two more 2010 mentions, and a new website

This Ohio Sunday is winding to a close, filled with walking on trails through the snow-covered park, followed by snowball fights, and then football by the fire. What could be more exciting?

Well . . there are three new things in Youngstown to blog about.

That's what.

- - -

a - The first is a story in today's edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review titled, "Extreme Makeover: City Edition." Justin Vellucci writes about the economic shock to Youngstown following the collapse of the steel industry and the abandonment of many residents and commercial businesses, eventually describing how the 2010 plan is planting the seeds for a sustainable city.

Once you get to the page, click on the Multimedia Slideshow:Youngstown link on the upper right side. There, mixed among pictures showing the removal of blight, you will see some nice photos with dialog provided by the mayor. Especially cool are the ones taken in the middle of West Federal Street, and the shots of Mayor Williams standing in the convocation center's parking lot with the city in the background. (note: I was thinking of posting the pictures here, but a friend who works for the Trib told me their legal department is pretty viscious - so check them out yourself from their page)

The piece ends with a comment by Bill Lawson, executive director of Mahoning Valley Historical Society.

"In a large respect, we lost a whole generation of people my age. ... There just weren't any opportunities here. So, people that I know are gone," he said. "These young people (today) are doing it. The future's looking up."

And on that note, the youth are indeed taking a step forward and being noticed:


b- Thanks to the efforts of local rap artist Shug B, the 2010 project has also found its way onto the Mtv2 channel.

Shug B submitted a video about the local music scene to the television network for their show "My Block". Individuals across the country submitted documentaries illustrating their home city. From this year's applicants, Phoenix, Long Island, Seattle, and Youngstown were chosen as finalists.

The television commercials from My Block, now airing on the network, have Mayor Williams talking about the 2010 program. You can jump to the Mtv2 site here, and then you can vote for the Youngstown video an infinite amount of times.



I thought this "infinite amount of clicking" form of voting was a bit strange, but it turns out Ohio-based Diebold is charge of the voting, so they can be trusted.


Speaking of infinite, here is a link to the infinite ohio shoutout.

Cause as cmoss says: "If a tree falls in the woods, and don't noboby hear about it, will it make a noise?"

"No, motherfucker, it don't." . . . "you gotta let it be known."


c - And from the students who organized the meeting last week regarding the State Theater downtown, a new website has been created. Click here to see their work in progress of the "Friends of Youngstown Theaters". What is especially cool is their still growing list on the left side of the page mentioning all of the theaters in town, either renovated, hoping to be renovated, or otherwise.

I especially like their pictures of the Palace, which was a beautiful building. The developers claimed to build a downtown mall and theater complex in its place, but since its demolition in the summer of 1964 for their project, it has been a parking lot.

Let's hope no more of our historical treasures will see the wrecking ball.

http://www.youngstowntheaters.i8.com/