howard l

I noticed that many viewers are young folks and never visited Idora Park. Folks, I am 76 years old and spent many days and nights at the Park. It was a safe place to visit but after so many years it became necessary to charge admission to keep the rowdys out. That did not work as well and just about every weekend the police working off duty at the park had to call for assistance because of certain elements that came in just to start trouble. The fire was not the only reason the park closed, decent people were afraid to go there because of the deterioration of the neighborhood , the gangs of hoodlum in and outside of the park , and other obvious reasons. Just like anything else the bad messed it up for the good. How do I know this? I grew up in Youngstown and was a Youngstown Police Officer for 26 years.