Podcasts for a Greater Youngstown

If you haven't seen the self-deprecating videos about Cleveland, go here. The round table at The Sound of Ideas discussing the impact is a must-listen. Samantha Fryberger of Positively Cleveland remarks that the greatest civic boosters for the city are the people who move back. This demographic is instrumental to the economic redevelopment of any Rust Belt city.

Second story concerns the revitalization of Ord, Nebraska. Where? Believe it or not, I've been tracking the reinvention of Ord since 2006. A recent update via Marketplace seems to have the small town on track to better days:

It could take a while before people like Kovarek move to Ord en masse. Will Lambe has studied small-town innovation at the University of North Carolina. He says the time it takes can vary widely.

Will Lambe: To me, it depends on what the asset that the community is trying to leverage for economic development is, and how easy is it to turn that asset into some real value.

Lambe says it took several decades for Branson, Mo. to turn itself into a country music mecca. But it took just a couple years for the town of Scotland Neck, in North Carolina, to re-imagine itself as an outdoor recreation destination.

I think the lesson is that the re-imagining of Youngstown can't begin fast enough.