'An Idora Revival'

It's not the neighborhood in which Ruby Yates raised her children or sent them down the block to the amusement park, but there's a lot of promise afoot for Idora, a small Youngstown neighborhood that some would call the west end of Fosterville. A great Vindicator article highlights the renewal occurring in the this area. It is worth checking out here: http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/dec/02/an-idora-revival/

Some great lines:

• “Our goal is to transform vulnerable, undervalued and transitional neighborhoods to healthy neighborhoods of choice,” - Presley Gillespie, director of YNDC
• “Now neighbors on opposite ends of the street know each other and are talking. It seems to feel as if the neighborhood is getting its future back.” - Ian Beniston, policy director at MVOC

Just some of the great, exciting things happening in Youngstown.

link: http://idoraneighborhoodassociation.weebly.com/ (Idora Neighborhood Association)

Another funny headline

This was the headline of a Vindy article today regarding an apartment complex on Hillman Way, one block into Boardman at the Boardman-Youngstown border: "Boardman historic district fears possibility of blight." The article just conjures up images of Boardman residents cowering in the corner hiding from Blight.

Reading this article, it is apparent these Boardman-tonian's don't cross Midlothian and head down Hillman Avenue very often.

The article is here.

I don't blame them at all, truthfully. No one likes blighted homes in their neighborhood and they should do all they can to stop it. That said, with all the recent complaining from suburbanites in Vindy editorials about having to contribute to the redevelopment of Downtown, I thought this was just a little comeuppance.

(Triple word score for using comeuppance in a blog post!)

Thinking outside the Big Box

Not actually living in Youngstown anymore, I miss a lot, including this story by Janko over on his blog about the reuse of the abandoned big box grocery store at the corner of Market and Midlothian. After Phar-Mor died, several stores, including a Giant Eagle, all tried to make it. They all failed. This idea has promise. Read for more details...