Detroit Versus Youngstown

Over the last week or so, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the urban frontier comparisons between Detroit and Youngstown. Detroit is the media darling of right now. But I think Youngstown is in much better position to take advantage of the ample political space a dramatic economic collapse creates. One reason is the respective size of each city. Sometimes, smaller is better:

Why did Pittsburgh win the iPhone App "space race" when Boston announced their app over a month ago? Is it because we have a younger mayor? No. It's because we're small. Less bureaucracy means more flexibility.

That's a good way to describe what I term "ample political space". Pittsburgh's power base remained largely intact during its dark years (e.g. Allegheny Conference on Community Development). There isn't a wild west opportunity in the region. But its smaller size, relative to Boston, might make it more nimble.

But if you really want to see "less bureaucracy" at work, then head to Youngstown. Given the compact development, almost everyone is rowing in the same direction. On the other hand, Detroit is unwieldy and chaotic. The city is big. Really big. Good ideas aren't likely to run into each other as they would (and have) in place such as Pittsburgh.

In Detroit, there is anarchy. In Youngstown, there is very little bureaucracy. That's the big difference between those two urban frontiers.

Youngstown CDA Communicator

Greater Youngstown 2.0 is happy to help the Steel Valley concerned publicize events and generally get the word out. The Youngstown Community Development Agency (CDA) has jumped into the world of social media with a blog of its own:

This blog is your place to read about achievements within the CDA and city. There's also going to be some topics that can lend themselves to a bit more regularlity. Expect monthly updates on board of zoning appeals, planning commission agendas, and design and review meetings.

It's also a good place to check out what plans the department has for future community development. Posting statistics about demolitions completed and properties land banked is obviously necessary, but these numbers aren't really noteworthy unless they are pieces of the greater whole, laid against the backdrop of a plan. So expect to find here not only a list of what the CDA has done, but also some thoughts on the department's long term goals and aspirations.

I'm a commissioner for planning and zoning in Longmont, Colorado. At our last meeting, we talked about community outreach and the need to provoke more input from residents. A blog is a great way to do that. I hope the people of Youngstown will avail themselves of this resource.

Blog Release: Grey to Green Festival

The second annual Grey to Green Festival will be held on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, in Wick Park on Youngstown’s North Side from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The entire festival is free and open to the public and will feature displays and information booths by green non-profits in the area, as well as vendors, healthy food, live entertainment, and earth-friendly activities for children.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal last year, Youngstown’s 2010 Plan has a large “grey to green” component, which provides for protection of the current green space in the city, such as public parks, and also encourages the positive use of green space that is created by the shrinkage of the city, for example, vacant lots created by demolition.

Grey to Green is designed to increase awareness of environmental issues in general, the grey-to-green component of the 2010 plan, and the revitalization plan for Wick Park. Located in the heart of the city near Youngstown State University, Wick Park is a lovely Victorian-era green space populated primarily by large oaks and ringed with a fitness trail, wide sidewalks, handsome old mansions, and broad avenues. The plan for the park focuses on drawing more activity into the interior, creating diverse habitat for plants and animals, and encouraging biophilia and a closer tie to nature in the city.

There will be numerous vendors and educational exhibitions at the festival as well as a Drop in Shop where you can bring your unwanted household goods, drop them off and take something else home. Most usable/working/non hazardous household items are accepted, however please do not bring chemicals, computers and electronics, gas cans, hospital, water, or sofa beds, hot water tanks, paint, piano’s or organs, scrap metal, solvents, tires, or trash.

Children’s activities will include a visit with Dora the Explorer as well as numerous arts and crafts activities. Rob Joki, and the Magic Carpet Children’s Theater will also be premiering a new play with an environmental message.

Adult entertainment will include various bands, acoustic performers and dancers. Brady’s Leap will be kicking off the festival at 10:00 AM at the Wick Park Pavillion. For the more serious minded we are very happy to announce that our speaker is Will Allen from Growing Power.

Wonderful organic food will be available from a variety of local chefs, and from vendors at the Northside Farmers Market which is collaborating with the Grey to Green Festival to festival to bring delicious organic food to festival attendees. Food will be available across the street from Wick Park at the Unitarian Church on Elm Street.

Information about vending or display opportunities is available by emailing organizer Debra Weaver at grey2green1@gmail.com or by calling (330) 744-1748. The Grey to Green Festival may also be found on Facebook.

Don't Blame NAFTA

Blame Girard Mayor James Melfi. Blame the parochialism retarding economic development throughout the entire Rust Belt. If the Mahoning Valley continues to struggle, then the residents and leadership are at fault. If the region is to move forward, more cooperation between political entities is needed:

GSP is being paid $100,000 for the project, which is expected to be completed in early 2010, confirmed Chris Thompson, spokesman for Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of foundations and individuals in the Cleveland region. Other supporters include the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber and Greater Cleveland Partnership, and the Allegheny Conference on Economic Development.

All are members of the Tech Belt Initiative, co-chaired by the Allegheny Conference, based Downtown, and the Raymond John Wean Foundation, based in Warren, Ohio. The initiative was formed last fall to reinvigorate the Cleveland to Pittsburgh region by building on collaborative efforts.

“We were hired to work with a number of technology organizations to identify a number of key areas the regions can come together around,” said Rich Overmoyer, GSP principal and director of its economic architecture practice.

The project GSP Consulting is working on is one to watch. But the Mahoning Valley seems unlikely to benefit, despite Congressman Tim Ryan's best efforts, as long as communities such as Girard continue to act out of fear. I am amazed how the status quo trumps a jump into an uncertain future at every turn.

A lot of lip-service is paid to various regional initiatives. Nothing seems to come of any of them. The Regional Visioning Project appears to be stillborn, flushing millions of dollars down the drain in the process. What can we do differently this time around?

Bringing Home The Brains

I'm back from my trip to Youngstown, where I discussed our efforts to fill the talent pipeline to the region. I think the city has a good chance to be one of the Cleveburgh corridor innovation hubs. Not only is the downtown compact and in close proximity to a state university, but it is also surprisingly vibrant. All the action is along one street, stretching a few blocks. That's about the sum of activity for the entire area, but compare it to nearby Warren.

Warren's downtown is attractive. But the CBD is lifeless on weekends and after 5pm during weekdays. Much of the action is strung out along the strip development leading into the city. In that regard, Warren is quite similar in urban pattern to most of America. As for Youngstown, it is rebuilding from the core outward. The strip development has been left for dead.

The challenge is packing the center with more brains, who would benefit from all the serendipity I encountered while visiting. The place is already loaded with the kind of quirky activity that Eve Picker celebrates in a recent blog post:

Hot in New York City, some enterprising developers came up with this “lo-fi” version of the country club on a rented lot. The ultimate low cost swimming pool, dumpster dipping is accessible to everyone with a plastic bag. This is the mark of a great and creative city. Ideas that would be laughed at in small towns are revered here in New York.

Youngstown is an incredibly creative city. James Pernotto (who has an amazing studio downtown) and the crazy scene at the Oakland Center for the Arts are just two examples of the energy present along Federal Street. I went to a show at the Oakland (technically one block over from Federal) late Saturday night and had a blast. The downtown has a long way to go, but there is a very promising spark lit there.

To take full advantage, Youngstown needs a novel approach to talent attraction. That's where I come in. Communities spend a lot of money and other resources on brain retention. Israel is committing 1.6 billion in national currency to bring talent back home. But even that somewhat novel approach is too caught up in the blood lines of the brains:

While Israel is trying to fight brain drain and encourage scientists to make aliyah, the Immigrant Absorption Ministry has recently decided to cut its budget for absorbing immigrant scientists.

As a result some 200 olim scientists were fired this weekend by the universities that employ them.

The Absorption Ministry runs a project under which some 500 immigrant scientists are employed in Israeli universities, with the ministry sponsoring a part of their salaries.

However, budget cuts for 2009-2010 have forced the ministry to also cut back on its support of the program.

Well, the government wasn't too strapped for cash when it comes to luring scientists back home. That's the wrong approach for a country trying to spur job creation and win the war for talent. The same goes for Youngstown. Some of the diaspora will return, but the future of the city rests on the backs fresh blood. Greater Youngstown must, and can, attract more newcomers. What will bring people here? Look no further than Detroit for the answer.

Urban Frontier Geography

Aaron Renn (The Urbanophile) wrote an exciting post about the urban frontier and its application in Detroit. Approximating greenfield economic development in Rust Belt cities is vital to their future. You might think of the Sun Belt as America's urban frontier during the 1980s. Migration to this part of the country was like a gold rush. But it isn't economic opportunity that defines an urban frontier. It is political opportunity, the obliteration of established power hierarchies and money circles:

Sarabeth Berman, a 2006 graduate of Barnard College with a major in urban studies, initially arrived in Beijing at the age of 23 to take a job that would have been difficult for a person her age to land in the United States: program director at BeijingDance/LDTX, the first modern dance company in China to be founded independently of the government.

Ms. Berman said she was hired for her familiarity with Western modern dance rather than a knowledge of China. “Despite my lack of language skills and the fact that I had no experience working in China, I was given the opportunity to manage the touring, international projects, and produce and program our annual Beijing Dance Festival.”

Ever toiled as an intern in the big city? In an urban frontier, you get to skip this step and move right into making your mark. You "bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States."

Of course, that is China. What about America? The best example is New Orleans. (hat tip Brewed Fresh Daily) The New York Times recently ran a great article about the urban frontier in the Big Easy:

Jon Guidroz, 27, is one of the entrepreneurs who was persuaded to move to the city. He grew up in New Orleans but was living in Massachusetts and working for Free Flow Power, a renewable energy company, after Katrina hit. “I wanted to return to help,” he said. But he said he did not see a strong business reason to move.

Then, last year, Sean Cummings, a real estate developer and entrepreneur in New Orleans, randomly found Free Flow’s Web site and noticed that the company had a Mississippi River project in the works. Mr. Cummings, 44, a co-founder of a group called Startup New Orleans, invited Mr. Guidroz to visit his offices in New Orleans at 220 Camp Street, a loft building called Entrepreneur’s Row. As an extra incentive, Mr. Cummings even offered to give him six months free rent.

“He helped me fulfill my dream of bringing this business to New Orleans,” said Mr. Guidroz, who moved back in January. “Until these guys rolled out the red carpet for me — immediate access to a substantial network in the city and state for getting things done, finding local investors — I don’t think we would have done it.”

On a smaller scale, the above is exactly what is going on right now in Youngstown. The Jim Traficant way of doing business is dead. Ideas, not deep connections and deep pockets, rule the day along with "immediate access to a substantial network in the city and state." I should know because I'm getting that treatment this Friday in Youngstown. Welcome to the urban frontier.

Expatriates Celebrate Youngstown

George Bundy is a successful Bay Area entrepreneur. He's also connected to the Mahoning Valley. Recently, Bundy got wind of the renaissance in Youngstown:

What.. is this a joke? Nope, seems that Y-Town is on a comeback.

But it's not 1979, 89, or even 99.. it's 2009. Steel died in this rust belt valley in 1977, this article should have been written in 1979, not 2009. But, disappointingly it took well over 30 years for area to realize that their one trick pony (steel) was not coming back. Nobody wished harder, the "Good Old Days" of steel would come back, then the Mahoning Valley. Unfortunately, during the same time, the world (and business) passed "The Valley" by... year, after year, after year. Lets hope they have ultimately learned from the past 30 years.

Gee, someone should have told me Youngstown Ohio was "Where to Be an Entrepreneur". I would not have left.. 20 years ago!

I'm sure Bundy would appreciate yesterday's post about the struggles in Augusta, Maine. Relative to many other shrinking cities, Youngstown is ahead of the curve. Even if it took more than 30-years to start the economic transformation process.

George, the time has come for you to return to your home. Help Youngstown mind the lessons of the past and grow into the future. The urban frontier is calling.