Exploring NEO revenue sharing

A story in the Akron Beacon-Journal discusses some possible future directions as a region:

"Mayors and community leaders in 16 Northeast Ohio counties are studying a proposal for regional planning and the sharing of new tax revenue to boost economic growth and reduce suburban sprawl.

The Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers Association will vote next month on whether to pursue recommendations from the Regional Economic Revenue Study, a group of elected officials, business leaders and educators who have been analyzing land use and tax sharing nationwide"

You can explore the webpage of the Northeast Ohio Regional Economic Renevue Sharing project here.

news: 30 Mar 2008

The city of Akron and Summit County are looking into becoming more efficient by cooperating regionally.

"The Summit County sheriff will help run Akron police for the next 18 months while the departments see if they can save money and boost crime fighting.

Mayor Don Plusquellic on Friday assigned his new deputy mayor of public safety, Larry Givens, to work with Sheriff Drew Alexander on a plan that may be the first step toward a metropolitan police department, the first in Ohio."

more here.

YSU's Dr. Carroll gets to the $4 million point for his work on nuclear isomers.

"YSU’s Isomer Physics Project concentrates on discovery research, trying to develop a better understanding of the fundamental processes with new experiments, he said, rather than looking for applications.

Grant funds pay student wages and research release time for Carroll, buy materials and equipment, and pay the research team’s travel expenses. Carroll plans to take a group to Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago later this year for some off-site experiments there, and another experiment may be scheduled at a facility near Tokyo."

more here.

release the hounds!

feel like it's time to bombard the midwest with our thoughts?

GLUEspace has some ideas how:

"If you agree that it’s been way too long since our nation had a plan for fixing our cities’ problems, you could make your voice heard, by either: (1) writing to the presidential frontrunner of your choice, or (2) writing to the editor of your local paper. Below are some samples that you could follow (See full list of Great Lakes papers with links to editorial/letters pages below). Just some ideas to get you going."

more here.

Also, props to Abby for making it into Newsweek this week. Read more here.

can't keep up with the burgh

look.

here is the math:

aggressive blogging by Jim + work week travels + eating/sleeping in the margins = needing to play major catch-up with the Burgh Diaspora blog.

Here are some of the ones (among many) that received by attention over the past four weeks:

On Top of the Political World

"Hillary Clinton appeals to Pittsburgh's old guard and Barack Obama is the voice of Pittsburgh's ongoing transformation. The same scenario played out in nearby Youngstown during the Ohio primary. Clinton used Youngstown as a backdrop to highlight the failures of NAFTA. What she ignored, apparently to considerable political gain, are the agents of change infusing the region with energy and hope.

While I appreciate the more nuanced perspective of the region, Newsweek incorrectly identifies Mayor Luke Ravenstahl as the face of "newer Pittsburgh." Ravenstahl represents business-as-usual, quite different from the situation in Youngstown with Mayor Jay Williams."

Pittsburgh's Near-Abroad

"Regardless, the national and international impression must be one of the entire Rust Belt as depressed, backwards, and pissed off. While shrinking cities share many of the same problems, there still exists quite a bit economic geographic variation within the region."

Cleveburgh Globalization Project

"I propose a Yo Cleveburgh pilot, making good use of the Youngstown urban laboratory to develop a set of best practices for addressing the inherent instabilities of globalization. The goal is to develop the Cleveburgh Corridor into a world city on par with Chicago. One of the solutions that Longworth puts on the table is educational reform, though doing so is notoriously difficult.

My hunch is that Youngstown would be more open to innovative approaches in education than just about any other Rust Belt city."

Jim is setting the table for you Youngstown, read more here.

Rust Belt High Skill Immigration Zone Update

"Renowned Law Professor/Author William Hing, UC Davis School of Law, member of Senator Obama's Immigration Policy Group, has picked up on the "High Skill Immigration Zone" proposal and is spreading the word!"

connecting to expats

the Steeltown Entertainment Project:

"The mission of the Steeltown Entertainment Project ("Steeltown") is to nurture promising talent and to incubate meaningful and commercially viable entertainment projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania by connecting former Pittsburghers who are working in the entertainment industry with the region's human, cultural, educational and economic resources."

a request from the fly YNG blog

From the Fly Youngstown blog:

"Once again I would request everyone to join me in a grassroots effort to attract Skybus Airlines to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. Below is a link that is a Contact Form that allows passengers and airport supporters like myself to voice support for our local airport."

more here.

JEDDs report is online

Available at the Youngstown 2010 site, or here.

btw, whoever wrote this report in Cleveland needs to do some proofreading.

It looks really bad when words are spelled incorrectly in the Executive Summary of a study, especially one you have been working on for many many months. Folks, disregard this statement if they re-edited this document by the time you downloaded the report.

100 parks within 100 miles

Cool idea from the Steel Valley Outdoors site:

The list of 100 parks and rec areas within 100 miles of Youngstown.

check it out

How To Use this List:
I’ve kept State Parks and related State Forests as two lines. This might be cheating, but they usually offer different experiences.

Each Link goes directly to the appropriate site, not to a directory, wherever possible.

Scroll down to your favorite area. Look right above it.

Have you been here? How about the area right below it?

Cleveland's mayor to announce joint ED efforts in speech

Henry Gomez from the PD reports:
Jackson wants to work on development opportunities with Youngstown

"Cleveland is pursuing joint economic development opportunities with Youngstown, a fellow Rust Belt city 74 miles to the southeast, Mayor Frank Jackson was expected to announce this afternoon.

In his annual State of the City address at the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown, Jackson was planning to stress the importance of regionalism.

Jackson also intended to note recent conversations with his counterpart in Youngstown, Mayor Jay Williams. According to a draft of the speech obtained in advance, the City Council in the Mahoning County seat already has signed off on a partnership with Cleveland."

read more from Henry here

jay visits wierton

The Herald-Star, based in Steubenville, writes about Mayor's Williams' trip to visit the leaders of Weirton, WV:

"According to Williams, Youngstown just recently awoke from a 30-year paralysis. During that time, he explained, its citizens and government were convinced the steel industry would come back. He stated this dealt psychological and emotional damage which increased the city’s economic trouble and population decline.

“We were looking in the rearview mirror for the answers to get us to the future,” he said. “It was the biggest mistake to ever happen to the city. Pride cannot get in the way of change.”

read more here on the visit.

new press release from GLUEspace

This press release just posted at the Great Lakes Urban Exchange.

‘Rustbelt’ Cities Coalition Thanks Presidential Frontrunners for Supporting Great Lakes Compact,
Calls for Regional Urban Agenda in Three Upcoming Great Lakes Primaries

GLUE operates on four guiding principles:

Urbanism: Cities are our world’s economic drivers. Decision makers cannot afford to underestimate their value nor overlook their needs.

Regionalism: Great Lakes urban centers need to overcome outlooks of despair and isolation by forging a shared perspective and developing strength in numbers.

Storytelling: White papers alone cannot propel an agenda, particularly for the emerging generation of leadership. No need is expressed more powerfully than via human narrative.

Building Networks: Connecting people and institutions who share challenges and objectives will foster regional collaboration and transfer examples of success throughout the basin.

cincy 360

GLUEspace posts an embedded video about the new visioning process taking place at the opposite corner of the state.

Something to watch for Youngstown 2020?

check it out here

the midwest against the rest

On Milwaukee reviews the GLUE conference in Buffalo:

"We quickly came to realize that this feeling of isolation was unjustified. After an extensive bus tour of Buffalo, which revealed the dramatic rise and tragic fall of that great city, none of us were shocked. Saddened, but not shocked. After all, each of our cities has been similarly hollowed from the inside out.

From that point forward, the focus of the weekend was on what we share, not on what we don't. Poverty, crime, segregation, crumbling streets and population loss is a reality for each of our Great Lakes counterparts."

"But perhaps more important, from what I witnessed at this weekend's conference, is that the cities of the Great Lakes are bursting with cadres of young, hyper-motivated individuals, who are both discouraged with what they see in their respective cities and determined do something about it. That's the funny thing about "depressed cities" -- their tough problems give rise to some of the most engaged and creative citizenry in our country."

check out more here.

local bloggers reacting to the tragic arson

By Tales from the Rust Belt
Finding a Balance When Discussing Crime

"I can't speak for the others but I take great pains to address the crime issue the way I try to address any other issue; by taking the time to understand it and suggesting ideas to improve the situation."

"As has been addressed on this site and others, the problem lies with all of us. The worst mass murder in Youngstown just occurred and there isn't a thing the mayor or police could have done to prevent it unless a patrol car was driving by just as that vicious little coward was pouring gasoline on the front porch of the house. You can't legislate behavior. It is up to each one of us to treat each other with respect, to raise our children correctly, to make sure that we all realize we are responsible for the place where we live. It doesn't matter if you don't live in the city."

"So I will continue to write about issues that I see as important and I will criticize politicians when I feel it is appropriate and constructive. I will continue to map the homicides in the city because I feel a visual representation of data is useful for people to see and make decisions. This is what I will try to do to effect change."

Provided here is only a small part of the post. Read more here.

From our Mayor:
On Wednesday's Fire

"Let everyone in this community offer our collective prayers and support for the victims and families of this unspeakable tragedy. It is impossible to comprehend how any individual could commit such a depraved and cowardly act toward another human being. However, we will work without fail to ensure that justice is served."

news: 24 jan 2008

Economy Must Hone Strengths, Chamber Told
excellent summary from the Business-Journal

Ned came to town yesterday.

"The Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce also sponsored his [dr. hill's] appearance. The president of the Regional Chamber, Tom Humphries, presented the breakfast as an initiative for increased cooperation among the economic development agencies in the two valleys."

"Manufacturing continues to make strides in productivity and remain profitable. “If you look just at employment,” Hill pointed out, you’re looking at the wrong statistic as a measure of economic health.” Because of the advances in productivity, employment in this sector will continue to decline and those who work in this sector will need more and better training."

"Too many small businesses have owners who run what Hill calls “lifestyle companies,” that is, enterprises satisfied with their level of revenues, that don’t seek to innovate, because the owner has enough for a comfortable existence."

"To those who point out the Mahoning Valley is half way between Cleveland and Pittsburgh as well as Chicago and New York, therefore attractive to businesses looking to locate here, Hill responds, “Location is not as important as the quality of life” a company can provide its employees."

read more here. (with subscription).

Better-paying jobs gaining ground in Northeast Ohio
from the Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Northeast Ohio still has twice as many jobs that pay below average as above, but the Team NEO study adds to a sense that the region may have begun to move from the rust belt years to the age of technology and innovation.

"The fact is our job growth has been pretty modest . . . but the data is showing a steady trend toward higher-paying work," said Tom Waltermire, chief executive of Team NEO, the economic development group releasing the study.

The analysis looked at job growth or loss in 22 occupations since 1992, in a 16-county region."

links to Team NEO's insights here.

almost time for JEDDs?

Lown Hired to Champion JEDDs
from the Business-Journal

"Sarah Lown, a veteran development planner who has worked for several agencies in the Mahoning Valley, has begun working on behalf of the city to promote joint economic development districts (JEDDs) with surrounding communities.

Mayor Jay Williams has advocated forming JEDDs -- areas outside the city where Youngstown could offer water lines and other incentive programs -- with consenting parties. In 2006, the city launched a study of its water system’s capacity with an eye on the JEDD plan.

That study, Lown said, is in draft form and she believes it “probably” will be ready to go next month."

two manufacturing initiatives

Advanced Manufacturing Meeting Set for Feb. 5

The Winter Meeting of the Advanced Manufacturing Initiative is set for 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Feb. 5. The meeting is hosted by the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at Youngstown State University.

Martin Abraham, dean of the college, will discuss how the new college can benefit local manufacturers.

The meeting will be in Room 2400 of Moser Hall on the YSU campus. Parking will be available in the parking deck at the corner of Lincoln and Fifth avenues. Reservations are required for parking purposes.

To register, contact Steve Katros at 330 941 3009."

Nortech, Magnet Announce Innovation Accelerator Program

"Called the Innovation Accelerator, the program seeks to engage manufacturers looking to grow their business by adding new products and services, leveraging ideas from employees, vendors, customers and competitors and exploring new technologies capable of making their products stronger and more effective."

for more information, go here.

news: 15 Jan 2008

A Tale of Two Cities
from the Vindicator

"Youngstown City Council will vote at its Wednesday meeting to support the creation of a memorandum.

Williams and Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson as well as members of their staffs recently met in Youngstown to discuss a closer relationship between the two cities."

Funds for e-services in City Schools
from the Vindicator

"The city school district is asking the federal Universal Service Fund to pick up nearly $1.7 million in telecommunications services.

The fund, more commonly know as E-Rate, was created by the federal government to help underwrite the cost of telecommunication and Internet access services to schools and libraries.

The program, run through the Federal Communications Commission, gets its money from a universal service fee charged to companies that provide interstate or international telecommunications services."

Jay Williams Backing Obama, Will Join Campaign
from the Business-Journal
(a great article by George Nelson, a good day to have a subscription)

"Williams and the Obama campaign are discussing other campaign appearance leading up to Feb. 5, or “Tsunami Tuesday,” because of the many states holding primaries that day and the number of delegates at stake. “We are in the process of putting together specifics,” the mayor said.

After attending a fundraiser for Obama last June at the home of McDonald’s franchisee Herb Washington, where Williams and the senator spoke privately, he remarked that Obama “understands the struggles we’re going through here.” As late as last month, Williams said he had yet to settle on a candidate and was uncertain whether he would make any kind of endorsement.

Williams’ support in the approaching Feb. 5 races could be valuable on two levels, said Thomas Flynn of Boardman, an associate professor of political communication at Slippery Rock University. On the surface, Williams is a political independent and a “pragmatic problem solver” associated with an innovative approach to addressing urban issues. While serving as Youngstown’s community development director, Williams was one of the chief advocates of the Youngstown 2010 plan."

Cities Seek Common Ground
from the Business-Journal

“Among the ideas the two cities are considering is a formula to share the gains the communities reap when one business relocates from Cleveland to Youngstown and vice versa, Williams notes.

“We’d like to set up a framework where we wouldn’t poach businesses from one another,” he says. A possible solution could be an agreement to share revenue sharing for a period of time to mitigate the loss of tax revenue should a business relocate."

blogger summit + GLUE

Burgh Diaspora writes about recent developments in Rust Belt regionalism:

"If you haven't noticed, we've settled on a time and place for the inaugural Rust Belt Bloggers Summit. On July 11th-12th, we'll convene in Erie. I don't have any more details at this point, but we welcome YOUR input. I recommend PodCast Pittsburgh as a model for how we structure this networking event.

I have previously commented that we Rust Belt Bloggers should plug into what Brookings is doing. GLUE is a few steps ahead of this value proposition. Never one to duplicate efforts, I intend to support the GLUE project. I'm interested in forming a Great Lakes regional identity and collaborating with other Shrinking City citizens."

So what is GLUE?

Click here for more details.

Yo, Cleveburgh!

Shout Youngstown shows in this post how the Pittsburgh and Youngstown regions are integrating. Some questions:

should the Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh regions all be collecting the same data?

Should the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber be replicating the exact model that Pittsburgh is now instituting?

Guided by the style and ease of the PRI website, maybe tracking the Arts, Demographics, Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Health, Safety and Transportation as a mega-region can be a component of the Ryan/Altmire Tech Belt initiative?

check out more of what's being said here.