DEAR EDITOR:

Of the $82 million the city of Youngstown will receive, I’d like to see $1 million set aside for nonessential, but I believe worthy causes: a water fountain by the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre downtown; removal of trees along the Mahoning River at Riverfront Park; and a statue of Frank Sinkwich of Chaney High School. He won the 1942 Heisman Trophy, was the first player taken in the NFL draft and was an NFL MVP in 1944. I think the statue of George Shuba shaking hands with Jackie Robinson is nice and was built all through donations, but if a handshake is memorialized, so should “Fireball Frankie.”

Don’t listen to people like columnist Bertram de Souza, who cried out about funding of the Covelli Centre. More than 2 million people have attended shows there, including myself, or Hunter Morrison, whose negative give-up attitude said we need a smaller downtown.

A plaque dedicated to the renaming of a bridge for Frank Sinkwich has been missing for years. How disrespectful is that? Right a wrong. And how about a grocery store in Mahoning Plaza? With no picketing allowed.

MIKE CHOLENSKY

Youngstown