YOUNGSTOWN OHIO- President Obama chose this suffering rust belt community as an example for his speech on jobs and the economy, part of his “Main Street” tour of America.
The President wants to show how stimulus money is helping a dying community turn itself around, to “revitalize and redirect” their plans, “We encouraged the private sector…in order to get the economy moving” Obama says.
Youngstown leaders says they’ve been making drastic changes here, trying to pump life back into the economy, as the city grows from the ashes of what was once a thriving, steel manufacturing community. Now, one of every four people reportedly lives in poverty. The unemployment rate is at a staggering 14%, one of the highest in the country. This city that once had 170,000 residents, is now down to less than an estimated 73,000.
The 1930’s era buildings, with their crumbling art deco facades, stand like gravestones memorializing the abrupt departure of the steel manufacturing heyday that built this city, then went away, taking 50,000 jobs with it. Entire neighborhoods are being strategically downsized, as the families that once gave them life, have gone off in search of a better future.
But, there is good news in the Mahoning Valley, something that hasn’t been seen here in decades; jobs and growth.
The reason President Obama used the V& M Star Plant, a French piping manufacturer, as his backdrop for the Youngstown speech, is because its a steel manufacturing company benefitting from the recovery act. V&M is investing $650 million toward its’ expansion, doubling the size of its’ workforce, with most jobs going locally to those displaced when plants closed. The GM Lordstown plant, nearby, is also apparently adding a 3rd shift, which would mean another 1200 new jobs, The Democratic leadership in the Valley say its all the result of $52 million in stimulus money, but Republicans say its a victory for the private sector.
Youngstown’s leaders are now proudly boasting about the Youngstown Business Incubator, which nurtures start ups, particularly in software. The 300 plus employees of the Incubator have already had success with companies like Turning Technologies, which grossed $33 million last year. Two magazines, INC and Entrepreneur, even listed Youngstown Ohio as one of the top places to do business.
“It’s a couple drops in the bucket. We are just getting started at this… I don’t think it is beyond the realm of possibilities that two or 3 years form now you’re going to have 3 or 4 thousand people working in the software industry downtown Youngstown ohio” says Jim Cossler, who runs the Youngstown Business Incubator. Cossler says its all about planting the seeds that will grow into a new industry and improved economy.
An active downtown Youngstown is one proof of success so far. (When I complained about having trouble finding a parking spot, one businessman said to me “That’s a good sign! In the past, nobody came down here, so parking was too easy”).
“People are going to look back one day and say there was a miracle on the Mahoning Valley” says local Congressman Tim Ryan.
(Fox Correspondent Mike Tobin contributed to this report)