Volunteer group, students board up, clean up city
March 27, 2011 - By CHRISTOPHER BOBBY Tribune Chronicle
WARREN - Spring cleanup, especially in terms of removing blight from the city, can get done quickly when 120 volunteers, including more than 70 students and 30 contractors chip in on the project.
Led by the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership (TNP), a massive group descended Saturday on a target area of a few blocks on the northwest side armed with donated plywood, chain saws, generators and a pickup truck full of plastic garbage bags.
In and around Mason Street and Hillsdale Drive N.W., the workforce encountered vacant homes that had been torched and others that were vacant, some boarded up and others in need of the securing effort.
"Some of the properties just need some overgrown brush removed with shears and rakes. Others need the plywood. We have to secure before we stabilize," said Matt Martin, TNP program director who formerly worked with the community development effort in Cleveland.
In one tiny area, the group found six homes in a row that were vacant, boarded up or the scene of recent arson.
As police officers roped off a recently burned out home at 939 Mason, Warren Schools Athletic Director Paul Trina raked up a tree lawn and gutter, sometimes shaking his head amazed by the turnout of student athletes and amazed at how blight had overtaken the neighborhood.
"My dad had Trina's Barbershop right up there," Trina said, pointing to the nearby intersection with Parkman Road N.W. "But these kids are learning a lesson today. It's about being unselfish."
Amidst track, football and soccer team members and cheerleaders, Marvin Logan established himself as a leader of sorts.
"We were state champs last year," said Logan, 18, now a freshman at Kent State and still running track at the university. He came home for the weekend just to help out.
"It's about teamwork and athletes being effective. Pride goes beyond the playing field," he said.
Logan's former coach at Harding, Charles Penny, was nearby pitching in with current teammates.
Nearby Danielle Gilley, of 922 Mason, said she has four kids that she can't allow to play outside. "I'm glad it's getting cleaned up. I watched that house burn twice. Once in September and once this month," she said, pointing to the taped off crime scene.
Diana and David Stitle at 558 Hillsdale came out of their house just to observe the enormous workforce buzzing around the neighborhood. "I feel safer already," said Diana Stitle.
On Mason, a large roar of support went up for a group of athletes that Logan was leading and that tore down half a tree that needed to come down. At the other end of the street, pallets of plywood donated by Lowe's were being carted off and nailed up to the buzz of generators courtesy of Nick Hornbeck Construction.
Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin and and 7th Ward Councilman Eddie Colbert spoke about an upcoming meeting this week when officials will discuss the possibility of taking down some of the dilapidated structures with a controlled burn by firefighters, either those in Warren or nearby township volunteers who sometimes search for practice fire scenes.
Colbert explained that money for demolishing homes has already been allocated. "There's still another 150 in the city that didn't make the list. Maybe some of them can come down and give firefighters some practice," Colbert said.
In all, 43 properties were hit by the large group of volunteers before students and volunteers were treated to donated pizzas and hot dogs from the nearby Hot Dog Shoppe. The group met and then had a bite to eat at Emmanuel Lutheran Church near the target area.
"We opened up the church and the bathrooms for the group because we feel it's worthwhile. Afterall, our church is in that target area," said Pastor Dee Emmert from the church.
It was the third effort put forth by TNP that gets funding from TNP's Vacant Property Stabilization Program.
Data from a 2010 property survey conducted by the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative estimates that there are more than 500 properties in Warren in need of boarding and cleaning efforts, or complete demolition.
And Lea Dotson, a program associate with TNP, said the stabilization program is being run in conjunction with efforts that address neighborhood blight as outlined in the Warren Strategic Plan and recent efforts to implement the County Land Bank.
