COMMUNITY VIEW | Sidewalks line the path to recovery in Youngstown
Sarah Lowry, director of Healthy Community Partnership, writes:
Members of the Healthy Community Partnership's Active Transportation Team is responding to a recent column published at Mahoning Matters by Editor Mark Sweetwood, which offered a proposal that some of the American Rescue Plan funds should be used to pay off debt on downtown Youngstown's Covelli Center. The column concludes by suggesting that the savings to the city could be used to reinvest back into the community through tools like, revolving funds, neighborhood solutions, or other business initiatives.
However, in the lead up to presenting this proposal, there were a couple of comments that though "important," investments in sidewalks are short-term improvements and a "dead end in terms of a return on investment." These statements generated concern from Partnership members, especially those who are members of the Active Transportation Action Team, which has a mission to improve traffic and personal safety to increase physical activity. Many communities have been working diligently and vigilantly over the years to raise the profile and value of sidewalk investments (read more about some of these efforts in the Where Sidewalks End Digital Digest), which has been a long and uphill battle in many cases.
Included here is a letter composed by partnership staff with contributions from members of the Active Transportation Action Team and Mahoning Valley residents. The purpose of our response is to underscore the importance of sidewalks in our communities and the multiple benefits of centering sidewalks in conversations about infrastructure spending and investments for the long-term public good.
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The Healthy Community Partnership-Mahoning Valley comprises the voices of nearly 100 community partners who share a commitment to building a healthier, more equitable Mahoning Valley. Since 2018, the Partnership has invested over $470,000 in projects, initiatives, and policies to improve access to healthy foods and welcoming outdoor parks and green spaces. Though this is a significant investment, we know it has not scratched the surface of what is needed to improve health, well-being, and health equity in our communities.
As was referenced in the Mahoning Matters column, Mayor Jamael "Tito" Brown referred to the American Rescue Plan's windfall of resources as a "legacy opportunity" for the city of Youngstown. And, the impact of this once-in-a-lifetime, legacy opportunity spreads out across sectors, neighborhoods, and municipal boundaries throughout the Mahoning Valley. Much like the mayor, the partnership is grateful for this opportunity to think bigger, bolder, and better about how and where to invest these significant resources. We are hopeful that we make these investment decisions with a dual focus on addressing short-term needs and generating long-term prosperity and keeping health and equity as our guideposts.
However, this is not the first of its kind injection of federal resources to revive communities that have been hardest hit by a prolonged national catastrophe. Investments made because of another "legacy opportunity" remain with us today, nearly a century later. Though we might not notice as we hustle from place to place, the benefits of previous investments are literally right under our noses, our feet to be more precise. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), a keystone of the Second New Deal, is stamped, literally, into our community's connective network, on sidewalks, bridges, and other infrastructure projects. This is not to say that these slabs and stones are as pristine today as they were when they were first laid. However, these investments were made not just to solve a contemporary problem but to create a foundation for a future yet to be realized.
One of the partnership's focus areas is Active Transportation. Active Transportation strategies and initiatives strive to promote the health benefits of walking, bicycling, and use of public transportation while advocating for investments that enable these modes of transportation to be safer and more accessible. Partnership members also recognize the significant economic and environmental benefits that people-first, multi-modal investments have in communities.
When Partnership members read the Community Column on Tuesday, April 13 where sidewalks were mentioned specifically as a "short-term" improvement and a "dead end in terms of a return on investment," many felt disheartened that sidewalks were described this way. Our concerns are that these descriptions will lead to the conversations about investing in sidewalks and pedestrian safety continuing to be sidelined not just in Youngstown but throughout the region. A few Partnership members express their specific reactions below.
Kim Mascarella, Howland Township planning director commented, "Building and enhancing pedestrian facilities is a cornerstone of Howland Township's comprehensive community plan. It's sad to hear that investing in the health of our residents is a dead end deal." Walk Youngstown, now Walk the Valley, founder and commercial real estate agent at Burgan Friedkin Commercial Group, Lisa Resnick, shared that, "I have seen the shift toward increasing investments in pedestrian infrastructure and have been a part of the change in a city that was experiencing several challenges and lacked a true connection to their community. Neighborhood after neighborhood improved in every way possible: socially, educationally, economically and health."
Research shows that walkable streets mean more economically vibrant, healthier communities. Strong Towns is a well-reputed, national organization that "supports thousands of people across the United States and Canada who are advocating for a radically new way of thinking about the way we build our world." In 2018, Strong Towns contributor, Rachel Quednau, composed an article, "Why Walkable Streets are More Economically Productive," which reiterates and enumerates the ways that "Again and again, when we look at streets oriented toward people we find that they are more economically productive than any other style of development."
Moving closer to home, Mahoning Valley residents know the importance of sidewalks in their neighborhoods and along the streets they travel. Everyone has a sidewalk story. The Partnership engaged the community in 2019 with an art and advocacy project, Where Sidewalks End, which received submissions from community members about sidewalk accessibility challenges in their communities. The project also collected testimonials about how sidewalks are critical, essential infrastructure that must receive more attention along with their siblings roads and bridges.
Adding to the growing body of sidewalk stories and responding to the issue of sidewalk investment over time, Samuel Dicky, an adjunct instructor and Mahoning Valley resident, shared that, "[The Mahoning Valley] is one of the most unnecessarily unwalkable [communities] I've ever been to. As a nondriver, it's easy to get the feeling that [this community] caters to everyone but the people who actually live here." Another resident and regular walker shared that, "there have been a few comments on Nextdoor Neighbor about kids walking in the streets or being kids in the streets, and it reminds me how important sidewalks are. One of the comments came from a Liberty neighbor, and they have no sidewalks in Liberty neighborhoods. To add to my point, my mom and I walk daily, and we had been walking in Youngstown (she lives in Liberty) because of the [lack of] sidewalks, and she tripped over a raggedy sidewalk and fractured her hip." Lillian Lewis, associate professor at Youngstown State University, peeled back a couple more layers to reveal how equity is at the center of this issue, like most others, of historic decision making: "Not investing in sidewalks is ableist, classist and probably racist."
The COVID-19 virus re-emphasized historic health disparities because of racial inequities and barriers to economic opportunities, which are additional focus areas that the Partnership and our partner organizations continue to acknowledge and confront. It is not a coincidence that the cities of Youngstown and Warren passed resolutions recognizing racism as a public health crisis last year. Unsurprisingly, we are far from alone in these struggles. Dozens of national stories and studies reported the unsurprising and unacceptable fact that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) experienced the most severe consequences of the pandemic— from health outcomes to job loss.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the value of the partnership's focus to improve access to safe opportunities to be physically active as critically important to the physical and mental health of residents in the Mahoning Valley. Communities across the country and our region saw the significant need and benefit of investing resources to improve access to welcoming outdoor spaces as means to provide opportunities for exercise and as well as much-needed respite.
The American Rescue Plan Act offers our country and our communities a rare opportunity to think and act differently — the partnership is hopeful that our community leaders will engage with residents to make decisions that will use these once-in-a-lifetime resources to transform our communities for the better and for the long-term.
If the Mahoning Valley wants to walk the walk about becoming a more vibrant, prosperous, equitable community, investing in infrastructure that everyone uses, needs, and values seems like a sound investment decision.
— The Healthy Community Partnership Mahoning Valley is an initiative that has brought together organizations and individuals from multiple sectors who share a common vision for a healthier Mahoning Valley and a desire to create equitable opportunities for residents to eat healthier and be more physically active. Our mission is to improve health, wellbeing, and healthy equity for all residents in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 4:11 AM with the headline "COMMUNITY VIEW | Sidewalks line the path to recovery in Youngstown."