Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Reinventing Wick Park

By Katie Libecco

YOUNGSTOWN – What do you think Wick Park can be?

About 75 residents came together in Park Vista’s community room Saturday as part of the Wick Park Revitalization Project to share their ideas for the park’s future.

The meeting sought public input about short- and long term-goals of the renewal effort, which is being coordinated by nonprofit Youngstown CityScape, Defend Youngstown and the Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio.

In an introduction, Phil Kidd, Defend Youngstown founder and director of special events for downtown, said “A lot of eyes are on this project.”

One reason for the attention is the intent to use the format of the project as a model for other city projects. The idea is to open the door to the public to facilitate residents to make the changes they wish to see at a grassroots level.

Part of the Wick Park Revitalization Plan Proposal submitted to Youngstown CityScape and Defend Youngstown by the Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio reads, “In all of the UDC’s projects, we develop design strategies with significant community input, but Wick Park offers an opportunity to experiment with a grassroots design process that is truly community-led, in a city that is recognized for its high level of civic engagement. The UDC will facilitate a community conversation about Wick Park in which design ideas will spring from deeply held community values and priorities.”

The other reason for attention on a regional level is that the Wick Park Revitalization Project coordinators plan to take the project to the Internet with open source software. Kidd said the public will be able to give their input and discuss plans through a Web site and blog.

Details on the Web site are still being finalized, but Kidd said information on Wick Park’s Internet presence will be forthcoming on Defend Youngstown.

City Planner Anthony Kobak said during the meeting that “community engagement” was the most important aspect of the Wick Park Revitalization Project. “We really want to get to your ideas,” he said.

Kobak pointed out that Wick Park is its own planning district as mapped out in the Youngstown 2010 Plan. A key component of the 2010 plan, Kobak said, is getting neighborhoods to create their own plans for revitalization.

Residents weren’t shy about voicing their concerns about Wick Park when the meeting broke into three groups to suggest and record short-term and long-term plans for the park.

Lighting and safety were two topics stressed by those in attendance. All three groups also discussed the condition of the park’s playgrounds and overall appearance through maintenance.

More unique ideas were presented in chess boards, kinetic water art, a skateboard park, a dog park and food vendors.

Several people expressed interest in re-creating a bandstand that presenter Ron Faniro of Ronald Cornell Faniro Architects AIA, Inc. and co-chair of the Youngstown CityScape Heritage Committee, showed was in use in the 1930s. Others were just interested in creating a stage or space of some kind that could be a venue for outdoor summer concerts.

Kidd says the public will be able to start making changes to the park “immediately,” with the other changes coming as a “continuous process.” He noted using money CityScape received to landscape the park’s four corners as one part of the project that’d be among the first changes.

Kidd said he had interest in revitalizing Wick Park because it’s a 2010 target neighborhood and a “landmark.”

“It’s something people can commonly identify with,” he said.

CityScape director Sharon Letson said that group will be involved throughout the project, helping to facilitate the public’s efforts. She said CityScape hired the Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio, which will also continually work to revitalize Wick Park through planning and creating visual representations of proposed ideas, which could ultimately aid in getting grants.

“They really are experts at this,” Letson said.

And that could translate to the other projects Kobak hopes will begin to shape in the other 126 Youngstown planning districts. To date, he said, only three others have developed strategic plans and begun to implement them.