incubator company Via680 partners with city for public input on future signage downtown

do you have opinions on the signage needed in downtown youngstown?

The YBI-portfolio company Via680 has partnered with the City of Youngstown's Office of Economic Development to develop media-rich tool to collect the opinions of the public.

Click here to watch the video and share your opinions.
The whole process took me 6 minutes.

Please provide advice and they'll listen.


Via680 (the artist formerly known as BIzVeo) produces software that allows the user to send emails maximized with video, embedded questions, and track answers.

what are the applications?

Let's say you're a hospital and you need to make sure your patient is ready for surgery. With Via680's product, you can craft instructions for the patient, ask them questions, receive their input and even post-surgery questions as they recover from home.

Let's say you're a local butcher and you are looking to engage your clients. With Via680s product, you can share cooking videos, recipes, and questions of the specials of the week.

Let's say you are managing a project for work, and need to make sure all of your employees not only listen to information, but also if they understand it. With Via680's product, you can track what employees have opened your email, and by the voting process inside the email, you can quiz what employees actually understand the information.

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All three of the above examples are taking place right now.

The company, Via680, is headquartered in downtown youngstown (inside I-680), partnering with local hospitals and business (just off I-680), and is expanding their reach around the globe (way beyond I-680).

Now Via680's product is helping to advance the civic space.

Watch their video about signage options, and vote on the what you'd like to see downtown.

great gift shopping everyday in downtown youngstown - open house tues at SMARTS

The space that houses the SMARTS program downtown is like a hidden present along Federal Street.

Go inside and open the doors, and you'll find an explosion of color, laughter, music, dancing, opera, creative writing, and art throughout its two floors.

But you'll also find shopping - in the SMARTS Store. From 60 artists!


In fact, I think I can do just about all of my holiday shopping in here.


The SMARTS program will be having its annual holiday open house on Tuesday December 6th from 10am to 6pm.

There will be refreshments, music, and hands-on activities for kids.

Check out the variety of gifts for sale:






















as a bonus, all sales get a 10% discount on tuesday.

SMARTS (Students Motivated by the Arts) is a FREE downtown after-school program to provide instruction to grades k through 12 in art, music, an dance for children from all income levels.

Through its affiliation with YSU, students in the university's music education program and other programs teach students in various disciplines.

All proceeds from the SMARTS Store benefit future programming for students (maybe your children) downtown.

More information about SMARTS is available here.

mid-July circumnavigation of the new Williamson Business School

Land-ho!

Just a three-minute walk from the Youngstown Business Incubator downtown, the new building for the Williamson College Business at YSU is almost complete.

The fences are down.
The trees are planted.
The sidewalks are poured.

Let's take a look at the almost-completed exterior from a few different angles...





now let's make our way clockwise around the building...











this video shows a pan across Wood Street...



Also next door, "Our Family", a new downtown restaurant specializing in soul food and puerto rican food is coming along.


The folks from "Our Family" were serving up some food at the recent Summer Festival of the Arts.

Mac n' cheese, collard greens, pastelillos, and tostones are all on the menu.


With outdoor seating available, the restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner every weekday.

According to the Our Family menu, three tostones for a buck.

I can't even get that from My Family.

every Monday night in the summer, come down to free outdoor movies downtown

I remember a recent experience:

Picked up some penne pasta with pancetta and polenta from Cafe Cimmento. A pal purchased some pernil pork and potatoes from another downtown place. Another pounced on Tomasino's pepperoni pizza and we met on the pitch.

Open air, hundreds of people stretching out under the stars, and popcorn and refreshments by Touch the Moon Candy Saloon - all mix together to form the downtown tradition of watching movies Mondays at dusk downtown.

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Every Monday begining June 28th, you can bring your friends and family to Downtown Youngstown at the Covelli Centre Lawn to enjoy an outdoor movie on the big screen. The schedule:

June 28 Star Trek: The Future Begins

July 5 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

July 12 The Time Travelers Wife

July 19 Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns

July 26 Twilight New Moon

August 2 The Blindside

August 9 Casablanca

August 16 The Princess and the Frog

August 23 The Dark Knight

August 30 UP

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final note:

This whole movie series started in recent years because of three individuals. These three wanted to have movies downtown available to the public like they experiences in other places they've lived. They shared the idea, gained allies, built the huge screen frame by hand, and selected the films.

Now this event is a team effort with many more people and institutions and sponsors making this series an even larger success than before.

But remember, it started with three people.

Individuals can make an impact in Youngstown. no question.

McAllister's marks two months of ice cream downtown

Located in the winged-tire parking structure [look up from the street level to see how this building got its name] at Boardman and South Phelps, McAllister's Ice Cream Shop sits cattiwampus to Youngstown City Hall.


These photos were taken the first week McAllister's was open.


A specialty and top-seller of the store is their caramel cheesecake flavor.

I need to give a shout-out to their chocolate malt ice cream as well.


McAllister's also sells cinnamon rolls, coffee, muffins, pepperoni rolls, and other baked items for breakfast and lunch.


According to their menu:
- frozen bananas are $1.50
- a big ol cup of ice cream is $2.00
- gyros are $3.95
- pepperoni rolls are $2.95
- pints of ice cream for $3.85

and ice cream pies and cakes (with 48 hours notice) to take home for parties

the tailored fabrics and colors within John Lisko's downtown youngstown shop

Tucked within the Commerce Building on Federal Street, you'll find a shop with a lot of things...

yards and yards of the finest fabrics,


silk ties of all colors,


sport and suit jackets of many patterns,


pants of all sizes and variety,


and a gentleman who is passionate about fitting the needs of his clients.


The name of this downtown business: 

Tom James

The man who sells these outstanding custom-made suits: 

John Lisko


Let's take a look around the shop and sample the suit-buying experience...


First off, the shop offers suits and shirts from the rack (often needing alterations), as well as custom-made suits and shirts made from fabrics in various american and european styles.


I thought this was neat: John keeps a files on every single customer, a portfolio of sorts, with samples of the fabrics used to make each of their suits, jackets and shirts.


One gets measured using a variety of the tools of the trade...





And different linings are available for all the tailored pieces:



Here is a great photo of a bunch of guys from the early twentieth century hanging out in front of a tailor in the Smoky Hollow.


a great place to stop. and shop.

John Lisko's shop is located
in the Commerce Building
on East Federal Street