The roots of all decendants of Youngstown are Capitalist. You may very well say the DNA composition is free enterprise. Ancestry.com will substantiate the forefathers buried throughout Youngstown came to this land for commerce. When the future generations of capitalist lost their ability to compete, migration sucked out many who trace their lineage to the Mahoning Valley. Beginning in the late 70's a new wave of settlers decended on Youngstown. Ohio's welfare package drove this migration. The Government was the new source of subsistence; with the low cost of living and the housing stock left behind by the capitalist was ripe for this new settlement. Youngstown today is the result of this new population.
In 2008, the Youngstown urban center climaxed with the election of a new president who rose from the ranks of these new type of urban settlers. This is the time that this new society rose to power, propelled by community organizers. The MVOC , YNDC, MYCAP and various nonprofits, preached that hope and change is upon us and will bring back prosperity throughout the land albeit subsidized. We now see their hope and change with wanton debt, no jobs and the US credit rating downgraded. With more of this society on food cards never seen in our lifetime. The young generation of this society occupied Youngstown with this ideology and planted their flag.
Alas! hope and change is here and it is the real hope and change for Youngstown. Two years ago they came quietly, a young generation armed with their laptops and invading the recorders office of our courthouse. They filled Vernon's, Cafe Cimmento, and all the other upstarts in Youngstown with proceeds of their $80,000 salaries. The Ohio One building leased out an entire floor for these young capitalist as they worked as commercial people do. The community organizing occupiers, were totally clueless to understand these young people of their same generation. Many of the occupiers and organizers are now taking another look at the vocations of their ancestors. This new free enterprise generation are just the first wave of the march. They have been backed by an army of global capitalist from around the world. The entire Utica Shale of eastern Ohio is now gobbled up by global billion dollar energy concerns such as, Shell, Exxon, Total (France), CNOOC(China), BP(British), Hilcorp, Hess, and many more.
This new migration is just beginning and will culminate with the displacement of the entitlted organizing class. As we speak, capitalist are investing in every inch of ground in Youngstown. Soon they will start repossessing the old capitalist housing stock. The occupying generation will soon be outpriced out of their subsidized homes. Downtown Youngstown real estate is picking up and is being consumed by entrepreneurs, soon to even displace students with liberal bent. You see this free enterprise taxpaying mindset will not tolerate the entilted, this is a new breed of energy concious young people. They only understand production, anything else is suspect.
The future of Youngstown is now very bright and it is not the future envisioned by the organizers. It is the old vision of ancestral Youngstowners, a vision of production and commerce. The liberation of Youngstown is upon us.
Dare we envision a time when office space in the buildings is full, not of apartments but businesses employing people ... of stores of all kinds taking a fresh new look at downtown Youngstown ... even a department store ... of a bustling downtown both by day and by night?
The lost decades were the 80's,90's and 2000-2010.
Shrimp, what many loose sight of is the fact that many of the great men of Youngstown came from humble stock. Their wealth was not handed to them on a silver platter, they worked for every dime of it at a time when big government wasn't handing out large bags of money at the drop of a hat to every Tom, Dick or Harry.
Indeed, Youngstown has great stock still today. although most have moved to the suburbs or out of state. Living in Youngstown for the past seventeen years, I could never understand why the locals had an anti-capitalist bent. An when challenged, demonized any who questioned the false economy. Now I completely understand the devide between the urban centers of the country and the rural and suburban communities. Unfortunately, Youngstown became ground zero for the entitled class. Fortunately, the taxpayers, the silent majority has had enough and are marching into the urban centers. Wisconsin, San Diego, San Jose, New Jersey and soon the DC.
I really now no longer blame the people, us makers blame the entitled leadership, and we understand now where the problem is.
This is exactly why I bash the so-called arts. Quality of life indeed ... what good is an amateur theater group in a community that has high unemployment and can't afford to support a bunch of lay abouts that keep looking for handouts from government agencies. Of what monetary value are a gaggle of dabblers in paints in a community that has to depend on food pantries. Come to think of it, how many of these folks depend on the food pantries themselves.
Folks who "dab" in the "arts" have never left Youngstown....they are the ones who stayed and worked on making the downtown and area vibrant again....
The so-called "new capitalists" only came to town when they learned they could make a quick dirty buck poisoning our land and water through fracking....once the land and water is polluted and used up...they will leave as quickly as they arrived....wham,bam, thank you, mam....
Once the "new capitalists" leave town, cities will still need the arts....
http://www.artsbusinessinstitute.org/blog/why-cities-need-artists/ (http://www.artsbusinessinstitute.org/blog/why-cities-need-artists/)
towntalk i would like to meet in person. so, i can rip you and other people like you a new one, who has that same attitude you have against local artists. i am one of those dabbers who is always looking for a handout, mooching off of fam and frds while at the sametime smoke and shoot up 24/6. NOT. i take the seventh day off to attend ch with fam and frds at various locations. please attend one of the many art shows ytown offers to meet the art community then you will have another postive opinion not an acid tongue against me or my fellow artists.
Downtown Youngstown "vibrant"? 224 is vibrant ... Belmont Avenue is vibrant in Liberty, but downtown Youngstown is hardly vibrant, and won't be vibrant until we see more businesses offering more goods for sale aside from tee shirts and brick-a-brak. A hand full of eateries do not a vibrant downtown make. Its a small start to be sure,but not the end all and be all.
I never even suggested that the local artists are dopers ... I do though point out that as early as the mid 1990's the local arts community came up with all sorts of plans for downtown Youngstown, none of which ever was seen through to completion. These groups have come and gone with nothing to show for it.
I do support the arts ... Butler Institute Of American Art ... The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra ... the Youngstown Playhouse ... Easy Street Productions ... the local Opera Company ... Ballet Western Reserve. It's also interesting to note that the Butler does not go for federal funds, yet it is a world class gallery with some 20,000 American masterpieces in it's permanent collection.
Then there is the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, itself a treasury of local history.
PS:
iwasthere, personally, you are a very fine person I enjoy talking to via mahoningvalley.into, and perhaps if I saw some of your works I'd include them in my collection.
Our vision though for Youngstown is worlds apart though. I want to see Youngstown and particularly downtown Youngstown become a vibrant hub again where folks can come to shop, be entertained and yes even educated. Sort of like it was prior to 1960.
thank you towntalk. my two lastest big pieces are hanging in the scupltured lab at ysu. they are an interpetation of several passages from Dante Inferno, they were too big and sharp edges for me to hang on my walls. i do dap in photography for instant gratification. towntalk do you remember when the ungaro adminstration run the artist community out of downtown for the Mckay family to tear down the bldgs where the artists took over the bldgs then turned them into beautiful living quarters according to their tastes? they had a vibrant alive community but ungaro should burn in HELL for destorying the lives of a productive people. towntalk i apolize if i offended you in my lastest rant. mea clupa
Actually I have 6 limited edition pieces of photographic art that was done by Dagmar that I purchased at the Butler and two signed pieces by Lloyd Jones, so you see I'm not "anti-art" as a whole.
usa congress should take a page out of this blog, they would learn a thing or two from this blog its members when we talk things out then going home with our ball, bat and gloves. i could see where you bought original works from dagmar. did she study under dali? her works reflects his style. these art works, do you enjoy them by having them hang in your home?
Are you familiar with Ohio Color that use to be in business here? She learned photography from her father and later took over the business. She retired in 2009. 3 of the prints are desert scenes, 2 are floral, one is of a horse in a meadow and one is a streetscape. The one by Lloyd Jones is of Crandall Park.
Wow! mental telepathy, while we were blogging, Bloomberg trumps Youngstown and its prosperity in energy. Jobs, jobs, jobs of course with a piss test.
Oh by the way, all of the art is hanging in my livingroom. The largest is over the fireplace which I don't use. They are all in museum frames.