Trumbull 100 Gives $10,000 to Gregg's Gardens
WARREN, Ohio – The Trumbull 100 has awarded $10,000 to the Gregg’s Gardens volunteer group, the largest gift it has received to date, to support the group’s effort to create a garden district in the city.
The goal this year is to convert more than 100 gardens in a 22-square-block neighborhood bordered by Atlantic Street on the north, Elm Road on the east, High Street on the south and Park Avenue on the west. Last year the group converted 22 vacant lots in Warren to wildflower and native plant gardens, also with Trumbull 100’s support.
“Our goal is to facilitate opportunities and provide leadership for projects that enhance the quality of life in Trumbull County, and this project will certainly do that,” said Diane Sauer, Trumbull 100 president. “It will turn a currently run-down neighborhood into a desirable place to live, and a strengthened center city will boost downtown Warren, as well.”
“We view the creation of a garden district as an economic development project” and as an example of how local government, business, private citizens and volunteers can work together toward the common good, said Dennis Blank, a Gregg’s Garden volunteer.
The proposed garden district now contains nearly 90 vacant lots and an additional 60-plus houses are likely to be demolished by the city this year, including all boarded-up and fire-damaged dwellings. Post-demolition, the district will contain more than 500 occupied houses in good condition surrounded by more than 100 wildflower gardens.
“This is Warren’s oldest residential neighborhood and one we really want to save. City government can do just so much, but fortunately we are blessed to have organizations here such as the Trumbull 100 and Gregg’s Gardens that think and act both strategically and creatively,” Mayor Doug Franklin said.
Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership serves as both the fiscal agent and the operations arm for Gregg’s Gardens; both organizations receive funding from the Raymond John Wean Foundation.
“Creating the garden district is the first step in what we view as a long-term community development initiative,” said Matt Martin, TMP program director. TNP will work with Sam Lamancusa, Trumbull County treasurer and county land bank chief, “to identify the most promising candidates among the houses in the district for rehabilitation, and we are now seeking grants and partnerships that will provide mortgages and renovation funding for them,” he said. “Our goal is nothing short of making the garden district the most desirable neighborhood in which to live in Warren.”
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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