Valley voters ignore reality of region's economic future

We doubt a census story that ran Wednesday would have changed many minds had it appeared before Tuesday's general election.
But it adds to our consternation over the failure of voters in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties to recognize the importance of State Issue 1 on the ballot.
We are convinced that this region would have been a major beneficiary of the $500 million generated by the sale of state general obligation bonds had State Issue 1 passed. However, by a 51 percent to 49 percent vote, Ohioans rejected the proposed constitutional amendment. Thus, the third leg of Gov. Bob Taft's Third Frontier high-technology initiative will not be built.
But it is the rejection of the issue in Mahoning and Columbiana counties and the slim margin of victory in Trumbull that give us pause. Such myopia does not bode well for the region. Why?
Consider the following headline: "As for educated young, area shows a great loss." Here's the lead paragraph of the story that ran in The Vindicator on Wednesday: "When it comes to keeping its single, college-educated young people, the Youngstown-Warren area falls below the midpoint among a list of the nation's 276 metropolitan areas."
According to U.S. Census data, 1,150 young, single, college-educated people moved into the area from 1995 to 2000, and 2,688 moved out. You do the math.
Investment tool
The message is clear: The Valley does not have the types of jobs to attract college-educated individuals. That's why we put so much stock in State Issue 1. Had it passed, the $500 million would have been an investment tool to create high-paying jobs, recruit world class researchers and bring state-of-the-art products to market.
The Third Frontier initiative is designed to make Ohio competitive with those states that have established themselves as cutting-edge, high-technology powerhouses.
During the campaign, the governor and others let it be known that the fuel-cell research being conducted in the Valley was tailor-made for the Third Frontier initiative and that Youngstown State University would have the opportunity to play a major role in such research.
Even the assurance from this newspaper that State Issue 1 would not result in a tax increase failed to sway Valley voters. It almost seems as though those who voted "no" were saying that they're satisfied with the economic stagnation that has defined the region since the collapse of the steel industry in the 1970s.
We hope that we're wrong in our reading of Tuesday's election results. If we're not and the status quo is what the residents of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties truly want, then we face a bleak future.
Manufacturing, as the Valley has known it, is not making a comeback. And the service industry jobs certainly cannot sustain a region's economy. High technology -- that's the future. We need to change with the times.