The city and the organizations have “demonstrated time and time again that you know how to get things done and make things happen in Youngstown, Ohio,” (Former Ohio Gov. Bob) Taft said.Jim Cossler, head of the incubator, has worked in downtown Youngstown for about 30 years.
“I have never been more optimistic about downtown revitalization as I am” now, he said.
One key reason is an interest in “working, playing and even living” downtown by those who either didn’t live through the closing of most of the area’s steel mills in the late 1970s or are too young to remember it, Cossler said.
“They have a blank canvas,” he said. “They want to be downtown and don’t have a concern about problems of the past.”
The emergence of innovation and creativity is a primary driving force behind the recovery of struggling cities such as Youngstown, (Youngstown Mayor Jay) Williams said.
“We’re making a comeback,” he said.
Also, be sure to check this powerful editorial from today's Vindicator:
