Two Must Reads

[northside lurker]

I just have a quick thought on the outsourcing of tech jobs.  It's not working that well.  Companies get greedy, outsource to some other country, and then find out that the "product" they receive isn't good enough.  I think I heard once that Dell doesn't outsource technical assistance jobs for their corporate customers.  Dell stands to lose a lot more money when their corporate customers aren't happy with the foreign customer service person.  I had heard the same thing for outsourcing CAD related jobs.  Large, corporate architectural firms tried to outsource their drafting to foreign countries, but got a substandard product.  This isn't necessarily because the person on the other side of the world is incompetent, but the level of communication needed to make a quality product isn't practical over such a large distance.

[AllanY2525]

A good point, and well made.  I lost my job of 18 years because it was a highly technical (ie: GOOD paying) job
and the company sent it to India - to save a buck (or many, many bucks as it were).  1,000 of my coworkers
were laid off along with me in October of 2004 due to out-sourcing of our jobs to India.

New businesses that stand a good chance of being in the Mahoning Valley will be those that take full
advantage both the "built environment" that already exists in this area, as well as all of the natural
resources that are unique to the Mahoning Valley and N.E. Ohio.

One of the main reasons that the iron and steel industry flourished for decades on end in the Mahoning
Valley is that all of the natural resources needed for steel making are already right here in the valley.
These included the iron ore, the coal fields, the canals (later replaced by railroads), limestone quarries,
and last, but DEFINITELY NO least - the Mahoning River itself, which was used to cool the mills, the
freshly made steel, etc.

I think my idea for a Bio-Diesel and Ethanol manufacturing plant would succeed in the Mahoning Valley
for the very same reasons:

1) An abundance of inexpensive, vacant land already zoned "industrial" (ie: former steel mill lands)
2) Water from the Mahoning River to be used in this kind of manufacturing plant.
3) LOTS and LOTS of idle farm land, very close to the city, which could be used to grow the crops
necessary for making Ethanol and Bio-Diesel
4) Working railroads that STILL come through the city on a regular basis - both for shipping in
raw materials, and shipping out the newly-manufactured fuel(s) in tanker cars.

If you want to take my day-dreaming ideas one step further- how about Hydro-Electric power
stations that could harness the resources of the Mahoning River to generate clean, environmentally
friendly electrical power - not only for Youngstown, but for all the communities along the
Mahoning River valley.

Thoughts, comments, anyone?

[our2cents]

Crime is everywhere, and for anyone to think differently is plain ignorant. 

Recent reported criminal activity in Canfield city and Austintown:
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/286853661146140.php

As for tech, it's a big problem these days everywhere.  It's hard to compete for market share, when there are much larger areas of the country that already have tech facilities in place that are empty due to the loss of tech in this country.  This is a national problem, not a local one.  But the Youngstown area is fighting against years of negative images being put out there.

Negative image holding back area, tech experts say:
http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/357879825271914.php

[Towntalk]

Today's Vindicator have two must read articles for everyone on this board:

1. Negative image holding back area, tech experts say
2. Recent reported criminal activity in Canfield city and Austintown

There's plenty of grist for the proverbial mill in these articles, especially the crime article.

We tend to focus on Youngstown ignoring the fact that the suburbs are having their own problems.

True, there are no cases of murder reported in this article, but there are cases of theft and drug abuse cases,

Lets hear some comments about the article.