Youths provide insight to planners

SANDUSKY — A group of young people met planners at City Hall to discuss their thoughts on the South Side. The youths met with city chief planner Arin Blair and urban designer Kendra Hyson, an urban designer and planner from SmithGroup. The city is developing a South Side neighborhood plan. "The city will work with the community to foster growth and positive transformation across the South Side," the City of Sandusky posted online. The plan covers an area bounded by Sanford Street on the west, West Perkins Avenue on the south, Campbell Street on the east, and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks on the north. The area encompasses more than 475 acres. Before the meeting started, one of the youths pointed to the video screen showing the south side area outlined in red on a map. Hyson explained that was just the color that was chosen and had nothing to do with redlining. Redlining is a discriminatory city planning practice where financial services, such as mortgages, are not offered in certain neighborhoods that were deemed 'hazardous.' The hazardous neighborhoods were almost always composed of mostly minority and low-income residents. Getting down to business The meeting was a unique opportunity for young people to be heard by the local government. Most of the time, city officials do not seek young people's insight on city planning. One common concern amongst the youths, who are 12 to 16 years old, is the amount of litter that seems to permeate the South Side. One of the group said the Hayes Avenue underpass always has broken glass in it. Several of the youths said they are uneasy when walking through the Hayes Avenue underpass. They said the cut-outs for stairwells can harbor "creepy people." Another thing the young minds agreed on was that walking and riding bikes along Hayes Avenue is dangerous. One group member suggested a dedicated bike lane for the road like the Sandusky Bay Pathway. Araiah Richardson, 16, said the South Side lacks a diversity of shopping options and restaurants. She said one of the reasons people go downtown is because of the wide variety of dining options. Richardson stated that most restaurants in the South Side are fast food restaurants. Tondra Frisby, a youth program supervisor for the city, posed a hypothetical question to the youths: if you could make sure a new recreation center had one thing in it, what would that be? Some of the answers were: rock-climbing walls, a pool, indoor basketball courts, indoor baseball and softball field, weight room, dance studio and art studio. One suggestion surprised the adults: mental health counseling. "I was taken aback when one of the beautiful minds answered a question of what she would like to see in the new Rec Community Center. She never hesitated or pondered her answer: 'We (youth) need a place for us to talk about mental health issues. Young people talk about suicide a lot and if there was someone we could talk to available all the time it would help,'" Frisby said. "I gave a clap of the hands as I sat there saying in my head, how awesome is that for someone so young to know that mental health is real and that resources are needed for our young people."