Posted October 23, 200915 yr On Monday, October 19th, I had some spare time before a meeting. So I decided to take a walk around Youngstown's north side, in the neighborhoods surrounding Wick Park. But, because I stayed mostly to the north and east of the park, I'm going to add a few pictures I took earlier this summer of homes on the south side of the park on Park Ave. The Renner Mansion: Unfortunately, this house burned to the ground the same night I took these fall photos. :cry: Now on to the north side of the park, Broadway. I'm afraid of what might happen to this house. It had the same owner as the house on Park that burned. They sure did build them well, back then. The corner post has been missing from that porch for at least 4 years. The other side of the intersection of Broadway and Elm. Now we are one block north of Broadway, North Heights. Next best thing to a slate roof, I guess... On to Fifth Ave. Fairgreen Ave. The house that sparked my desire to restore one of these grand old houses. (now, if only I could get started) Now we're moving to the neighborhood to the east of Wick Park. Woodbine. Bryson. New construction on Baldwin. Elm. Fire Station No. 7.
October 24, 200915 yr ^I agree it's a nice area. But, I think a lot of the "charm" in the pictures comes from the light at that time of day.
October 24, 200915 yr Nice photos! I was just in Youngstown today to do some interviews at WKBN and then had lunch at MVR. To me the charm comes from the architecture. It's clear from those homes that there used to be quite a bit of money in that city, money that isn't there anymore. When many of those homes were built, most Americans didn't own their housing, let alone could afford substantial homes like those. When I see photos like those, it looks like those days are returning. If I had the money, I'd buy all those vacant homes and restore them. Does the City of Youngstown have a program that includes low-interest loans and tax abatement for home restoration? If not, I think something like that would spark some capital reinvestment in those areas. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 24, 200915 yr I don't think the city has any such programs. Here is Youngstown's list of home buyer assistance programs: http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.org/about_youngstown/youngstown_2010/residential_incentives/residential_incentives.aspx If I am reading these correctly, most of the programs just help lower-income people buy their first home. (not that there is anything wrong with that) But, I'm not aware of any programs that offer assistance to someone interested in buying and restoring a house like those on the north side. If you're low-income, you're certainly not going to buy a 2500+ square foot house to restore, because you couldn't afford the utilities and necessary maintenance. Also, most of these homes that need restoration already have dirt cheap property taxes, so property tax abatements, initially, aren't a big incentive either. For example, the annual property taxes on the house in the 8th picture is only $335/year! IMO, there is still money in the Mahoning Valley. Unfortunately, most of those who have the money still aren't interested in investing in the city. And, those who are willing to invest in the city don't have much money.
October 24, 200915 yr Great architecture. Reminds me of Clifton Blvd and Lake Rd in Cleveland/Lakewood.
October 24, 200915 yr There are some beautiful trees in these neighborhoods. In my opinion trees make a neighborhood. Even humble neighborhoods can look elegant with the right planting of stately trees. Too many are removed and not replanted. I heard that downtown is offering many incentives right now for potential small businesses. After looking at these photos, I feel it is a kind of 'national crime' to let any neighborhoods anywhere with houses like this fall apart. They are a testament to what little history we have as a nation in 230-plus years....and will never be duplicated again. 1/3rd of the steel used in WW2 came out of the Mahoning Valley. The river basically died for the cause... These and other reasons is why I feel there should be some sort of national moral obligation, for lack of a better way to put it.... to make maintaining the history of our 'original big cities' a priority. They, in themselves are a sort of 'national park'
October 24, 200915 yr Beautiful. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
October 25, 200915 yr I do hope this neighborhood can get itself under control...somehow. These homes are incredible. Seeing the ones boarded up with broken windows is painful, knowing its incredibly expensive to build something like that today and here they are just rotting away.
October 25, 200915 yr Still some quality living there! I was in the area last year, and walked around a little bit on the street that runs toward Stambaugh Auditorium, but I was running out of good light and stamina by then. I was intrigued by this place; I thought it had lots of potential.
October 25, 200915 yr Thanks for the comments everyone! Still some quality living there! I was in the area last year, and walked around a little bit on the street that runs toward Stambaugh Auditorium, but I was running out of good light and stamina by then. I was intrigued by this place; I thought it had lots of potential. I hate to say it, but I was told that this building is just rented by a some cell phone company to put their equipment on the roof, and is completely vacant. But, I've also heard, recently, that there is an interested party who wants to buy it and put it back to use.
October 25, 200915 yr I don't think the city has any such programs. Here is Youngstown's list of home buyer assistance programs: http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.org/about_youngstown/youngstown_2010/residential_incentives/residential_incentives.aspx That's a shame. The city of Cleveland has had great success with such programs. As for the low property taxes, I suspect that a lot of that has to do with the low property values. If you start fixing up a bunch of homes in an area, the values will go up and so will the taxes. And the school district wouldn't be losing much since the existing values are so low. Having low-interest loans are another matter and a program worth having. The goal is to induce reinvestment, which could also include getting some Issue 2 grants to renew the sewer infrastructure in that area. The area could also be declared an historic district which will bring historic tax credits into the picture for developers and financiers to use as a source of investment capital. Doing this one area at a time is often referred to a Focus Area reinvestment strategy. I suspect there might be some political issues with this, in terms of investing in a what was a high-income area vs. not doing this in low-income areas. So perhaps a similar activity could be undertaken on the northwest side, including using HUD money to create a mixed-income neighborhood rather than the predominance of public housing. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
October 25, 200915 yr great thread -- those are some beautiful homes. i am sure ytown will get around to some creative buyer and fixer-upper assistance, i just hope its in time to save some them that look endangered. i guess there has just been so much else to do for a city that had the rug pulled out from under it.
October 27, 200915 yr Great photos there. It's sad that even the nice neighborhoods in Youngstown are declining.
December 18, 200915 yr This is sort of a continuation of last Fall's tour, more of the streets to the east of Wick Park, and the streets to the south of Wick Park. These are from December 5th. It was cold and gray, this part of the neighborhood has fallen a lot further, and so the atmosphere is totally different. We start out on Baldwin, east of Bryson. Indiana: The Wick Log Cabin was built as a getaway for the Wick family back when the rest of the neighborhood was still just natural wilderness. View from Bryson: View from Illinois: More houses on Illinois, east of Bryson: Unfortunately, there are too many of these open spaces in this neighborhood. Interesting trees: Illinois, west of Bryson. We're getting closer to Wick Park. This kind of architectural horror is too common in this neighborhood, as you'll see. Elm Street: Broadway, east of Elm. Florencedale: This house was restored by the North Side Citizens Coalition a few years ago. This cat was sitting in the middle of the road. Now, we're back at the corner of Elm and Park Ave. These appear to be ugly 60's/70's infill apartments. But, the truth is much worse. The person who thought it would be a good idea to tack these on the front of two great old houses should be beaten. Continuing along Park Ave. A quick look down Ohio Ave. More crap mixed in with the nice, old houses: Back to Park Ave. again. Corner of Park and Pennsylvania Ave. Pennsylvania Ave. is a tragic street. Less than 6 months ago, this street, though there were many vacant houses, was still intact. But, through a combination of arson and demolition, there is almost nothing left. These will also be gone before February 2010. This house was given a temporary reprieve because a fraternity might be interested in it. YFD worked very hard and successfully saved this house from the latest arson. On the bright side, the owner of the apartments at the corner of Park and Pennsylvania Aves. will landscape all of the vacant lots on that street. And, in the near future, hopes to build new apartment buildings in the same style as the existing buildings. Back to Park Ave. Another view of the Renner Mansion: I'll end the tour on Michigan Ave. Here is the carriage house/servant's house for the Renner Mansion: More irresponsible development: Interesting view of the stadium and downtown from Michigan Ave. Hope you enjoyed!
December 18, 200915 yr Awesome, that is a great neighborhood! I hope the area continues to rebound. Being so close to Youngstown State, downtown, and Wick Park, it has great potential.
December 18, 200915 yr My friends lived in those "crap" white infill apartments on Ohio for years while they were at YSU.
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