Ron Verb

[Towntalk]

That was a great analogy Maggy ... great indeed. I couldn't have put it any better without being kicked off this board.

[Maggy]

Boardman and Austintown are not against speaking of regionalization, nor are they against Co-operative Economic Development Agreements. Yes, there are other alternatives, this one with the key word being "Co-operative".

Comparison: A person may love beer, but if someone holds you down and proceeds to force it down your throat, it is most likely to come back on the individual doing the pouring.

Perhaps there should have been "joint" discussion before singular presentation.

[rusty river]

1. Anthony Catale I believe is a Republican. He is something like 21-22 years old and is a '05 Ursuline Grad. I do believe someone bringing up that he was a Republican. I do known he was a supporter of Bush in 2004.

I'm pretty sure he was supporting John Edwards, and supports Strickland and Sherrod Brown. He interned with Tim Ryan. He also didn't run for city council, which was what Jay asked. He successfully ran for a school board position.

[Towntalk]

Not to worry, it's highly unlikely that any manufacturing company would ever want to come to Youngstown given our mindset and reputation, and that includes "Green" companies.

By the way, America is already starting to feel the effects of the craze for biofuel as is the world. Food costs are skyrocketing. Other nations less fortunate are experiencing hunger because corn is being diverted to ethanol, and we're discovering that it's taking more energy to produce ethanol than expected ergo more pollution. And talk about more pollution, the craze for those new energy effecent light bulbs. Guess how we're suppose to get rid of them when they burn out. You guessed it treat them as hazardous waste.

Just yesterday Brazil, a pioneer in ethanol announced that it discovered a huge oil deposit off shore and would commence drilling operations, and our own congressman announced yesterday that he is leading a drive to start offshore drilling here in America again, and called for releasing more of our strategic oil reserve to help drive down the costs at the pump.

[ytowner]

1. Anthony Catale I believe is a Republican. He is something like 21-22 years old and is a '05 Ursuline Grad. I do believe someone bringing up that he was a Republican. I do known he was a supporter of Bush in 2004.

2. Lowering taxes is one way to attract business. The longer you allow the Democrats to stay in control here, the longer it will take for us to see new business.

3. Unions act elite here and believe they are king... They care about higher labor costs and more benefit. Perhaps they should get paid for the job they actually do.

NO ONE at GM Lordstown should be making $26-30 dollars an hour for bolting a tire to a car or putting an emblem on a Cobalt. They are overpaid; enough said.

Why would a business owner want to set up shop in Youngstown knowing of the risk that unions would push their labor costs to the extreme. If people here were getting paid at the price they should be, this area would be a lot more attractive to new business.

[jay]

Ytown

1. Were there any Republicans running for city council in the last election?  I can't remeber if any were in the race.

2. Are you suggesting that the city should lower the income tax?  Would lowering this tax help Youngstown?

3.  Most of the people I come in contact with are not in unions.  They don't make much money and very few have benefits.

[ytowner]

We can fix the economic situation by doing these small things.
1. Stop voting for the Democrats locally, and give the Republicans a shot.

2. Cut taxes

3. Make it known to unions that we will not tolerate them constantly demanding higher labor and additional benefits.

You do these 3 things, I guarentee you this area will turn around.

[jay]

Youngstown must solve its own problems without the help of the suburbs.
The above statement was the attitude expresses on the Verb show while I was able to listen.  Most of the problems of Youngstown need money to solve.  I don't believe the residents will not increase the city income tax again.

[Towntalk]

Admittedly, I'm not one of Ron Verb's fans, and in point of fact, I don't spend much time listening to his rants, but he did make a point today worth considering. Youngstown is no longer the county's economic center, and there's very little likelyhood that we will ever see a return of the good old days, when we could do all our shopping here, yet as our population declines, our needs are many, yet the suburbs have made it clear that they do not want to be the ones that fork out the money to meet those needs.

The richest communities in the county are Poland and Canfield, and Boardman is the commercial hub, yet Boardman is having it's own economic problems, and doesn't appreciate being threatened by Youngstown.

Regionalism is a dirty word in the minds of the people of Boardman and Austintown who want nothing to do with Youngstown, but what would happen if Boardman and Poland entered into a regional agreement, and Austintown did the same with Canfield?