SitemapAt the crossroads of the East Side’s main thoroughfares is the Sharonline neighborhood that represents both the one-time vision of a vibrant, growing Youngstown and the reality of the city’s decline.
McGuffey Road, connecting downtown Youngstown with the East Side, eventually ends in Coitsville. Running north and south is Jacobs Road, which starts at Campbell’s northern border, runs over McKelvey Lake and ends just outside the center of Hubbard. There, at the corner of the roads, is a brown sign, 5 feet high and bearing the image of a streetcar. It reads “The Sharonline Welcomes You.” In July 2016, the city enacted the “East Side Decommissioning Project.” Though the name is something of a misnomer – nothing was being shut down, but abandoned areas were allowed to return to nature – the project was the first intentional downsizing of the city’s developed lands. The project saw nearly 4 miles of streets in the Sharonline neighborhood closed off and nine homes demolished to curb illegal dumping and reduce city spending on the sparsely populated area. To understand why the Sharonline became the site of the downsizing project, it’s necessary to understand why the neighborhood was created in the first place. To read the full story from The Vindicator, click here.