By Dan O’Brien

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The unsightly concrete slabs barricading Walnut Street between Commerce and Wood streets were the first to go. From there, workers will replace the barriers with attractive planters, make other aesthetic improvements and reopen the street as a pedestrian walkway that links the nearby Smoky Hollow neighborhood with downtown.

“This is good urban planning 101,” noted Margaret Murphy, executive director of Wick Neighbors, Inc., an organization that is spearheading an effort to redevelop the historic Smoky Hollow neighborhood. The portion of Walnut being revamped -- a steep incline that links Wood Street with Commerce Street – was closed to through traffic nearly 20 years ago. “It connects naturally with downtown.”

Since the spring, Wick Neighbors’ Walnut Street Gateway Enhancement Coalition has been working to improve this section of downtown. “This will be an ongoing beautification of the walkway,” said Donna Buzulencia, co-chairwoman of the coalition.

The coalition is composed of stakeholders who own property stretching from the Chevrolet Centre downtown to Cassese’s MVR in Smoky Hollow.

By spring, the group is hoping to have the west side of the street newly landscaped and the pockmarked road resurfaced, Buzulencia said.

Youngstown CityScape, a volunteer organization that has raised money to improve major thoroughfares leading into downtown, supplied the planters.

Workers from Community Corrections Association have helped maintain the sidewalks throughout the year and are also assisting with the project.

Buzulencia also said the coalition is working with Ohio Edison to provide new lighting along the walkway. A long-term goal, she added, would be to grade the street and reopen Walnut to vehicular traffic.

Joe Cassesse, development officer at Youngstown State University, said the new walkway also provides another artery linking the university with the downtown. “It’s a great project,” he says. “It provides another gateway into our campus.”

These small projects can have a collective impact on larger developments such as the one under way in Smoky Hollow, says Wick Neighbors’ Murphy. Earlier this year, Wick Neighbors signed a pre-development agreement with Zaremba Inc., a Cleveland company that specializes in urban redevelopment.

“The developer has completed his marketing study, Murphy reported. “They have a lot of experience, and they know how to put a project together and market it.”

Wick Neighbors wants to construct a mixed-use community in Smoky Hollow, consisting of new townhouses, single-family houses, condominiums and small service and retail establishments.

“We’re at a stage now where we’re engaging the banking community,” Murphy says. “So far, we’ve received a positive response and healthy interest.”

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