youngstown in today's nytimes sunday magazine

Hi readers,

As it is many people's custom to read this blog with their cup of coffee and pancakes religiously every sunday morning, maybe this weekend you'll want to do something a little different, and purchase a copy of sunday's new york times.

You see, every December the New York Times Magazine looks back over the year through the "mountain range" of intellectual concepts and ideas, and presents some of them to the world.


This year's version has this article about "Creative Shrinkage" and its subject is Youngstown and the 2010 plan.

some clips from the story:

"Few communities of 80,000 boast a symphony orchestra, two respected art museums, a university, a generously laid-out downtown and an urban park larger than Central Park. "

"[Jay] Williams’s strategy calls for razing derelict buildings, eventually cutting off the sewage and electric services to fully abandoned tracts of the city and transforming vacant lots into pocket parks."

"The city has also placed a moratorium on the (often haphazard) construction of new dwellings financed by low-income-housing tax credits and encouraged the rehabilitation of existing homes."

"Instead of trying to recapture its industrial past, Youngstown hopes to capitalize on its high vacancy rates and underused public spaces; it could become a culturally rich bedroom community serving Cleveland and Pittsburgh"

"Youngstown’s experiment has not gone unnoticed. Williams’s office has already fielded calls from officials in a few of the many American metropolitan areas."

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As indicated in the blog entry before this one, there are many afforable houses to purchase in the city of superior craftsmanship and design. If you are looking to downsize from your house in the suburbs, or looking to invest in a quality housing stock, maybe a house in Youngstown is a great concept.

Our city is moving in the right direction, and we would like to have good people who enjoy good living to be our neighbors.

Care to join us?