Wick Park Neighborhood Revitalization Concept
CUDC Quarterly, 3:1 - Winter, 2003
Wick Park is the City of Youngstown’s oldest public park, developed around the turn of the century as the setting for the stately homes of a rapidly expanding class of wealthy industrialists. The UDC’s project area extends from Belmont Avenue on the west to Crab Creek and the railroad tracks on the east, and from Fairgreen Avenue on the north to Route 422. Within these general boundaries is the Wick Park Historic District and its recently approved extension to the east.
Wick Park began to decline in the 1940s, a downward trend which was exacerbated by the collapse of the steel industry in the 1970s. Today, the area is in a critical condition with many of the original historic homes abandoned, converted into sub-standard multi-family units, or in such disrepair that their restoration is probably no longer feasible.
The development of the revitalization concept involved the integration of three different, but related, factors: an analysis of current conditions, the development of the community’s vision, and the formulation of an effective implementation strategy that details a series of practical steps for achieving the vision.
A boarded up commercial building on Wick Avenue and a historic home converted to apartments.
The neighborhood revitalization concept focuses on three intervention strategies:
Urban Renewal along the "Crab Creek" Corridor: Critical to the revitalization effort for the Wick Park neighborhood is the redevelopment of land along Logan Avenue and Wick Avenue. Major employment opportunities can be injected into the city by an extensive urban renewal program to attract new development in a high quality, landscaped environment along Crab Creek.
Public Improvements to Roadways and Civic Amenities: Significant upgrading of the neighborhood can be achieved by focusing the effort of public agencies on improving the street network and civic amenities. State and local actions include the creation of a better pedestrian environment between Wick Park neighborhood and YSU when the freeway bridges are upgraded, focused streetscape enhancement along principal streets in the neighborhood as part of regular city maintenance, and improvements to Wick Park itself.
Taking Ownership by Institutional Stakeholders: Along with YSU, there are several other major insitutional stakeholders in the neighborhood: St. Elizabeth Health Center, Park Vista Retirement Center, and Ursuline High School. A fifth stakeholder, Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, is located immediately to the west of the Wick Park neighborhood. Working together these institutions can enhance the quality of their setting in the urban environment and create a sense of place with which each institution can identify. –David Reed
Click Here for an annotated plan of the Wick Park neighborhood.
