Our ‘Incredible Shrinking City’ need not continue to shrink

Our ‘Incredible Shrinking City’ need not continue to shrink

On the surface, population estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau that show continuing declines in the number of residents of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley reinforce the pessimism that has dominated our demographics for decades.

Youngstown, labeled by some observers as America’s “Incredible Shrinking City” for its innovative Youngstown 2010 plan, now has a population of 73,817, down about 8 percent from the 80,445 residents recorded in the official 2000 Census.

On closer inspection, however, one can find reason for guarded optimism. Youngstown’s rate of population drain has fallen significantly compared to that of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, when declines ranged from 15 percent to 18 percent per decade.

That slowdown in population loss should challenge our many development and community groups to redouble their efforts to increase the quality of life, to pursue diverse business growth and to banish remnants of a troubled past in Youngstown and throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Toward that end, Youngstown has made a running start. The city has rightfully won praise from The New York Times, other media and development groups nationwide for its 2010 plan, a realization and acceptance the city will never approach the population of 170,000 it had in its heyday as one of the major steel producers in the nation and the world.

All the same, the Youngstown 2010 plan does not exclude growth. Indeed it embraces it.

It calls for neighborhood redevelopment and modest population growth in certain parts of the city. The Wick Neighbors project, for example, seeks to revitalize the city’s historic Smoky Hollow neighborhood with $100 million worth of mixed-use development, including 270 new housing units.

A regionwide challenge

Of course, Youngstown is not the only community in the Valley to endure ongoing losses of residents. Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties all have fallen off, and save for a few communities such as Columbiana, population loss remains the solid trend.

Stabilizing and growing population make just as much sense in Boardman, Austintown and Liberty — each of which has also lost thousand of residents since 2000 — as it does in the Valley’s hub.

An exodus of residents generally translates into an exodus of state and federal dollars, a lessening of political clout and less efficient delivery of public services.

That’s why it is incumbent upon communities in the Mahoning Valley beyond Youngstown to think creatively and regionally toward economic development and population stabilization.

In recent days, some communities in Trumbull County have acted to award grants and tax breaks to GM workers transferring into their towns for work on the new third shift at the GM Lordstown Complex. While we cannot begrudge the communities for acting creatively and quickly, we’d have been more pleased to see a more comprehensive regional approach to such incentives — one that includes but goes beyond the sure bet of GM workers entering the community.

All the same, the signs of success of some current Youngstown and regional initiatives and the slowing of our rate of population decline offer hope that by the time the next decennial Census rolls around 18 months from now, some of the trend lines for Youngstown and the Valley may finally begin inching upward.