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Youngstown StreetScape 2013 Kicks Off 16th Year
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – It's become a rite of spring in this city, and 2013 will be no different when volunteers roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty June 1 for a day of mulching, cleaning, digging, planting and more planting.
"We've got it down to a science," said Sharon Letson, executive director of Youngstown CityScape, which officially launched StreetScape 2013 during a breakfast meeting this morning at the D.D. and Velma Davis Center at Mill Creek MetroParks' Fellows Riverside Gardens.
This is the 16th year for StreetScape, a community-wide effort to beautify the downtown and visible points near the central business district by planting shrubs, plants and colorful flowers.Focus areas include Wick Park, West and East Federal streets, the John Young Memorial, the Police Memorial at Front Street and South Avenue, and City Hall.
This year, StreetScape is looking to come up with a new landscaping plan for the middle beds along West Federal Street, Letson said. "Last year, we moved the rusty fences and would like to concentrate on some perennials in those beds," she reported.
Mulch will be delivered a week before the June 1 planting day and positioned near targeted areas of the downtown, Letson said.
Volunteers from Youngstown State University, Fifth Avenue Boulevard Neighbors, St. Elizabeth Health Center, 7th Ward Citizen's Coalition, Neighborhood Improvement Corps, North Side Interfaith Partnership, Mahoning Commons and Wick Park Neighborhood Association will also clean up and landscape other areas of the city in conjunction with the June 1 event.
StreetScape's theme for 2013 is "Grow the YO!" and the slogan will be printed on T-shirts for those volunteers who participate in the event, she noted. "We think that's a great catch phrase and captures the spirit of what we do."
Letson said she is encouraged by the annual support community leaders give the StreetScape effort. "It's so exciting to see us at critical mass, to see one positive thing on top of anther positive thing," she noted.
Theresa C. Bishop, philanthropy manager, Dominion and the Dominion Foundation, presented this year's Community Impact awards at the morning event.
Awards went to Youngstown Business Incubator, Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and Youngstown CityScape.
"Dominion is proud to support these outstanding organizations and recognize the valuable contribution they have made to their communities," Bishop said.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.