Mayor's latest blog post

[AllanY2525]

I also support, and believe in, regional development.  There are economies of
scale that can cut costs when several communities band together and work
as a region rather than quarreling back and forth amongst themselves or pointing
a finger of blame at one another.

If the greater Youngstown area works together, it CAN compete in a global
economy and create some jobs for working folks and make a better standard of
living for all of the communities in the area.

I also agree that the media focuses WAYYY to much on the negative and fails
to see all of the positive changes that [albeit slowly] are happing in the area.
Maybe someone should put together a group of people who could "LOBBY" the
media and get them to take notice of the good things that are happing, and
publish some articles that tell people about them.

[rusty river]

I live in Austintown.
We are far from dying, we are growing. I am not one to say I am proud of living in Austintown, but it is sure a hell of a lot nicer than most towns of 35,000 in this state.

I also (shamefully) live in Austintown. It is not growing. My opinion is of the opposite.

[ytowner]

I live in Austintown.
We are far from dying, we are growing. I am not one to say I am proud of living in Austintown, but it is sure a hell of a lot nicer than most towns of 35,000 in this state.

[rusty river]

::standing ovation:: 

[DefendYoungstown]

Will the most recent Forbes article help bring about Regional Cooperation?

Recently, Forbes.com posted another gloomy article about the plight of a dying a community here in the Mahoning Valley. However, much to the surprise of some (but not others, including this writer), the article was not about Youngstown. Instead, the article detailed the travails of Austintown, which is a suburb adjacent to and immediately west of the City of Youngstown.

Now, I will be the first to acknowledge that Forbes has established a pattern of publishing these ominous, statistically-based, articles without actually spending any significant time on the ground in the subject community. Furthermore, as was the case when a previous article targeted Youngstown, the good folks in Austintown immediately went to the defense of their community by pointing out the many great things that Austintown has to offer. And guess what? To a certain extent they were right; Austintown does have some great qualities. But then again, so does Youngstown, Boardman, Campbell, Struthers, Warren, and many of the Valley's other communities.

Yet, the Forbes article was 100% accurate in the larger message that it conveyed. The undeniable and overarching message of the article is that this area exists as a region. We will rise as a region and we will fall as a region. There is no way any suburb in the Mahoning Valley will ever escape the shadow of Youngstown. Good, bad, or indifferent.

Some elected officials and their constituents choose to live in a fantasy world and pretend that they can separate their communities from the challenges that face the central city. But to anyone with a firm grasp on reality, it would seem that those individuals are of the lineage of the fictional character Don Quixote, titling at their imaginary windmills.

The story of Austintown is the story of most of the suburban communities in the Mahoning Valley. As tempting as it might be for me to say "I told you so" it would accomplish nothing. Instead, it is my hope that the Forbes.com article would help spark productive dialogue and more importantly productive action as it relates to regional cooperation.

Regional cooperation does not have to take the form of the much maligned Joint Economic Development Districts or JEDD's. Although, JEDD's yet hold the potential to be one of several viable tools for success (see Youngstown-Girard, V&M.) Regional cooperation can and should take on any form that ultimately helps position this Valley for broad-based and sustainable growth and development.

It has been proven that we have the collective talents, skills, and wherewithal to compete on a global stage. But it only works when we compete as a region. These territorial and parochial silos to which we cling, will only serve to invite and validate more articles like the most recently published by Forbes.

Instead of allowing the Forbes.com article to be just another saga that we hope quickly disappears into the annals of other miserable tales about the Mahoning Valley, we should use it as a catalyst for actions that will lead to robust and sustained regional cooperation. That should be the story that we demand Forbes, or anyone else for that matter, writes about the Mahoning Valley.

The cynic in me would say, don't hold your breath. However, this is 2008 and after the events of November 4, the optimist in me thinks that perhaps anything is possible. I suppose the real answer to the question I began with, is only time will tell.

Jay Williams
Mayor

http://mayorjaywilliams.blogspot.com/