French TV News Report on Youngstown

This is a report on Youngstown by France 24 International News from October. It's a pretty frank look at the economic conditions of the area. I don't remember anyone posting it on the area sites but loyal reader Laura in Las Vegas passed the link along. Judging from the comments on the news website, however, some folks found it.

The reporter's comments on trying to find downtown and then realizing the dilapidated area he was in was very close struck home. I'm a champion of the work being done downtown and am very proud of the strides made with the Youngstown Business Incubator but the drive into downtown, from any direction, is just not appealing. Whether you come from Hubbard, Boardman or Liberty, the sight of overgrown vegetation and abandoned buildings is foreboding.

Click here to view the report.

The New Star Trek Trailer and Memories from Long Ago

I saw the trailer for the new Star Trek movie during the Browns pre-game show tonight. It looks good. It looks really good. Long time readers of the blog know I have sort of a thing for science fiction. What makes that interest relevant to a blog about the rust belt is how this area nurtured that interest in sci-fi.

There are probably more than a few folks my age who remember when channel 43, WUAB, out of Cleveland was considered an exotic luxury known only to those with cable TV or a rotor for their antenna. One of the things I loved about channel 43 was that they ran the original Star Trek every weekend, Saturday and Sunday, in the evening.

Those early episodes lacked the polish of today's computer generated effects but the writing was usually solid. James T Kirk and his crew explored stories in a sci-fi setting that caught my imagination and gave my mind a wider scope. Racism, morality and the cost and benefits of exploring new places were all themes that played out weekend evenings. After all, when you live in Northeast Ohio, you need something to do when the weather is tolerable for only short periods six months out of the year.

Sure, not every episode was City on the Edge of Forever but neither were they all Spock's Brain. Star Trek's legacy is science fiction that makes you think; like the film Children of Men or the 2004 TV series Battlestar Galactica. These are weighty projects that deal with the future of mankind, what it means to be human and what we are willing to sacrifice to ensure we have a future. So here's the trailer. I know I'm looking forward to May 2009.

Job Loss News Demands an Attitude Change

The announcement that GM Lordstown will layoff 1100 workers and that the auto giant is in desperate need of government assistance to maintain operations was quite a shock to our area. Business analysts say that for every employee directly employed by a car maker, five more are employed in supporting industries such as parts suppliers, transportation and raw material suppliers. The income from those 1100 workers will negatively impact the surrounding communities. Cars will not be sold, restaraunts will not seat customers and retailers will take a hit during the Christmas shopping season.

As this is happening I hear and read comments from disgruntled area residents claiming there should be no government bailout of the auto industry because they got themselves into this mess. It is true that better planning would have allowed the Big Three to be in a better financial position when gas prices rose but it's really water under the bridge now.

What really bothers me in those comments is that people seem to find a sadistic joy in the loss of those jobs. People who have never worked on a line or put in overtime on a factory floor in the 90 degree heat of July are saying that UAW members are "getting what they deserve". As if cars just build themselves.

Such comments ignore the vital input of GM Lordstown salaries in the local economy. It also ignores the workers in companies that support the plant. This sort of attitude seems to say, "Hey, I work hard and don't make what they make so screw them if they lose their job."

This is the mentality that can kill the area. Whether you live in Youngstown or Warren, Howland or Canfield, it really does not matter if you have one of GM's good paying jobs or not. Your neighbor does. Do you want your neighbor to lose their income, lose their home and put another vacant home on your block for drug addicts to steal the copper from? For all the talk in the local press and blogs about revitalization and hope for growth there is a mean streak that runs deep and wide through the community when it comes to folks who are not doing as well as their neighbors. The people harboring that streak love to see people fail. They love it when someone successful falls down. This notion of running down the place where you live so you can have the smug satisfaction of "I told you so" is mind boggling.

We have to change our attitude. Every job lost is a blow against our area improving itself. It is not enough for our leaders to work toward the area being successful, we all have to fight for better jobs. If you can't find one because you aren't educated, then get educated. If you are educated and can't find one, then become an entrepeneur. If that doesn't work, then leave for greener pastrures. Maybe you will learn something you can return with to be successful. There are too many local success stories for anyone to sit around and wallow in self pity. It's time to get out from behind the anonymous screen names and go do something.

A Bright Spot in Autumn

It's fall again and this year has an eerily familiar feel to it. The weather is wet, dry, sunny, rainy and windy all within days of one another. The leaves are stuck to the ground and mocking my attempts to move them by rake or by blower.

The Browns. I can barely work up the enthusiasm to watch a Cleveland Browns game anymore. It's not descriptive enough to say they suck. They're sucking the life out of their fans. Romeo Crennel is leading this team to be a bunch of "almost could's". Every game holds such promise, shows flashes of brilliance and then we wait for the inevitable collapse and this year, they haven't disappointed. It was a blessing that craptastic Time Warner Cable doesn't carry WUAB or give their subscribers the NFL channel so I was spared the horror of watching the Browns blow a ten point lead.

The economy is in the tank and we are heading into a Christmas with yet another forecast of a bad retail season. I don't know why this comes as a shock anymore. It has been years since I remember retailers saying a Christmas season was good for them. Every year, like clockwork, they say things are looking up and then come January, they cry that sales weren't what they were hoping for. Here's an idea, lower your expectations and stock more Nintendo Wii's. I wish people were beating a path to my store with fistfuls of cash the way they are to Best Buy.

The one bright spot in all of this is the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. As a Browns and Indians fan I'm so used to having my hopes crushed that I almost feinted when Brian Williams announced Ohio going to Obama. And to think Mahoning and Trumbull counties as well as the rest of Northeast Ohio had such an influence in the outcome of the election is just mind-boggling. So I'll try to ignore the rest of this awful, wet, cold season and chalk this one up as a win.

2008 Election Results

Get Out and Vote! (For Obama)

That's right, the big day is here and it's time to vote and vote Obama! Sure, you can vote for whomever you like but if you want change, if you want a break with the policies of the Bush administration, there is really only one way to go.

The McCain campaign and their supporters on talk radio and on internet forums are trying to make voters afraid of Obama. He is untested, they say. He can't handle a crisis, they claim. Ever since 9/11 we've listened to Republicans bang the security drum and I have had enough. We're Americans. We don't run and hide, we don't cower and we stand together. Republicans have hung the wimpy label on liberals for so long they've come to believe that only they can keep us safe. I say that's nonsense. Tying patriotism to war is a ridiculous feint conservatives use to bolster their strawman argument that liberals are weak.

I am a liberal. I believe in a strong defense, being tough on crime and personal responsibility. I also believe that I am my brother's keeper. We should make sure every American has access to the opportunities that will let them succeed. We should educate children much better than we do. We should help those who do not have adequate health care.

Choose who you would like tomorrow but keep in mind that when the votes are tallied, the winner has an enormous task ahead of him. The ideas espoused by Senator Barack Obama have the best chance of helping the country.