Staff photos / Allie Vugrincic Lisa Resnik, a Realtor with Burgan Real Estate, talks about the “Walk Youngstown” signs she helped bring to downtown to encourage people to change their mindsets about walking. The 60 color-coded signs have QR codes that bring up Google maps walking directions to entertainment locations, government buildings, historical sites, parks and WRTA stops.

YOUNGSTOWN — Sixty signs scattered in 30 locations downtown provide directions to local attractions, government buildings and historical sites.

All aim to show how Youngstown is easily walkable.

Lisa Resnik said the “Walk Youngstown” campaign is designed to change the mindset that driving is the best way to get around — an idea she said has been passed down through generations.

“The biggest problem is the narrative has always been what they knew in their time. That keeps getting recycled over and over again. It has been able to go down through the generations,” Resnik said.

Resnik, who started the effort through www.walkyourcity.org, said this area is very “vehicle-oriented.” People often get back in their cars and drive to nearby locations that are just as easily walkable, she said.

Resnik said she grew up in Youngstown but moved away and lived in Washington, D.C., where walking from place to place was part of the lifestyle. She said she also has visited many other walkable cities.

“I think it hit me when we were walking in New York,” Resnik said. “If we do it there, why can’t we do it where we live?”

The color-coded signs point to retail and entertainment sites, museums, government buildings, parks and Western Reserve Transit Authority stops. Each location is no more than a 20-minute walk from the sign that lists it, Resnik said.

Walkers scan QR, or machine-readable, codes with their smartphones to bring up Google Maps directions to the locations.

The locally made signs cost $1,200 and were funded by YSU-Scape, the Youngstown Rotary and Youngstown CityScape — an organization dedicated to revitalizing downtown and improving the look and feel of the city.

Sharon Letson, executive director of Youngstown CityScape, said the Walk Youngstown project falls in line with CityScape’s interest in “moving the city forward.”

Letson said the signs are like a “scavenger hunt” through Youngstown, encouraging people to explore and discover the treasures of the city.

“The beauty of a project like this is, it energizes some other groups or entities or individuals to look at the assets we have as a city,” she said.

Julius T. Oliver, 1st Ward councilman, said the signs also have boosted business downtown by leading people to discover retail and dining sites they didn’t know existed.

“The city looks different when you’re walking,” Oliver said. “You’re going to stop at more businesses. When you’re driving, you’re just going from point A to point B.”

Oliver said walking also is safer than people realize.

“One thing people don’t understand about crime in Youngstown is, you have to be in the crime syndicate to be a victim of crime,” he said.

Oliver said the signs have been popular in their first month, and people already are asking for more.

“What we want to do is get people walking in the neighborhoods, too,” Oliver said. He said the campaign also may evolve to include “step counts” for the health-conscious.

Resnik said she is gathering groups weekly to walk 1-mile paths around the city for “Walking Wednesdays.” Information about the time and meeting place for each event is posted prior on the Walk Youngstown Facebook page. She said the walks will take place into the winter, regardless of weather conditions.

avugrincic@tribtoday.com