Valley impresses state panel

It's not enough for members of the state High Technology Start-Up Business Committee to say how impressed they were with the Mahoning Valley's high-tech initiatives -- as they did last Friday during a meeting at Youngstown State University. We've heard such rhetoric before. What the committee members should do is put state dollars where their mouths are.
When $20.06 million is doled out by the state for high technology and less than $200,000 makes its way to the Mahoning Valley, words of praise do ring hollow. We aren't blaming the members of the state committee -- they've only been at their task for several months -- but Valley residents are justified in turning a jaundiced eye to what is taking place in Columbus.
Funding levels: We urge the High Technology Start-Up Business panel to right this terrible wrong by including in its report to the General Assembly specific recommendations on funding levels for entities such as the Youngstown Business Incubator, which is providing important support to a dozen infant technology companies. According to testimony during last week's meeting, the incubator companies had 89 employees, sales of $3.9 million and a payroll of $2.4 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Imagine what the YBI could accomplish if the Ohio IT Alliance in Dayton had approved its request for $250,000 a year. It was the office of Gov. Bob Taft that suggested the IT Alliance as a source of revenue.
If Ohio wants to be a leading high-technology state, it must support local initiatives.