortgage payment that 80% of them have not seen the plan. I know it was posted on the site but the average person would not understand it unless it were explained to them. Tell me why all of the interest now? Where are you guys during the rest of the projects? Is it about gettin your name out? Are we planning a run for office soon?

Jim whoever:

I personally invite you to one of "our little group's" next meetings. Before you judge from a distance, please attend. I think you'll have a better understanding of what exactly is happening under the radar and what our intent is. If not, then you'll have more than ample opportunity to voice your opposition or to offer recomendations. It's a very open-minded, non-hostile enviornment well supported by a wide range of individuals from City and YSU officials to business owners to young professionals to students.

Contact me and I'll give you further information:

defendyoungstown@yahoo.com

For what it's worth...I've lived in the city since 2004; moved here from the South. I was excited about the Federal Street renovations which were already underway. I have to say I think the completed renovation looks awful--sooo much concrete. The few additional parking spaces don't seem worth it--and they are always taken up by employees of the businesses there anyway. Seems to me there are plenty of empty lots around that could be used for parking, and really curbside parking is not that difficult. The tree lined medians are a really nice feature--they add some character to the cold government buildings on that end of the street. I was in Columbus last weekend and it is true they are digging up the streets there to replace much of the concrete with trees. Also, I find it ironic that the mayor and the media made such a big deal out of planting one tree downtown and designating the city a "tree city" as it plans to remove beautiful mature trees.

And for what it's worth, I was on YSU's campus today and watched as workers cut down five trees in the campus core...they say 50 trees were damaged by storms, but we all know Hunter Morrison wants to level all of the mounds and trees on campus to create a "quad"--the plan met with lots of resistance from the campus community, but it seems as though they are going along anyway.