CityScape Honors 16 for Improving Youngstown
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – At its sixth annual awards ceremony Wednesday night, Youngstown CityScape recognized four institutions, three businesses and nine individuals or families for improving the appearance of the city.
“If there’s one organization that turned this city around,” Mayor Charles Sammarone began, “it’s CityScape.” He amended that assertion to recognize as well the work Community Corrections Association has performed along the Market Street corridor.
The mayor belongs to St. Christine Church on the West Side, one of the four institutional recipients.
“Awards were presented to those who made an investment in preservation and or beautification and continue to raise the standards throughout the city,” executive director Sharon Letson said at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek Park. “These awards are about the effort, the work and the pride that each of these winners display with the care and determination of what usually is an ongoing project.”
All sections of Youngstown were saluted for improving their appearances and making the city more welcoming.
Recognized first was the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, 325 W. Federal St., and its executive director Bill Lawson for renovating, to the tune of $6 million, the building where the Good Humor bar was born. “it’s a real gem," Letson said.
John Lapin and Jack Moss, both on the CityScape board, presented the plaques honoring the recipients.
The yard of Bob Coggeshall, a retired banker who lives on Old Furnace Road in a house that borders Mill Creek Park, was praised as “an explosion of color” for the flowers and plants he planted after winds blew down two trees on his property and allowed sunlight to shine there.
Dominic Marchionda of Poland was saluted for the attention to detail he oversaw in transforming the Erie Terminal Building into housing and the landscaping behind the five-story structure on West Commerce Street.
The Army & Navy Garrison No. 360, 1814 Logan Ave., and Paisley House, 1408 Mahoning Ave., rounded out the institutions honored.
In addition to St. Christine’s, where the new flowerbeds “are a masterpiece from heaven,” Sammarone said, the Kinnick Funeral Home on the West Side and Roberto’s Italian Ristorante. 103 W. Federal St., were recognized.
The pastor of St. Christine’s sent two gardeners in his stead to accept the plaque.
In addition to Coggeshall, Tom and Karres Cvetkovick and Robert and Barbara Doyle, all residents of Glacierview Drive were honored for beautifying their yards and residences. So were Pam Krantz, Mary Krupa, Randy Malleske, Don and Anna Marie Nemeth, Kent and Kelly Ruble and John Smiley and Phillip Campbell.
Youngstown CityScape is a nonprofit organization founded 15 years ago to revitalize Youngstown and its gateways through beautification, education and preservation efforts. From its initial efforts to spruce up the downtown, it has expanded those efforts to several neighborhoods throughout the city and along the principal roads that lead to the downtown.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.