Beauty and the Beast

From the "Where's Tyler?" department, I'm spending my time getting ready for the weekend opening of Beauty and the Beast. Come on downtown to Powers/DeYor to see the latest production from Easy Street. Your humble blogger will be playing keyboards in the larger-than-little Big Band.

You know, for kids!

There was once an author who donated some of her books to a Youngstown city school class of youngsters. She came to class to read to the children and sign their books. One young girl, however, asked could she please not sign her book. Unsure if she should feel hurt, she asked the girl why? "Because it's my only book," she replied. When someone I know heard that story, they felt compelled to buy books for the whole kindergarten class at Harding. You can help, too.

Give children FREE books! Shop at Barnes & Noble 381 Boardman Poland Rd on Saturday, Sept. 22 throughout the day and help local children read and own their first new book! All sales are eligible including café. Call 330.448.6973 or email amyneral@yahoo.com for more information. Just tell the cashier you support First Book– Mahoning Valley. A portion of your purchase will benefit First Book.

Special in-store activities include:
Noon: Meet Clifford!
1:00 Arthur Tricks the Tooth Fairy story time
2:00 Dental Hygiene craft
3:00 story and craft
7:00 BJ O'Malley Singer/guitarist performance

Some Environmental Impacts of Black Monday

In the 1920s, Youngstown Sheet & Tube sponsored a series of cartoons intended to deflect responsibility for air pollution from the mills. The above cartoon depicts the "domestic smoke nuisance" emanating from the business and residential districts. Mrs. Youngstown promises to "get together to clean up". It would be funny if it weren't so insidious. (Of course, there are no energy-related companies today straight-faced pretending they bear no responsibility for obvious environmental issues, right?)

Since the closing of the bulk of the mills, air quality has improved considerably. Where once ash fell from the skies to cover homes with a thick soot, today the valley breathes easier. According to a 1997 document from the Ohio EPA, Mahoning County was meeting primary standards for "suspended particulates, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and lead" while "Violations of the standards for ozone still occur. The main sources [...] are likely from automobile emmissions and from industry, primarily in the Youngstown area." However, in June of this year the Youngstown area was redesignated by the Ohio EPA as having attained the standards of the 8-hour ozone National Ambient
Air Quality Standard.



The Mahoning River, however, is another matter. Used for more than a century as a private sewer by various mining and manufacturing operations, a contact ban is in effect from at least Warren down to the state line, due to the level of harmful contaminants in the water. Just as the soot-dusted houses were perceived as a sign of prosperity, the river's pollution was dismissed "because it carries away the waste from industry, thereby providing jobs for the community and serving the best interest of the public." This statement was made by a leading local politician in protest to federal attempts to clean up the river in the mid-60s (see "Attitudes Toward the Mahoning River During the Steel Mill Era" by Dr. Lauren Schroeder in previous link). Permit me to reprint a few more items from The Mahoning River Watershed site:

1. In an early study of the river (1964), the water temperature was tested and for more than 90 days it was at/above 95 degrees.
2. If all the contaminated sediment in the Mahoning River was put into boxcars, it would form a train 38 miles long.
3. Until the mid-1960’s, there were virtually no requirements to stop pollution and, therefore, none on the Mahoning River. There were no sewage treatment plants for the major towns along the river until 1965, so raw sewage from over 600,000 Mahoning Valley residents flowed freely into the river, along with 7,000 gallons of industrial oil, etc . . .

So, what next? All navigable waterways are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Even though much of the industrial section of the Mahoning River barely fits that category, they control the cleanup project and its schedule. The first part of the process will be to identify all of the owners and/or operators of land adjacent to the river for a 31-mile stretch, determine what pollutants have been used and to what extent these individuals or entities might be liable for the pollution. For maybe five years there might be no action on the river cleanup itself.



This is actually an advantage. Those with whom I have spoken who care deeply about the river are interested in exploring innovative remediation techniques, and they're doubtful that the Corps of Engineers shares this particular enthusiasm in equal measure. We have an opportunity with the new STEM college to practice Youngstown's famous innovation, this time on solving environmental problems. Bioremediation and phytoremediation will be used to remove contaminants from the soil in the river and in neighboring brownfields. The engineers we train as a part of this research could go on to practice these techniques for the benefit of people and ecosystems bordering the Danube, Nile and Amazon, according to Sarah Lown, president of Mahoning River Consortium and director of economic development for the Eastgate Council of Regional Governments. (Special thanks to Sarah for her generous time sharing her thoughts on the river with me and to Holly Burnett-Hanley, who developed the Mahoning River Education Project, for her insights, helpful resources and devotion to the river and the community! Thanks, too, to Jack Slanina for his pointers on air quality.)

In the meantime, we will focus on the many brownfields and determining appropriate uses for them. This Friday, the Consortium will identify ten target sites actionable within a five-year period. In those five years, trees will be planted that can assist in the soil remediation, sites will be scouted for canoe launches and picnic areas and remediation done on sites with potential for economic development, either for industrial or commercial use: Friday, September 21, 2007 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Agenda - "Redevelopment Strategy for the Mahoning River Corridor" at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, 100 E. Federal Street, Suite 1000, Youngstown.

Education is the answer

I found this statistic in this Tribune-Chronicle article on Black Monday: "Youngstown has just 9.7 percent of its residents with a bachelor’s degree and 2.8 percent with a graduate or professional degree."

Shocking. If we're looking for jobs, education is the answer. Those who are educated are qualified and capable of earning better wages or, better, starting their own businesses.

Sherry Linkon backs up the recent New Rules post by talking about the fallacy of waiting for a "savior" company: "'It’s not that we don’t want a big company, but we have to network around smaller industries and businesses so the community isn’t overly dependent on one thing,' she said."

I have to admit, though, that I don't understand Regional Chamber Executive Vice President and Acting President of the Community Improvement Corporation Reid Dulberger's remarks throughout the piece. Maybe I'm naive, but he just sounds so damn defeatist about attracting new businesses to the region, referring to them at various times as "icing on the cake", "the third leg of the stool" and simply "expensive". The article closes with this quote:

"You can put into effect any program you want, but if you try to attract companies that want to be in other parts of the country, it's irrelevant," he said. "It's also very expensive because you're trying to convince folks who don't know your part of the country. National marketing campaigns typically cost seven figures, and it takes a long time because you're trying to change perceptions."

This is what the article about economic development closes with, mind you. Instead of something like "We need to dedicate some amount of resources to attracting new businesses and put in place the long-term planning and regional pride-of-place investments and advertisements necessary to create a welcoming and well-known environment for established companies looking for a home," Dulberger's response is, "Well, if they don't mind coming to an out-of-the-way part of the country, it would be a nice bonus. We're certainly not going to try to convince them to come here, that would be pointless." (Please note that I don't know Mr. Dulberger personally and am taking umbrage here with his words as printed in the Tribune-Chronicle, not necessarily his job performance.)

I recently had the pleasure of meeting Joe Meranto, who is the director of Career-Technical and Adult Education at Choffin Career Center. I was impressed to hear about the programs they offer, particularly to high schoolers looking to come into the professional workforce with accreditations they can turn into very respectable salaries. This is something that schools in Germany do well: focus the high school years on preparing students for real careers, not generalities. Students in the U.S. get to college and still have plenty of time to be undecided. By the time you've entered your final few years in Germany, you're getting hands-on training in a specialty. And in many cases there are internships or apprenticeships available. We could use more of that.

Young in Youngstown

Mollie McGovern is producing and hosting a new show on WFMJ TV Tuesday night at 7:30pm. Mollie says, "It's about topics of interest to young professionals and also features yp's here in the valley."

By the way, I'll be in Virginia for work this week, so I'm not sure what my schedule will be like for blogging. However, you can definitely count on a post Wednesday. As you may have noticed in today's Vindicator, editor Todd Franko asked the bloggers to do some articles about Youngstown since Black Monday. Here's the rundown:

Blog: Mahoning Valley View
Author: Heather McMahon
Age: 31
Occupation: Community Development
Life in a nutshell: Born in Warren. Educated in Philadelphia, London and Chapel Hill. Worked in Chicago. Returned to the Valley. Influenced by Jane Jacobs, Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmstead. Reads Jane Austen. Listens to Harry Connick Jr. Watches James Bond.

Web site: mahoningvalleyview.blogspot.com

HEAD
Reinvent the wheel, or encourage efficiency?

TEXT
Throughout the Mahoning Valley, smokestacks still stand as a testament to the production of steel: the industry that shaped this community for generations. Today, 30 years after Youngstown Sheet & Tube announced the closure of its Campbell Works, a new generation of leaders stands poised — with steel in their hearts, but not in their hands — to confront the challenges presented by an economy that has embraced diversification, lean manufacturing and the second-curve economy.

***
Blog: I Will Shout Youngstown
Author: John (Janko) Slanina
Occupation: Analyst
Life in a nutshell: Youngstown born, Youngstown bread. Fan of walking through cities, mathematics, gypsy punk music, the residents of Lansingville, baseball, French cooking and opinionated people.

Web site: shoutyoungstown.blogspot.com

HEAD
Youngstown's opportunity to become interconnected community

TEXT
Even if the steel industry had not collapsed as it did 30 years ago, would be much different? Some researchers believe the structure of social networks within the Mahoning Valley is what really impedes its economic development. Perhaps one solution is the engagement of the citizenry that are too young to remember a Youngstown with steel mills – now numbered at 42 percent of the Valley's population.

***
Blog: Youngstown Pride
Author: Joe Lowry
Age: 25
Occupation: Emergency manager
Life in a nutshell: Raised on the northside of Youngstown before setting out for Washington, D.C. and finding his way into federal emergency management. Uses blog to do his part to revitalize Youngstown from 300 miles away.

Web site: youngstownpride.blogspot.com

HEAD
New generation brings own brand of leadership

TEXT
Thirty years ago, Valley leaders were unable to look past the corruption and decay left in the wake of the steel mill closures. Today, a new generation of city leaders is looking forward instead of back, seeing a future different than imagined on Black Monday. These are their profiles in leadership and their vision for Youngstown.

***
Blog: Youngstown Renaissance
Author: Tyler Clark
Age: 32
Occupation: Software consultant
Life in a nutshell: First experienced Youngstown as University Scholar at YSU's Dana School; returned to Youngstown this year and created the Center for Altruism to promote community activism. Regularly humbled by marriage and fatherhood. Heroes include Leonard Bernstein, Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin.

Web site: ytownrenaissance.blogspot.com

HEAD
Industrial legacy: Environmental hazards, but opportunities

TEXT
From brownfields to the Mahoning River to abandoned lots, the decreased presence of heavy industry, while improving the air quality, has exposed an enormous environmental impact. Finding solutions to these challenges is an opportunity for Youngstown to showcase its famous innovation in new ways.

***
Blog: Defend Youngstown
Author: Phil Kidd
Age: 28
Occupation: Mahoning County court administration
Life in a nutshell: Raised in a steel town west of Pittsburgh; attended YSU as an undergraduate; and served as an tank officer in the U.S. Army. Drawn back to Youngstown by the 2010 plan. Live on the North Side. Finishing master's degree in criminal justice at YSU. Member of Leadership Mahoning Valley. Recently selected as a member of this year's "40 under 40" class.

Web site: defendyoungstown.blogspot.com

HEAD
Activism defines Youngstown's post-steel mill generation

TEXT
Youngstown now has younger leadership and activism that is beginning to promote more forward thinking in the Valley. This new thrust of ideas and energy may begin to redefine the region's traditional political identity. But changes in government structure may be needed to accommodate this new proactive and progressive minded form of leadership.

***
Blog: Stark Raving Youngstown
Author: Jessica Trickett
Age: 29
Occupation: Curator/Collections Manager
Life in a nutshell: Born and reared in Youngstown, studied history at YSU. Fascinated by the wealth and diversity of local history. Passionate about the preservation of buildings, documents and artifacts that tell the stories of the past better than I ever could.

Web site: starkravingyoungstown.subpopular.com

HEAD
From Black Monday to Bright Future

TEXT
The collapse of the local steel industry could have meant Youngstown's demise. Yet today, Youngstown is considered a model for shrinking cities with its innovative plan to do more with less. Once defined by the steel it produced, Youngstown is being redefined by its citizens and their ideas, and we now hold the city's future in our hands.

***
Blog: The Stage
Author: Brooke Slanina
Occupation: Educator
Life in a nutshell: Raised on the mean streets of Campbell but shaped by the city of Youngstown. Prominent Pro-Yo-socialite, community theater schmoozer, art scene renegade, writer gone awry, long time nonprofiteer. Loves strong coffee, good music, Richard Serra and motzah ball soup.

Web site: theoaklandstage.blogspot.com

HEAD
Arts Rises from Rust

TEXT
The arts scene in Youngstown has long been a source of satisfaction, inspiration and motivation. The steel boom offered certain community members enough money to purchase art, start museums and fund theaters — in essence, they founded a uniquely rich arts community that still exist today, despite years of generational erosion. Does living in Youngstown mean living with the grit and loss? Or is it an opportunity for us to find beauty in unexpected places?

West Federal Meeting Monday

Please note there will be a building and grounds committee meeting Monday, September 17th, at 5:30pm. "West Federal Street Plan Update" is on the agenda. Again, this is in City Council chambers, and please be there to show we are still very interested in what happens here. Yet again, I will be in Virginia and unable to attend :-(

I'm not sure if a plan will be unveiled or just a status update on it.

What are you doing this weekend?

Lots of exciting stuff this weekend. Here's a rundown of where I plan to be:
Saturday morning at 9am in Wick Park Pavilion
An arborist from Mill Creek Park will talk about tree planting and Treez Please will be planting a tree. Get some tips on planting, take them home and plant your own. More trees = good.

Saturday 9:00 – 12:30 at the Farmer's Market across from Wick Park in front of the historic Unitarian church Brady’s Leap will perform 11:30 – 12:30. Honestly, last weekend was our first time at the market, but we'll be regular attendees when it returns next year. This Saturday is your last chance for 2007.

Saturday after Treez Please at 11am in the Carlotta Community Circle (far west terminus of the street, which is located between Belmont and Guadalupe, Granada and Madera, three blocks northwest of Crandall Park). We will be planting "a Peace Pole, a riverbirch tree, hostas, pampas grass and so forth."

Sunday between 8 and 5 at the Four Seasons Flee Market at 3000 McCartney Rd. I've never been, but it sounds cool, and it's about time I went.

Sunday afternoon from 1 to 5 at the Arms Family Museum (648 Wick Ave). The Mahoning Valley Historical Society is hosting a Founders Day Open House. Fun for the whole family, so I'm planning on bringing my whole family.

Musical of Musicals, the Musical at the Oakland. I can't make it this weekend, actually, but I wanted to remind you it's there for your viewing pleasure. I hear it's quite funny. And at the Farmer's Market last weekend, people were quoting lines, so that usually means it's good.

Nine Eleven

Elsewhere in the blogosphere today, people are calling for justice. I'm not sure there will ever be any kind of retaliatory event that adequately reconciles us with the horrors of that frightful, blue-sky day six years ago. Bin Laden's death, when it eventually comes, will serve as but inspiration for further death. Martyrs beget martyrdom. Justice in such a context is hollow.

We simply live in a different world now. Michael Gecan, in Going Public, a fascinating book on organizing, writes that:

Cultures move like great plates, often unheard and unseen, below the surface, shaping and transforming the terrain we operate on. When these plates collide, when cultures occasionally clash, the impact can be violent and profound.

Our world has permanently shifted, and its terrain will never be the same. We can stop waiting for it to return to some stable place; earthquakes beget aftershocks, and we must accept that. As Green Day sing on "American Idiot": "everything isn't meant to be okay".

As I puzzle through the array of lingering and conflicting emotions, I consider the war outside. Regardless of its litany of justifications, it would not have begun save for the terrorists' attacks. So many victims dead meant lives to be avenged, at least to those with the power to determine the course of our nation and, therefore, the world. Others said: if ever there were an opportunity for peace, this is it.

If peace should become but a distant memory, there is another lesson for us to hold. In those days, weeks, and months following that awful day. We found a unity that exists among us, to share our dreams and grasp hands as we jump together towards them. We can find that common ground again if we seek it. We can work together to build up our communities and create a future for ourselves and our children.

Let us reject fear. It keeps us rooted firmly in the painful past. We will live our lives, embracing what we have in each other. Together, our existence has meaning and purpose. Step out the door tomorrow and leave today behind. Feel the ground firmly beneath your feet, and recognize that, though it has shifted, it is the same ground. Claim it as yours, plant seeds, and grow new roots. If the roots are not rigid with fear, they can flex and weather seismic action that comes your way. Peace despite peril.

New Rules

There's a new sheriff in town: you. And me. And my neighbors and yours. We own this place, and it's time for us to talk about what we want here. What are our goals? What ground rules are necessary for us to achieve those goals? I'm going to name a couple of rules that will help overcome impediments to our success, then I'll tell you more about what they'll facilitate.

You are not entitled to anything. No one owes you or me anything. We will make our own future. Want it? Then make it happen. No one is going to give you a job for life, unless you've earned it every day. The old economy is no more. What happens in the new economy is based on innovation and energy. It's about how we connect to and engage with each other and resources. It's about collaboration. It's about quality. We have to create it.

There will be no white knight. There will be no big industry to swoop in and save the region's economy. We've waited for over twenty years now, and it hasn't happened. Let's face it: that's because it's not going to happen. Our new economy will be built small business by small business. They may grow large, but no ready-made corporation is coming to employ our unemployed army. So, it is up to us to create the conditions that will allow these new businesses to take root and flourish: brainpower, innovation, branding and quality places. Purposeful dialogue is at the center of the development of these pillars.

In the coming weeks, we're going to engage our community in civic forums and create shared goals. You're all invited. They're all invited. Anyone who wants to participate can come along. And why not? The destination is a place we've all imagined: a vital valley. And we'll take any help we can get, we'll need it.

Then, we're going to talk about how we can accomplish our goals. Read that again. We're going to talk about how WE can accomplish our goals. We're not going to leave it up to our elected officials. We're not going to leave it to faith-based organizations. We're not going to wait for the state or federal governments to take up our cause. We're not going to get distracted about every shiny object near our path that we lose sight of the baby steps necessary to get to our goal. In the words of Greater Ohio's Jim Converse: We are the people we've been waiting for.