Is Northeast Ohio on the way to a grim 2040?

[Towntalk]

11/2006 article


http://www.governing.com/topics/economic-dev/Smart-Decline.html

[northside lurker]

Somewhat off-topic, but regarding Hunter Morrison, he was the planning director for Cleveland, when they started showing their first signs of revitalization back in the early/mid 90s.

I think Anthony Kobak could have done similarly great things for Youngstown, if the city was willing/able to work with him.

[Towntalk]

Isn't it just a wee bit strange that in reading the national media things are looking up for the valley with shale oil and gas in the forefront of our future, but to Hunter Morrison everything is doom and gloom for the whole of Northeast Ohio if we don't march to his drummer? Oh and it's not just shale gas and oil, but high tech companies locating here.

There was a time when the national media held up no hope for the valley, yet without the help of Morrison, we turned the corner, and we'll keep moving upward so long as we relegate the Morrison's to the ash heap of history.

[Towntalk]

And for all the cold hard cash that the city gave this dude, how many of his ideas were implemented?

People like Morrison make a living feeding off sick cities, and impress the gullable with their so called wisdom but the only thing that really counts are results ... brick and mortar results that can stand the sands of time, and what monumental endever can Morrison point to with pride.

City Hall's archives are littered with "plans" that were meant to return Youngstown to it's former glory ... paid for out of the tax payers pockets, and 95% of the proposals were never implemented, and what proposals were implemented were eventually torn down or up depending on how you look at it.

Here's the Vindicator article that ran last month ...sound familiar?

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/apr/28/you-can-be-a-part-of-regions-future/?newswatch

[Rick Rowlands]

Remember that he was the guy several years ago that wanted to remove all the trees and circular sidewalks from the YSU campus and replace it with a field of grass.

[Towntalk]

For my part, I'm no great lover of anything Cleveland, so I couldn't care less what happens to the mistake on the lake. As to the Plain Dealer ... this rag always looked down it's nose at Youngstown while ignoring the manure in its own back yard. Don't forget it was the mobsters from Cleveland that made life miserable for Youngstown.

As for this Morrison fellow, Cleveland deserve him, but let him keep his nose out of our business.

[Rick Rowlands]

Isn't it amazing that the same rejects keep finding new ways to milk taxpayers. 

The whole study is a POS anyways as it doesn't factor in the future expansion of the gas industry. 

[Youngstownshrimp]

Hunter Morrison?  Isn't he the reject that ran center for unban studies at YSU?  Wasn't he a part of Youngstown 2000, then Youngstown 2010?  While getting a fat salary,what has he done for Youngstown?  Now he has the $4 million grant and we here another plan from a self proclaimed leader that has not showed me anything but subsidizing his lifestyle.

[Rick Rowlands]

Quite simply, for the cities to become vibrant once again there will have to be a drastic change that encourages development in town.  First, the parasite class has to be removed; these are the ones who keep the crime rate high and are happy to live in squalid conditions.   Then the property tax delinquencies must be cleared away. The county says that property tax debts cannot be absolved, well that will have to change so that these properties can once again gain clear titles and lots can be combined into larger parcels suitable for new development.


Another big turnoff to investment in the city are the horrible roads.  Why can't the city pave the main roads anymore?  I keep seeing dead end streets being paved while busy roads including state routes keep getting worse.  Some of those lightly used roads need ripped up, not paved. 


The high city income tax is also a big turnoff.  the city should lease their mineral rights and then use the royalties to offset the income tax. 


As a landowner in Youngstown, these are the issues to be addressed to make me feel more comfortable about owning land and running a business in town. 1) make it easier for my customers to get to my door, 2) make it cheaper for me to operate in this city with a lower tax rate, 3) make me feel safer and remove the fear that i have every night that when I come back the net morning I won't find that some inner city crackhead has broken in and stolen a bunch of my stuff, and 4) make it easier for me or my neighbor to expand by obtaining vacant tax delinquent properties for little or no cost.

[Towntalk]

This is precisely what we have been preaching lo these many years to deft ears who have closed their eyes to the harsh real world of reality. While this editorial focuses on Cleveland it could also apply to Youngstown or Warren.

There are amongst our number those who think that the answer comes from the "we the people" crowd who have neither the expertise or finances to reverse the trend, but the sober reality is that they are the problem, not the cure. They have had over 30 years to prove that they are the answer, but here we are today, no better off than we were then, and the problems have grown more acute, not better.

There is though light at the end of the tunnel ... a light that the folks in Cleveland have yet to see, but so long as we keep looking to the same people that have held us back these many years, we will not reach the tunnels end, but fortunately there is a change coming over the valley for the better, and the folks that have been holding us back are losing their credibility.

There is hope for our future and we must grab it and grab it now before it's taken away from us.

[Billy Mumphrey]

An editorial from the Plain Dealer:

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/05/northeast_ohio_is_on_the_glide.html#incart_river