Dennison Place/South Campus- The often forgotten neighborhood between Columbus’s Victorian Village and Ohio State

The district stretches between 5th to Ohio State to the north. This includes several smaller sub-neighborhoods of Dennison Place, the Circles, Necko, and South Campus.

Dennison Place and Necko was mostly built out by 1900 with great historic Victorian style homes. The area began to decline in the 1930s as Columbus expanded and people began to move to the suburbs. By the time decline bottomed out in the 1970s, many of the original homes were converted to rooming houses or knocked down to make room for modern apartment buildings, or simply abandoned and boarded up. This sparked neighborhood preservation policies and new zoning to prevent further destruction. By the 1980s, the revitalization of Dennison Place/Necko started with the restoration of its historic Victorians. Now these homes sell between 500K-1 Million. The fate of South Campus was more like the University District. A post WWII demand for housing led to new apartment buildings and larger homes being transitioned into multi-family. The area is still a heavily students. High Street has seen significant revitalization including a slue of new mixed-use infill buildings.

Areas where the neighborhood could improve from an urban perspective include: more for-sale housing diversity, better park and recreational spaces, and walkable schools.

Click here to view my Dennison Place Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great population density.
* Good historic architecture especially in the Dennison Place/Circles and Necko section.
* Great access to job centers across all modes. 1 mile to OSU and 3 to Dwtn Cbus.
* Good coverage by the City’s bike sharing system.
* Decent racial diversity thanks to the large international population at OSU.
* Lots of rental options and most of them moderately priced. Some higher end rentals as well.
* Cultural amenities include a good amount of restaurants, bars, and cafes, a cineplex, several live music venues and art galleries, and convenient proximity to OSU’s cultural activities.
* Quality retail amenities a supermarket, several drug stores, a Barnes & Nobles bookstore, a public library, several boutiques, banks and other neighborhood serving retail. Parts of High St in OSU and the Short North are also walkable to residents living here. This includes the OSU Target.
* Great urban massing and streetscaping along High Street. Also a quality urban node at Neil and 10th. A couple other nice mixed use blocks sprinkled throughout.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Surprisingly the Olentangy recreation trail is the only dedicated bike path in the neighborhood. This does, however, provide a nice safe route to Dwtn.
* For sale housing is generally expensive but some more modest options with 1-2 townhome condos selling in the 200Ks. Smaller SF homes or less updated ones selling btwn 300K-500K. Larger renovated historic homes selling anywhere from 500K-1 M primarily in the Dennison Place/Necko section.
* Parks are pretty limited within the district although the Thompson Park (complete with a community center) sits on the district’s southern edge, OSU’s open space is nearby, and the Olentangy Recreational Trail on the western edge.
* No schools within Dennison Place/South Campus but some in surrounding neighborhoods.
* Modern in-fill is mixed bag. Some good off campus housing built by OSU are Neil and 11th Street and more and more quality mixed-use in-fill filling in along High Street. But plenty of post WWII garbage apartments in South Campus area.

Old North Columbus- A quality historic community north of Ohio State University

Old North Columbus was founded in 1847 as a stand-alone city. North Columbus in its early years was a major stage coach stop between Columbus and Worthington to the north and had a history of thriving saloon and speakeasy scene. North Columbus was also the site of a large factory and a mill along the banks of the Olentangy River. The establishment of Ohio State in 1871 brought a major boom to the neighborhood and helped fill it in by the 1920s.

Old North Columbus never saw the level of disinvestment as places like Weinland park after WWII nor wholesale take over of students as occurred in the University District to the south. While students comprise a large portion of the neighborhood, there is still a sizable homeownership community here. High Street has also held on to much of its late 19th century commercial architecture and hosts a great array of ethnic restaurants and decent amount of neighborhood serving businesses. Also a quality urban node at Summit and Hudson and a pair of attractive boulevard streets and ravines north of here. Neighborhood branding signs were installed in the early 2000s along High Street to bolster the community’s identity. The biggest area for improvement is new quality urban in-fill along High street and Lane Ave. redeveloping surface parking lots and low-rise auto centric uses. Given the development pressures nearby in OSU, I’m confident this will come soon. The neighborhood also desperately needs walkable schools within the community to attract more generational diversity and long term homeowners.

Click here to view my Old North Columbus Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENTHS:

* Solid multi-model access with good transit and public infrastructure access.
* Good economic diversity and only decent racial diversity.
* Great array of rental options generally renting at moderate rates.
* A lot more for sale housing here than other districts surrounding OSU.
* Pretty safe district with only a little bit of blight.
* Great park amenities including the extensive Tuttle Park which includes extensive woods, a swimming pool, recreational center. Glen Echo Park follows the Glenn Echo Stream with recreational trails and bike trail along the Olentangy River.
* Good tree canopy thanks to the large amount of park space here.
* Culturally a great array of ethnic restaurants, plenty of bars & cafes, lots of live music venues, and convenient access to cultural amenities of OSU.
* Decent retail amenities, especially along High Street, a drug store, hardware store, bike shop, several record stores, and some other neighborhood retail. Supermarkets located on the edges of the neighborhood along with a Lowes Improvement Store and Target.
* Quality historic commercial along High Street with good historic residential helped with a fair amount of late 19th century architecture.
* High street and Lane Ave’s urban form is a mixed bag. Another nice urban node at Summit and Hudson.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited generational diversity but more family households than other student heavy districts around OSU.
* Modern in-fill is a mixed bag. Some nice dense mixed-use infill along High, with plenty of auto centric buildings remaining. Plenty of blah post WWII apartments throughout.
* No schools within Old North Columbus but some in surrounding neighborhoods.

Columbus’ University District- home to the City’s largest off-campus student haven

For the purposes of this evaluation I define the University District/Indianola Terrace as the area between Lane/Northwood and 11th street and between High Street and the railroad tracks. University District is actually a much broader area by most standards encompassing North Old Columbus and South Campus. Indianola Terrace is east of Summit Street.

Like much of north Columbus, the University District grew on a similar track with Ohio State, which opened in 1870 but didn’t really start to expand until the early 20th century. To people’s surprise the neighborhood was a fashionable “suburb” in the first half of the 20th century with a mix of brick rowhouses and large SF homes. Several curved roads and ravines lie between 16th and Lane Ave. The influx of servicemen into the neighborhood after WWII seeking housing lead to a population boom and the construction of new apartments and conversion of many SF homes to MF. Perceived problems of vehicular congestion, crime, and litter resulted from this quick rise in density and the University Area Commission was created in 1972 to address them.

Its difficult for me to say whether I view the change of University District post WWII as necessarily an urban “negative”. On the one hand it most certainly rapidly altered the neighborhood creating a more transient less cared after place. On the other hand, it created a density level helpful in fostering vibrancy, mixed-use, and significant retail on Hight Street. In hindsight it probably would have been wise to rezone parts of the neighborhood closest to campus for high density apartments, and try to preserve homeownership heavy pockets east of Summit Street. Fortunately the University District feels more invested in than before, less gritty, attracting more homeownership, and hosts a dense mixed-use corridor along High Street. Hopefully the neighborhood can continue to attract a more diverse demographic (non-students) and become the vibrant and diverse place it could always become. I see many parallels to the University District with Pittsburgh’s Oakland or Cincinnati’s CUF and Corryville.

Click here to view my University District album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good but not great transit access. Overall convenient access to lots of jobs with OSU and Dwtn.
* Great bike infrastructure with several dedicated bike lanes and good bike station coverage.
* Quality historic architecture, but would be even better if the bldgs didn’t take a beating as student housing.
* Great ADA and sidewalks infrastructure.
* Not much modern in-fill within the neighborhood but lots of quality urban mixed-use infill along High Street.
* Decent racial diversity thanks to OSU diverse student body.
* A high level of density thanks to students being packed into rental housing.
* Not surprisingly tons of rents here and generally at pretty modest prices.
* High Street has very good urban massing and streetscape especially with its recent extensive urban in fill.
* Cultural amenities include a great array of ethnic restaurants, lots of college bars & cafes, several live music venues, and the OSU cultural activities.
* The University District hosts a full service target, 2 CVS, several chain retailers, lots of banks, a handful of boutiques, and a cineplex and Barnes & Nobles on its southern border.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Lots of students living here which greatly reduces the University district’s economic and generational diversity.
* For sale housing is mostly limited to student rental. But some SF and duplexes in good shape selling in the 200Ks & 300Ks. You certainly get a lot of house for your money here.
* Park space is limited here to the nice but modest Luka Ravine park and the ballfields behind the Indianola Middle School. But park asset is probably OSU quads and green space.
* The neighborhood is a bit rough in spots (especially in Indianola Terrace and has a fair amount of grid but by no means a dangerous place.
* The neighborhood only hosts a small privet grade-middle schools. A couple others in adjacent districts.

Weinland Park- A Revitalizing Neighborhood in between Columbus’ Short North and Ohio State

Weinland Park mainly developed in the early 20th century as a street car suburb fueled by jobs in several factories, such as Columbus Coated Fabrics and the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company (now a large redevelopment site). Like many inner city American neighborhoods, Weinland Park experienced decline starting in the 60s and was plagued by drug problems in the 1980s. Fortunately with its location between the Short North and OSU, reinvestment and development eventually came starting in the mid-2000s with the Gateway South Development and affordable single family construction. Now quality homes easily sell in the 300Ks and new construction is fetching prices around 1/2 Million. High street has also seen many quality urban in-fill projects replacing auto centric uses and 1 story commercial. Pretty soon the entire High Street corridor will be filled in. The once rough 5th Ave is also seeing significant mixed-use renovations and new construction.

Main urban deficiencies in Weinland Park include limited economic and generation diversity thanks to its large student population, limited park amenities, a lack of quality walkable schools, and lingering blight issues. But many other these deficiencies will be alleviated as the neighborhood continues to improve. What will become more of a lasting issue is the district’s high home sales prices.

Click here to view my Weinland Park Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good Density at around 12K residents per square mile.
* Very convenient access to Downtown via all modes of transportation.
* Great racial diversity.
* Large supply of rental housing priced modestly. Much of it is geared towards students.
* For sale market has increased drastically in the past 5 years. Right now its a healthy mix of modest homes selling in the 200s, and larger new or updated homes selling btwn 300K-500K. I can see the neighborhood gentrifying rapidly however.
* Solid but not spectacular architecture. The highlights being the historic rowhouse courts and quality SF in-fill throughout the neighborhood and mixed-use in-fill along High St, especially at South Gateway.
* Excellent current ADA infrastructure and good sidewalk infrastructure throughout.
* Much of High Streets recent parking lots and auto centric uses have been developed into quality urban infill. The Streetscape on High also received an infrastructure overhaul.
* Solid cultural amenities including a good array of restaurants, bars, breweries & cafes. Also some art galleries, a community theater, cineplex, and convenient access to OSU’s and the Short North’s cultural amenities.
* Neighborhood retail amenities include a supermarket, several drug stores, public library, post office, a Barnes & Nobles, and some retail & boutiques.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Lots of students living here which greatly reduces Weinland Park’s economic and generational diversity.
* Weinland Park is nice providing good amenities, but limited park space outside of this. South Gateway has some nice plaza space.
* Crime and blight were major issues for Weinland Park for many years, but both have dropped precipitously in the past decade.
* Schools are pretty limited but the neighborhood does hosts Weinland Elementary, along with a private middle school and a couple small specialty schools nearby.

Youngstown’s Pleasant Grove and Boardman’s Forest Grove Historic District

I combined this small Youngstown neighborhood on its southern border with the Forest Glen historic district and portion of Boardman north of Shields Rd/Indianola Rd as they tie into one another well with a shared commercial district along Market Street. The other reason being that Pleasant Grove is too small to evaluate on its own and I wanted to include most of Boardman’s pre-WWII development. Boundaries used here Euclid/Grover Dr to the east, Midlothian Blvd to the north, Mill Creek to the west, and Mill Creek Dr. and Shields Rd/Indianola Rd to the south.

Pleasant Grove is a “pleasant” 1920s-1940s neighborhood with suburban like density but decent connectivity and nice historic homes. Commercial districts along Market and Midlothian Blvd are pretty auto centric but at least still have sidewalks. The Forest Glen Historic District in North Boardman hosts an excellent array of 1920s-1950s mansions and modest homes set curvilinear forested streets. Very pretty.

The main area for improvement in the neighborhood is retrofitting Market Street into an urban commercial district. This is at least possible with the neighborhood’s connectivity and grid but given the economics of Youngstown, I don’t anticipate this happening anytime soon.

Click here to view my Pleasant Grove Album and here to view my Forest Glen Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great economic and generational diversity.
* For sale housing is pretty cheap but some decent diversity. Product ranging anyway from 25K-240K. Most housing selling between 50K-100K. The majority of homes selling over 100K is in the Forest Glen Historic District.
* Mill Creek Metro Park provides a great park amenity for along the western edge of this district with extensive trails, bike paths, golf courses, meadows, and pavilion space.
* Great tree canopy especially in the Forest Glen section of the neighborhood. Only a couple modest parks outside of Mill Creek Park.
* Generally a safe neighborhood besides some blight along Market St.
* Sidewalk infrastructure generally pretty good. Some missing sidewalks on the newer streets. Curbs are rarely ADA compliant though.
* Great 1920s-1950s historic architecture especially in the Forest Glen Historic District.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Public transit access is fair. Bike infrastructure limited to a dedicated trail along Mill Creek Park.
* Racial diversity is pretty limited.
* Rental product limited to only a couple single family homes.
* Cultural amenities limited to a handful of restaurants and bars.
* Retail amenities better but generally auto centric. Include a couple drug stores, a family dollar, Middle Eastern grocery store, a couple banks, antiques & boutiques, a florist, salons, and a public library.
* Some good schools including Valley Christian School and several private and public elementary schools nearby.
* Modern in fill pretty much limited to strip malls.

Idora- historic home of Youngstown’S favorite amusement park.

The Idora neighborhood gets its name from the urban amusement park, Idora Park, previously located in the north-western portion of the neighborhood. The amusement park is what fueled the growth of the neighborhood in the early 20th century. Sadly Idora Park closed in 1984 and was the dealt knell to the Glenwood commercial district serving the neighborhood. Idora Park was eventually converted into a large greenspace connected to Mill Creek Park.

After the past decade local philanthropy stepped in to stabilize the housing market through demos and renovations. Plenty of vacant lots remain. Glenwood Avenue has a long way to go before becoming a viable urban district as most of its fabric has been wiped away. I’d also like to see dedicated bike lanes built within the neighborhood.

Click here to view my Idora album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Nice Historic architecture
* Great Tree Canopy.
* Well served with park amenities with Mill Creek Metro park wrapping around the neighborhood’s western edge.
* Generally good sidewalk infrastructure but limited up to date ADA curbs.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited in-fill and what does exist is auto centric commercial along Glenwood.
* Good access to Dwtn.
* High percentage of family households.
* Most of blight is along Glenwood but certainly some missing teeth in the neighborhood. Local leaders seem to have at least stabilized Idora with lots of demos and renovations.
* Public Transit access isn’t great. Limited bike infrastructure although there is a nice bike path along Mill Creek parkway.
* Pretty low income neighborhood with some middle class households. Not great racial diversity either. Black majority district.
* Generally a pretty cheap neighborhood. Some housing in the 100Ks and low 200Ks near Mill Creek. These are larger homes. Rentals options are very limited.
* Other than the Lanterns Mill Historic site really not cultural amenities here. Hopefully the Historic Foster Theater gets converted to a live music theater as planned.
* Retail amenities limited to some pretty typically low income stores like a gas station, family dollar, dry cleaners, and car mechanics.
* No schools within Idora. Closest ones are 2 miles away.

North Heights- One of Youngstown’s most stable pre-WW II neighborhoods

North Heights is a comprised of mostly modest and large single family, wood frame homes built up in the 1920s & 1930s. The neighborhood was built up in response to middle-class housing demand fueled by Youngstown’s growing industrial base. Ethnic make up of the residents include African Americans, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, and Jewish Americans .

Mansions with large set backs line 5th Avenue. East of here is a more blighted lower income neighborhood. West of 5th Avenue is a solid middle class district. Commercial corridors are either auto centric or blighted but some auto centric retail. Other than having sidewalks and good street grid, North Heights functions more effectively like a moderately dense post WWII suburb. But that could change if the commercial districts are ever urbanized and more residential in-fill occurs. Unfortunately given Youngstown’s economy, I don’t anticipate that happening in my life time.

Click here to view my North Heights Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great tree canopy.
* Very convenient access to Dwtn with just an 8 minute drive.
* Great racial and economic diversity in North Heights
* Park amenities consist of Crandall Park and several cemeteries. Crandall Park is a good one, centrally located, diverse amenities and runs several blocks along a stream.
* Consistent sidewalk infrastructure but very few ADA compliant curb cuts.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very low density. More like a suburb.
* Poor Public transit and no bike infrastructure.
* Housing is still very cheap but some diversity. East of Ohio is mostly under 50K. West of Ohio street between 50K-100K. Larger mansions along 5th Ave generally selling in the 100Ks. Top of the market in in the low 200Ks.
* As this is a SF dominant neighborhood, rentals are very limited.
* Cultural amenities limited to a handful of restaurants and bars.
* Commercial corridors generally both blighted and auto centric. Not much positive to say here.
* Some retail amenities but all auto centric including a supermarket, drug store, a couple dollar stores, a post office and other low income stores.
* Schools include a public elementary and a catholic school just west of the neighborhood boundaries.

Youngtown’s Wick Park- Historic Home to Youngstown’s Elite

Wick Park is bordered by Belmont Ave to the west, Andrews to the east, Fairgreen to the north, and route 422 to the south.

Wick Park during the first half of the 20th century included some of the city’s most affluent residents. Youngstown’s wealthiest business leaders and professionals migrated here away from downtown and the noisy activity of the City’s steel mills to this wooded neighborhood areas near the city’s northern border. The largest homes historically lined Wick Park, Elm & Wick Avenues. Many of these homes have been torn down or are occupied by YSU and other institutional. But some remain as single family residential, especially surrounding Wick Park.

The neighborhood’s other great assets include its convenient access to YSU/Downtown and Wick Park itself, an expansive and multi-functional park. Still lots of blight remain in the neighborhood including several blocks of urban prairie east of Wick Ave. My hope is that given its location and historic architecture, civic leaders will focus on revitalizing the neighborhood. There is a nice but modest commercial node at Elm Street and Baldin where this could start along with stabilizing streets surrounding the park.

Click here to view my Wick Park Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Generally good sidewalk and ADA infrastructure. Not as good on streets with few houses.
* Very convenient access to Dwtn. Only a 6 minute drive and 1.5 miles away. YSU is a good job hub as well and only 5 minutes away.
* Good connectivity and street ride in Wick Park.
* Decent racial diversity. Family households is also high, generally around 50%.
* Wick park is an expansive central located park in the neighborhood provide lost of green space, playgrounds, tennis court, golf disco course, tennis courts, a modest recreational center, and woods.
* Great tree canopy.
* Decent school access with the neighborhood hosting a Catholic High School. College Prep HS located nearby at YSU’s campus and an elementary school about a mile north.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Transit Service isn’t great. No Bike Infrastructure either.
* High poverty here but some income diversity.
* Housing market is very depressed. Rentals of all sized seem to rent around $600. Most in shape homes sell for 50K. Not sure what top of the market might be for one of the large mansions in the neighborhood. Guessing its just sky of 100K.
* Nice cluster of retail amenities at Elm and Baldwin (i.e. coffeehouse, food-coop, florist, a Kitchen incubator, and a diner. Large hospital along Belmont.
* Cultural amenities are also limited but residents have convenient access to YSU performing arts and performances at the Stambaugh Auditorium.
* Neighborhood doesn’t feel unsafe but plenty of blight. Urban prairie in the eastern portion of the neighborhood east of Wick Ave.

Youngstown State University, OH- Youngstown’s economic enginee

For this evaluation I also include the historic Smoky Hollow neighborhood to the east of Youngstown State (YSU) between Wick Ave and Crab Creek. The neighborhood’s name derives from smoke saturated air commonplace in the neighborhood due to the Mahoning Valley Iron Company. Immigrants arrived starting in the late 1800s and until the 1960s it was a thriving working class neighborhood. Sadly white flight, suburban sprawl, and the City’s industrial collapse were not kind to the neighborhood. Most of the neighborhood is now vacated other than a few houses, Cassese’s MVR restaurant (been around since the 1920s!) and some expansion from YSU. I hope that one day the University and City leaders commit themselves to rebuilding this neighborhood given its proximity to Downtown.

YSU was founded in 1908 but mostly developed since the 60s when it became a state university. While this is mostly a commuter college, it provided a much needed economic lifeline to Downtown Youngstown and surrounding neighborhoods. YSU also helps provide a decent streetscape along Wick Ave, good greenspace with several quads, cultural activities, and some restaurants and bars. City planning efforts are in the works to better connect YSU to Downtown, and already several apartment buildings have sprung up serving its students.

Click here to view my Youngstown State Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good ADA and sidewalk infrastructure at YSU but not so great in the depopulation parts of Smokey Hollow.
* Decent pubic transit access, or at least good for Youngstown standards.
* Great access to jobs with around 10K at YSU and over 30K Dwtn.
* Good racial diversity in YSU.
* Decent park amenities with the expansive Wick Park just north of the neighborhood, green space in the YSU quads and Harrison Field.
* Some good cultural amenities including several restaurants and bars, both a modern and contemporary art museum, a live music venue, the cultural amenities of YSU and walkable access to Dwtn’s amenities.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very low density
* Limited bike infrastructure but YSU’s campus is at least bike friendly.
* Income diversity is low here as there are mostly students living here.
* For sale product is very limited here. Some rental product.
* Retail amenities are limited to the University bookstore and walkable amenities Dwtn.
* Schools are limited although the neighborhood hosts a small college prep school and an ok elementary school is located about a mile north.

Downtown Youngstown, OH- a struggling downtown that has made great strides towards remaking itself

Downtown Youngstown is a historically well built center for a once thriving mid-sized American City. The skyline is filled with wonderful mid-sized early 20th century towers cladded in gorgeous detailing. But one will notice that no modern high-rises grace their presence here. This is due to the economic collapse that afflicted Youngstown in the 1970s and 1980s. Dwtn Youngstown like many other American cities also experienced competition from suburban malls. City leaders tried to combat this through creating a pedestrian mall along Federal Street, its largest retail center. Unfortunately this backfired and helped fueled high vacancies.

The early 2000s brought renewed efforts from civic leaders to revitalized Dwtn. They first re-opened Federal Street, built a new sport’s arena, and began investing in the renovation of their vast supply of underutilized historic towners into new office space and apartments.

I wouldn’t call Dwtn Youngstown vibrant, but the revitalization efforts of the past two decades have certainly removed the worse blight and decline and stabilized Dwtn. Current efforts are to improve the streetscaping, make Dwtn more multi-model, and better connect it to Youngstown State. The new Riverfront Park and Amphitheater was also a great addition to Dwtn as there were almost no park/plaza spaces Dwtn previously.

Click here to view my Downtown Youngstown Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great historic architecture.
* Generally good ADA and sidewalk infrastructure but some crumbling sidewalks on the edges of Dwtn and curb cuts not up to date with ADA.
* No great public transit. Ok within Dwtn and YSU but mediocre ant best even in Youngstown’s inner city neighborhoods.
* Great racial diversity.
* Large student population attending within or close to Dwtn. 12K students attend YSU just north of Dwtn and a couple thousand more at Eastern Gateway Comm. College.
* While no modern towers are here, Dwtn Youngstown has a decent skyline composed to consisted mid-sized 1900-1930s towers.
* While there are a fair about of parking lots dwtn, especially along the edges, solid urban from along Federal and Wick/ Market.
* Very challenging to understanding the # of jobs in Dwtn Youngstown. My sense is that its a decent # (say 25-40K) but still riddled with high vacancy and low lease rates. Positive momentum seems to be bldg. though.
* Good amenities Dwtn including a sports arena, good amount of restaurants, bars, & cafes, the DeYor Performing Arts Center, the outdoor amphitheater at the Riverfront Park, several nice museums, a Dwtn post office and library.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Bike infrastructure is very limited within the City and most of the Metro. Best bike trail in the City is in Mill’s Creek. Some larger trails in the metro.
* Very high poverty rate but some diversity with new market rate propping up.
* Really not family households in Dwtn but some adult age diversity.
* Some decent rentals but housing product is very limited especially for sale (condos).
* The large sidewalks and blvd square at Market and Federal is the only park or plaza space in Dwtn Youngstown. Very surprising.
* Dwtn is a bit rough on the edges with a fair amount of homeless but its generally safe.
* Youngstown Early College School is a solid college prep option just north of Dwtn. Some elementary schools abouts 1 mile south of Dwtn. Not much else.
* Some decent new apartments on the north edge of Dwtn next to YSU, but not modern high-rises.
* Pretty dead during off work hours, especially outside of Federal Street.
* Park space had been limited to just the small plaza at Federal & Wick for a long time. Fortunately the expansive Riverfront and amphitheater were recently constructed. This also functions as Youngtown’s civic heart even though its not a plaza space.
* No Convention Center Downtown and limited sport facilities.
* Some dwtn retail including the 20 Federal Place mall, several boutiques, and some locally owned creative retail. No supermarket nor pharmacy however.