Obama comes to Youngstown: The pool reports

What the White House pool reporters were seeing...

Sent: Tue May 18 12:58:43 2010
Subject: Pool report #4
President Obama exited Air Force One at 12:41 p.m.

Gov. Ted Strickland, Reps. Charlie Wilson, John Boccieri and Tim Ryan and Youngstown Mayor William Jay greeted him on the tarmac, bursting into applause as POTUS got close to the foot of the stairs.

Lt Gov Lee Fisher was a no-show.
Motorcade is rolling to the manufacturing plant, hard hats and ear plugs in hand.
 
Sent: Tue May 18 13:22:43 2010
Subject: Pool report #4 correx
Youngstown Mayor is Jay Williams.

POTUS is currently touring the manufacturer, with green lab coat and hard hat-clad pool in tow.
 
Sent: Tue May 18 13:31:05 2010
Subject: Pool report #5

Pool Report #5
Inside V and M Star facility
The pool, in fetching green protective jackets, white helmets and glasses, awaited POTUS on a yellow gangway, above the heat and cacophony of the dimly-lit factory floor at the V and M Star steel mill.
Massive machines whirred and rumbled as large 18 foot long cylinders of steel, spewing sparks and palpable heat, appeared periodically along the production line, glowing orange with molten heat.

The building is a long cathedral type space, with all kinds of satanic-looking machinery on the floor, with just a few windows at each end.
The President, distinguishable by his black protective flame retardant jacket with red trim, appeared on an adjacent gangway with a group of people, presumably company executives and surveyed the scene, pointing at machines and nodding under his white protective hat.
He smiled and waved at the cameras on the way out. His conversations were inaudible amid the din.
The pool then ran through an indoor railway siding strewn with rubble and sand, past more menacing fire breathing machinery to position for the president's next photo op, in front of a blast furnace.
After exiting the mill, the president walked towards the venue for the speech, in an end finishing and dispatch warehouse, underneath a winding overhead ventilation tube.
A crowd of several hundred people is awaiting his remarks and the presidential podium is set up against a backdrop of steel pipes.
 
Sent: Tue May 18 14:09:21 2010
Subject: Pool Report #6
Pool Report #6

Youngstown, Ohio

After the speech, the President walked across to a line of 35-40 workers outside, ahead of a shift change. He shook hands, slapped backs and dispensed hugs.

He had a long conversation with one woman, Mary Ann Decapita, who works in Human Resources at the plant and lives in Youngstown.

"I told him, thank you for all your help here," she said.

POTUS autographed a business card for Mary Ann's daughter Brittany.

It read

"To Brittany
Dream the dream
Barack Obama."
Motorcade now rolling away from the plant
 
Sent: Tue May 18 14:30:46 2010
Subject: Pool report #7
Youngstown, Ohio

POTUS boarded AF1 at just after 2.20 pm
Heading to takeoff.
 
Sent: Tue May 18 15:27:26 2010
Subject: Pool report #8
Air Force One was wheels down at Andrews AFB at 3:17 p.m.
President Obama exited AF1 at 3:24 p.m. amid a light rain and overcast skies.
He got into the limo, and after he was joined by Reggie Love motorcade was rolling to the White House.
Pool had asked Burton for POTUS to come back to press cabin but alas he did not.
And for anyone wondering, AF1's return flight pattern bypassed Pennsylvania, instead traveling at 23,000 over Bellaire, OH, Morgantown, WV and the Potomac River.
Handing over to in-town pool.

365 Things #16

As we head down the list, #16 is something that should be required for every Youngstown resident: A visit to the Museum of Labor and Industry. It reminds me of a quote that's been tossed around, including by this blogger a number of times and even appeared on our mast head for a while. "Everybody breathing dirt, eating dirt-they call it 'pay dirt,' for Youngstown clean would be Youngstown out of work." When he uttered the words in 1915, Frank Bohn had no idea how true those words would ring. While a clean Youngstown is an opportunity to reinvent ourselves, the 'Steel Museum', as the museum is often known, takes us back to the soot covered days of Youngstown, when steel was king. It should make any Youngstown resident born after 1980 appreciate the hardwork and sweat that their fathers and grandfathers literally poured into building America. I made my pilgrimage in December.


Museum of Labor and Industry
151 Wood Street (across from St. Columba Cathedral)
330-743-5934

The Morning Read

There are several great articles out there worth reading this morning:

• The Washington Post has a long feature about the struggles many are facing in the Mahoning Valley. We talk so much about the progressive change occurring in Youngstown but there are real people with real struggles to survive in this economy. This article does a great job capturing this pain experienced by our friends and neighbors. See the slide show here.
• Some sprucing up is occuring at 20 Federal Place. The Business Journal has the details.
• A couple of articles on the proposed V&M Star expansion in Brier Hill in both the Business Journal and the Vindicator, with mentions here, here and here.
• Last and certainly worth being least, Jim Traficant is circulating petitions to run for Congress. Help us if he does this, as the national media attention will be anything but positive. I was able to watch the first 10 minutes of the press conference that he held this morning. Possible casino deals, a shout-out to Kelly Pavlik and some random comments about bears defecating in the woods were the early highlights. The Vindicator has a summary here and you can find the press conference video here (later today) courtesy of WFMJ.

Steel Town 1944

The visuals are stunning. Stacks spewing clouds of smoke into the sky, nearly obscuring the Home Savings & Loan building while men and women, all wearing hats, jump on and off busses at street level. Rivers of molten ore running down chutes to create the ships, tanks or guns that in peacetime would be office buildings. In Youngstown we make steel. We make steel and talk steel.

A World War II -era film created by the Office of War Information, 'Steel Town 1944' offers an incredible glimpse into Youngstown's past. My hope with this blog was to continue to spread Youngstown's rich past while highlighting some of the remarkable things going on to rebuild. For those who lived in the steel boom years of Youngstown's past, in the words of Doc Graham, "The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces."

Some interesting points to watch out for:

• 6:36 - Hooking up the hoist to a bucket of molten iron
  
• 7:30 - The 1944 Wilson-South football game at South High.
• 7:59 - South High School principal's office, classroom and cafeteria
  
• 10:05 - A Youngstown Symphony Orchestra made up entirely of steelworkers and their wives, rehearsing a piece written by Gerald Marovich, a Youngstown-native in the Navy

Not to give the ending away, but this closing quote is a classic:

"When the war is over, we're going to have other problems. We know about that in Youngstown. We've had it here before. There are times when there is no smoke in the sky and mills were quiet. The streets full of men, angry, questioning, wondering. We're beginning to understand that these things don't just happen in one place. They happen everywhere."

New leaders, new business, and a new way of getting things done.

The Youngstown of 2007 does not resemble the Youngstown of year's past. In the last several years, three decades of complacency and failed action have been countered with sweeping changes which have resulted in Youngstown turning from a rusting dead city into one with future and promise. These changes come as the result of people of action, tired of waiting for someone to make the first move.

In 1977, as the reality of Black Monday set in, just at the time that far-away company presidents and board chairman began spending overseas the profits made in Youngstown, efforts to fix a broken town were stymied, would falter, or just plain fail. Our few working class heroes such as the late Bishop James Malone or Staughton Lynd labored to prevent the closing of the steel mills in the Valley. Their efforts were noteworthy, even valiant, but could not stop the loss of jobs and urban decay that the next thirty years would enough. Unfortunately for Youngstown, their moral authority wasn't near enough.

It is not hard to see that while some of Youngstown's political leaders of the 70's, 80's and 90's were both honest and hardworking, there were those individuals who still saw a struggling community as their playground – their place to bask in the sun and line their pockets. A congressman, judges, attorneys, county sheriffs and others in authority helped keep the Valley in the throes of recession and their shadow still haunts. But that is merely a chapter in the tale of this city and certainly not the end of the story. It is yet to be written.

While Youngstown has a long way to go to overcome the legacy of Black Monday, there are things happening in this Valley that we only dreamed of a few short years ago. We have a resurgent downtown with a new arena, new restaurants and clubs, a thriving technology incubator, new traffic patterns, and a group of professionals ready to take this city into the future. Three of these people have a unique perspective as leaders in the economic and social fight in which the city is engaged. This is the redevelopment of Youngstown through their eyes.

Jay Williams, Standard Bearer
A work in progress. It defines not just this city today, but a way in which to see it's future. The mayor of Youngstown has been at the center of the revolution in Youngstown long before he succeeded George McKelvey as this city's 47th mayor. As the city's director of economic development, he laid the groundwork for the Youngstown 2010 plan and continued that leadership as mayor.

And that plan doesn't end in 2010. Williams sees the Youngstown 2010 plan merely as a stepping stone into the future and something the city needs to continue to evolve. He only half jokes when he says that city leaders have done such a good job marketing Youngstown 2010 that pushing Youngstown 2020 is that much more difficult.

Regardless in the name of the plan the success of Youngstown, Williams said, is the transformation of attitudes within the city residents, especially the younger generations, who have lost the wait-and-see mentality to become a people of action.

"There has been a change in focus towards where the younger generation has been looking." With younger leaders such as Williams, state senator John Boccieri, and others now in office, this generation has a larger voice to get their message across.

To the naysayers, who don't see the progress in a redeveloping Youngstown, Williams argues, "look at any other area across the country and see how the condition of that central city has around the surrounding area." Youngstown as the core city and surrounding area, rise and fall together.

Allen Hunter, Innovation Ecologist
When it comes down to it, YSU chemistry professor Allen Hunter believes economic development in Youngstown is about the people.

“We’ve got a great framework, but we need to get more people at the ground level interacting,” says Hunter. That’s exactly what he tries to do while working with local business leaders to create the ideas of today that become tomorrow’s business models.

Hunter has been actively involved in projects throughout Youngstown emphasizing workforce development and expanding grant opportunities to local business in an attempt, he states, to expand Youngstown ‘innovation ecology.’

Innovation ecology, a term Hunter coined, is individuals and companies bringing their experiences and innovations together to create a sustainable marketplace. Hunter believes that is a realistic goal but is a point that Youngstown has not yet reached.

Hunter took his experience writing grants in the science field and, with the help of several colleagues, developed CEATIS Consulting, which has proven to be a successful tool in tapping into the state and federal funds which otherwise were not reaching the Mahoning Valley. This money allows for further research and development, provides workforce training, and funds other human services within the area.

Hunter’s goal is to just make the Youngstown area a better place to live, something he echoes each time he speaks on economic development by challenging his audience to ask themselves, “What have you done this week to make this better?"

Sarah Lown, Bridge Builder
Revitalizing the land which yesterday was a steel mill and is today a brownfield is just one of the many tasks which lay before Sarah Lown.

Lown, as the Director of Economic Development for Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, is responsible for facilitating the process by which area leaders can plan for transportation, economic development or environmental improvements.

Within Eastgate, Lown’s goal is to identify projects that would successfully be funded through the U.S. Economic Development Administration (US EDA). One of her most recent projects is the construction of the Walton Avenue Bridge in 2005. That project gave access to 800 acres of brownfields in Youngstown, Campbell and Struthers to enable new development to occur.

For the past several years, Lown has concentrated her efforts on revitalizing former industrial areas --brownfields-- along the Mahoning River corridor, which is the heart and soul of the Valley. She is also the current president of the Mahoning River Consortium, which is working to clean up the River and the land along its banks.

Lown grew up in New England and moved to Youngstown 15 years ago. Two things helped revitalize the New England town she grew up in.

“What I saw work was two things: artists, who saw the beauty of the New England landscape and its low cost historic homes, and industrial consortia to attract economic growth. Revitalization has to take place on many fronts like that in order to be sustainable and attractive to new investment.”

And what should the next step be for Youngstown? Lown believes there needs to be a continued effort to clean up the corridors going in and out of town which removes a tremendous psychological barrier to new investment. Further, and perhaps more importantly, a renewed emphasis on regionalism, more closely tying Youngstown, its suburbs and the surrounding areas together, perhaps in order to create the innovation ecology for which we should be striving.

Black Monday Events... time to remember

The Steel Museum will play host to an event to mark the 30th anniversary of Black Monday.

What: Remembering Black Monday 1977-2007
When: 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 19
Where: Youngstown Historical Center, also known as the Steel Museum, 151 W. Wood St.

According to the Vindicator, some of those who were directly involved with the closings and the efforts to save the mills will share their thoughts about what happened and why it matters.
The event is part of the 2007-08 Center for Working-Class Studies Lecture Series sponsored by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society Young Leaders' Advisory Board, YSU Center for Applied History and the Office of Social Action at the Diocese of Youngstown.

Youngstown by rail

I have always been a closet railfan and taking a trip on Amtrak's Acela Express got me thinking about the impact of rail in Youngstown's development. In my narrow and short search, I came across a few pictures from the last twenty years which highlight the role the rails played in Youngstown's steel industry. These images capture trains rolling through what are now brown fields, abandoned tracts, and dilapidated building.

Conrail and Chessie trains work in the shadow of the steel mill. Photo taken August 1979 by R.A. Durfee.

A P&LE Switch Job rolls through the Center St. interlocking; in the distance an eastbound Conrail freight waits for it's turn to cross. Photo taken June 26, 1983 by Doug Kroll.

Two Conrail locomotives switch tracks at the old Brier Hill Works. Photo taken September 1979 by R.A. Durfee.

A trio of Chessie GP-40-2's pull east through Center St in a view that has seen much change since this photo was taken. Photo taken September 1979 by R.A. Durfee.

Empty "hot bottle" train arrives at Center St junction with the Republic Steel ore pile and blast furnace in the background. The entire mill has been torn down. That's the Chessie System main curving off to the right. Photo taken August 1979 by R.A. Durfee.

It's 3 years since the festivities, and "76" could use a cleaning. Photo taken March 1979 by R.A. Durfee.

Heading west, 734 passes by a relic of Youngstown's steel making past. Photo taken August 27, 1995 by Wade H. Massie.

These photos were all captured by searching "Youngstown" at http://www.railpictures.net/. There are plenty more where these came from, but this offers the best view of trains at work in Youngstown. I will try and do some research on the history of passenger trains in Youngstown

Photo Montage of the Week

This week's photo collection comes from local photographer, and elementary school classmate, Angela Gethung. Angela is a grad student at YSU and like myself, a Roser (St. Rose Elementary, class of '96). Enjoy!

The people that keep us going

While I haven't seen it yet, what sounds like a great exhibit opens today at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor entitled "Working Ohio/Working Youngstown" and features the photos and words of firefighers, steelworkers, lab technicians, and janitors, the working men and women of Northeast Ohio. The exhibit is sponsored by Center for Working-Class Studies and the journalism program at Youngstown State University.

The exhibit started as a journalism project in Assistant Professor Alyssa Lenhoff's advanced journalism class, where students were tasked with capturing the experience and perspective of workers. According to Dr. Sherry Linkon, Co-Director of the Center for Working-Class Studies, the exhibit is exciting because it brings students into the process of redevelopment within Northeast Ohio. Projects like this "engage our students in the community, and for journalism students, it helps them learn that "news" is not only about the most visible, important members of the community but about everyone," said Linkon.

Linkon hopes that the project can help all of us get a sense of how work is shaping the Mahoning Valley today. "After the mills closed and as the auto industry declines, our shared identity as a community of industrial workers has faded, and we don't know what to replace that with. People ask me all the time, "what do people do there now?""

Here's what we do: we teach school, we run medical tests, we staff retail stores, we make high-tech materials and dance clothes, we work in offices, and much more. We work, largely in the service industry, many in locally or regionally-owned small and mid-sized businesses. Many of us work multiple part-time jobs, while some are building careers in fields that go almost unnoticed."

In addition to student photos, the exhibit features the work of Cleveland-area photographer Steve Cagan. If you are interested, the show runs through May 4 and admission is free. If you can catch it, a reception and gallery talk will be held at 7 p.m. tonight.

View Steve's online gallery of images from the show here.

Jeannette furnace resumes production

Washington Post - May 17, 1936
Youngstown, Ohio, May 16 (AP) -- The Jeannette Blast Furnace of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. today resumed production after being idle for five years.

Some history of Jennie:

Built in 1917-1918 at a cost of $3 million, it was one of three blast furnaces in operation at the plant, then owned by the Brier Hill Steel Company. It was "blown in" or lighted on September 20, 1918 by its namesake, Mary Jeanette Thomas, daughter of W.A. Thomas, who was the President of Brier Hill Steel. The furnace was 90 feet tall and weighed 500 tons. It produced more than 11 million tons of steel in its lifetime, and is said to have produced 34,356 tons of pig iron in one month during the early years of iron production. Brier Hill Steel was purchased by YS&T in 1923. The Jeanette furnace went out of blast in September of 1977 when the Brier Hill Plant was shut down. It was one of the oldest blast furnaces in the United States, and the last of its kind in Youngstown.

The Jeanette furnace was torn down at 11:37 a.m. on Wednesday, January 29, 1997 to clear the 62-acre brownfield for use as an industrial park. Musician Bruce Springsteen refers to the Jeanette in the lyrics of his song "Youngstown," a melancholy musical tribute to the steelworkers of the Mahoning Valley.

Source: Youngstown Public Library

"And now you know…the rest of the story."

"Hello, Americans, this Is Paul Harvey!"... A few other blogs have posted a story which radio personality Paul Harvey did a few weeks ago on Youngstown. It is definitely worth a read. Phil Kidd posted the entire thing at DefendYoungstown.com

Youngstown is under appreciated only by its own citizens who are as yet unaware that running scared from the blast furnace flameout they've run on ahead of most of the rest of us.

It is positive stuff like that from nationally known people which will help Youngstown redefine itself. Check it out...

On this date...

In Youngstown History:
April 18, 1956: J.L. Mauthe, president of the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., reveals that the steel company is analyzing the expenditure of another $15 million to $20 million on expanding and improving its Mahoning Valley plants.

April 18, 1931: Youngstown firemen rescue Miss Margaret Calhoun from her upstairs room at 882 Mahoning Ave., where she was overcome by smoke after fire caused by a gasoline explosion damaged the house.