Forbs Blasts Youngstown

[Shar]

Here is the article:

Youngstown, Ohio has tried to ignite an economic revival-- by building prisons.


When the Ohio State Department of Corrections decided to move death row to Youngstown's supermaximum security prison a year ago, then mayor George McKelvey was part of the welcoming committee. The city was already home to Ohio's most dangerous inmates, and there were already three more prisons, two jails and two halfway houses in the surrounding area. "Our community is grateful for its presence here," McKelvey said of the move to add a lethal component, "and the millions of dollars it contributes to our local economy."

If only. In fact, the metro region has been in decline since the shutdown of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube's steelworks in 1977, the first of 50,000 industrial layoffs over the next decade. Turning to prison building over the last ten years hasn't created the hoped-for economic salvation. Average annual real income and job growth over the last five years have been pitiful--negative 2.4% and negative 0.9%, respectively. Seeing little but bleak opportunity, folks have been leaving the area at a rate of 0.4% a year.

About the only bright stat you can point to: The Youngstown-Warren-Boardman area has a low crime rate--3,508 offenses per 100,000 people. Perhaps that's because most of the ruffians are already in jail. Placing 198 out of 200 major metro regions, Youngstown wins our booby prize this year.

Who thought that backing the big house would lead to bigger times? It was Patrick Ungaro, Mayor McKelvey's predecessor, who, between 1993 and 1995, offered state officials and private-prison owner Corrections Corporation of America (nyse: CXW - news - people ) free land and, in CCA's case, a seven-year 50% tax abatement and new water and sewer lines. In return Youngstown builders and suppliers got $127 million worth of contracts, the city received an annual $895,000 boost in tax revenue and upward of 900 people obtained jobs as guards, janitors, cooks and health care workers.

The strategy seemed to work for a while. The two prisons, along with the county jails, the halfway houses, Warren state prison (which opened in 1992) and nearby Elkton's federal prison (1997) created quite an industry. Between 1992 and 1997 Youngstown's gross metro product rose at an average 3.4% a year net of inflation.

The lift was not to last. Regional unemployment was a recent 6.7%, down from 7.2% a year ago, thanks to upswings at metal manufacturers Exal Corp. and V&M Tube and at Kmart and Toys "R" Us (nyse: TOY - news - people ), which have warehouses there. The problem is that Youngstown hasn't been able to attract much in the way of new ventures or growing corporations to the area. Not for want of trying. In 2003 the Chamber of Commerce attempted to lure Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ), to build its 787. The aerospace giant opted out, officially because a coastal city made better sense for receiving large shipments of parts. It appears, though, that the lack of a highly skilled labor force played a role. Only one in six adults in the region has a college degree. Besides, says John Russo, a Youngstown State University business professor, "If I were a businessman, I'd look around and ask, 'Do I really want be in an area that's basically a penal colony?'" Finding neighborhood boosters is nigh impossible. "It's a bleak, sick, sad and pathetic reality," says talk radio host Louie Free. "Prisons just fuel the cycle."

Youngstown's new mayor, Jay Williams, is hoping to break the cycle. The city has given $200,000 or so in grants to a downtown auditorium and will spend $100,000 this year to improve lighting and landscaping. Williams is also pledging up to $1 million in taxpayer money to build space for young high-tech companies that graduate from an existing, nonprofit incubator. Who knows? Maybe some genius there will invent a robotic chain gang foreman.

[Candy]

I tried posting a link to the article, but unfortunately you have to be a subscriber and all I got was a message. It's a one page article, and the Chamber of Commerce is really angry with the so-called reporter. She deliberately misled them, and didn't use any of the information that they provided her.

In her article she even poked fun at the Incubator.

[Rick Rowlands]

I don't know what to think about Russo.  His book Steeltown is full of inaccuracies and his opinions of the community are appauling.   Do we need people like this?

As for Forbes magazine, I wonder if the writer ever visited our town or cared to do a detailed analysis of what our area has to offer.     What exactly did she say about our community?

[candy]

Here we go again, another blast against our city.
Miriam Gottfried, writing in Forbs Magazine launched an attack, but to top it all off, John Russo of YSU referred to Youngstown as a "prison colony".