Anyone interested in Youngstown's future..

[the_pines]

Does Youngstown have a Farmers Market or plenty of stores with good fresh produce?

[ytownlibrarian]

Originally Posted by boardmanite

And you're right about the need for regionalism here. I believe there are 4.5 million people in North East Ohio. Not too shabby. And then if you combine nearby Western PA, I'd imagine that number would be closer to 7.5 million. Surely that's got to be attractive to somebody!!!

Yeah, looking at the Census Bureau's estimated population figures for 2006 reveals:

Cleveland Combined Metro Statistical Area - 2,917,801 people
Pittsburgh CMSA - 2,462,571 people
Youngstown CMSA - 697,481

If these three CMSAs were combined into one (similar in geographic size to the Bay Area or metro NYC) the total population would be 6,077,853, which would put the Cleveland-Pittsburgh-Youngstown Super Metro Statistical Area at just above Houston, TX and just below Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX in terms of population.

Very interesting numbers indeed!

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by the_pines

Does Youngstown have a Farmers Market or plenty of stores with good fresh produce?

There is/was the North Side Farmer's Market. Unfortunately, the last one of the season was last Saturday.
Last North Side Farmers' Market of the Summer - September 15

[boardmanite]

I really think that taxes are stifling growth in Youngstown. The city tax is almost up to 3%! When I worked in the city, I was a little upset that they took so much! If I were rich, I wouldn't have cared, but when you're not making much, every little bit counts. And as recent headlines pointed out, Youngstown is now the poorest mid-sized city. Yet it has one of the highest tax rates in the nation! Something is wrong with that picture...

[skyegirl]

Hi everyone! As a NE Ohio resident my whole life (and also one who is trying to sell my home and move) I can tell you from my perspective, that it is simply depressing to live here. Until this area starts to push high school graduates on to higher education, this is going to remain a poor, blue collar area, period. No "high tech" jobs will come to this area if there is not anyone able to do the job! GM and Packard $30 an hour jobs do not exist anymore, you have to have an education to get by. My father in-law is in the economic revitalization business, and when we drove through downtown Youngstown he couldn't understand if they were trying to rebuild or had given up. He mentioned using the old factories/empty buildings and turning them into shops/restaurants/etc, which I think would be great personally. By the way, am I the only one who thinks the Chevrolet Centre is awful looking?

[CortlandGirl79]

Actually, i would say most of the people i grew up w/in trumbull county did go to college and they got at least a bachelors degree........some of my classmates have their masters and i know of a couple who are doctors. It's not that high school grads aren't going to college, it's that there is nothing to keep them in the valley once they graduate. I would say most of my senior class is in the columbus, dayton, cinci corridor, with some others in pittsburgh, texas, colorado and the carolinas.

[boardmanite]

Originally Posted by skyegirl

Until this area starts to push high school graduates on to higher education, this is going to remain a poor, blue collar area, period.

Does NE Ohio lag behind other parts of the country in terms of college attendence? I'd like to see some statistic to affirm/refute this claim...

[gam3rchic]

Originally Posted by skyegirl

Hi everyone! As a NE Ohio resident my whole life (and also one who is trying to sell my home and move) I can tell you from my perspective, that it is simply depressing to live here. Until this area starts to push high school graduates on to higher education, this is going to remain a poor, blue collar area, period. No "high tech" jobs will come to this area if there is not anyone able to do the job! GM and Packard $30 an hour jobs do not exist anymore, you have to have an education to get by. My father in-law is in the economic revitalization business, and when we drove through downtown Youngstown he couldn't understand if they were trying to rebuild or had given up. He mentioned using the old factories/empty buildings and turning them into shops/restaurants/etc, which I think would be great personally. By the way, am I the only one who thinks the Chevrolet Centre is awful looking?

As someone who grew up on the west side of Youngstown and graduated high school (Chaney Cowboys!) and college here (Go Penguins!), I don't think the lack of college graduates is the problem. I say this b/c just about everyone I knew in high school did go to college, and a lot of them went to YSU! My husband graduated from YSU with a degree in Computer Information Systems and did have trouble finding a good job, which is why we ended up moving. Computer jobs were sparse, and when one would pop up, there were sooo many kids applying to these jobs, the competition was tough. Instructors even told the kids majoring in the computer field that the only way you are gonna get a computer job in Youngstown is if you know somebody in the field because the jobs are few and far between and competition is fierce.

In short, the problem isn't that we are uneducated....there were a lot of young men and women going to YSU for computer majors (it is the wave of the future and kids around here wanna be a part of that as much as kids anywhere else in the country), but that there aren't enough jobs for all the computer majors around here. If the industry would move in, I think you would be surprised at how many people would jump on those jobs. In the meantime, Youngstown is losing people b/c of lack of computer jobs (my husband and I are two of them...didn't wanna leave, but had to) and needs to do something about it.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by gam3rchic

Youngstown is losing people b/c of lack of computer jobs (my husband and I are two of them...didn't wanna leave, but had to) and needs to do something about it.

Well, there is the successful business incubator and new technology center. That's a start, at least.