Event invokes vision of potential
Myles Jay show Landon Marlowe, 6, of Champion, chess moves on a life-size ground.
Amy Heckman talks to Krista Gut of Leavittsburg about bicycle safety for children.
Myles Jay show Landon Marlowe, 6, of Champion, chess moves on a life-size ground.
Amy Heckman talks to Krista Gut of Leavittsburg about bicycle safety for children.
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WARREN -- Rhonda Thompson, 9, was licking her yogurt while holding a shiny new red bicycle helmet at her side.
Thompson and her mother, Helen, spent most of Saturday afternoon watching robots from Warren G. Harding High School's 48 Elite Robotics team throw balls over the heads of younger children and watching a chess match with pieces nearly as large as her.
"This really is fun," the little girl said.
Helen Thompson agreed, saying she hopes something permanent can be done to develop the area.
"A bike park would be nice," she said. "Someplace safe where kids can come to enjoy themselves without fear."
The Thompsons were among the several hundred people who walked West Market Street, just over the bridge from Courthouse Square, where several activities were held, including a pop-up market, exercise demonstrations, a play by actors at Kent State University Trumbull and artists expressing their talents in both art and sound
The Warren Peninsula Better Block event is a continuation of similar Better Block events that took place in the greater Youngstown area and in Girard. One will occur again in Warren next spring.
Better Block is a program that highlight the potential of vacant or under-used areas of different communities by setting up programs that will allow area residents to see the land in a different light.
In Warren's peninsula, for example, Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, along with Warren Redevelopment and Planning and other local organizations, blocked off the two outside lanes of the four-lane roadway and made them into bicycle lanes.
The cracked blacktop area on which the former Martin Chevrolet sat many years ago became a stage for a performance of the play "On the Verge," by actors attending Kent State University's Trumbull campus.
"The theater exists to bring life to communities, so when we were asked if we could participate in this, I gladly accepted," said Eric Kildow, director of theater at KSU'S Trumbull campus.
Roger Broadstone sat on a stoop just outside the former car dealership waiting for his three daughters to come back from a trolley trip around the downtown area, and called the afternoon-long event something that has been needed.
"They should find a a way to continue this," he said. "Anytime they can have an event that involves families in the community it should repeated. I would love to see this area cleaned up."
Krista Gut of Leavittsburg especially likes the bike lanes and having an area where children can ride their bicycles.
"That's very important," she said.
Eugene Mach, a coach with Warren G. Harding High School's 48 Elite Robotics team, helped to bring the team's robot out for the community to see.
Mayor Doug Franklin was smiling as he walked through different events of the Better Block event.
"This is better than what I imagined," Franklin said. "There are quite a few people out here. It has been blessed with good weather."
Franklin said the city and WRAP have been looking at ways to develop the peninsula area.
Talking with longtime businessman Paul Clouser, Franklin said the city would be interested in seeing the nearby trees on the edge of the Mahoning River thinned, so residents and people can see and get to the Mahoning River.
"The Mahoning River is one of the city's biggest assets," Franklin said. "I think we would have to work with the Army Corps of Engineers in any effort to develop the land around it."
Clouser, whose business and home is on Courthouse Square, said there are 36 people living in Courthouse Square and hundred of others in the neighborhoods around the downtown area.
"It is time to do something that will encourage development," he said.
Matt Martin, executive director of Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, was especially pleased that the family-friendly aspect of the event appeared successful.
"We also are hoping this is opening the eyes of people to the kind of things that can happen out here and establish a shared vision of the area's potential," Martin said.
A survey was taken as people walked up and down the street to determine what kind of things people liked and what they would like to see in the future.
rsmith@tribtday.com