Officials hail changes coming to downtown

By David Skolnick

The head of the Youngstown Business Incubator said he is more optimistic than ever about downtown’s future.

YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jay Williams said an out-of-town newspaper reporter writing an article about Youngstown complained about the orange cones and construction work on West Federal Street.

Williams said the cones and work are symbols of progress in downtown Youngstown.

“I’d be concerned if you could drive through Youngstown and see nothing happening,” he said.

The mayor acknowledges more work needs to be done.

But at a Monday ribbon-cutting on the Taft Technology Center, Williams said the progress in the downtown area over the past decade is quite noticeable.

He wasn’t the only one.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, whose district includes Youngstown, said new buildings are replacing dilapidated, abandoned structures.

Pretty soon, he said, the city is going to expand so much along the street that it will end up in the middle of Campbell.

“This facility shows that good things are happening in our community,” he said.

The center’s main tenant is Turning Technologies, which produces audience response systems and employs 130.

The tech center ribbon-cutting comes less than a week after a similar ceremony for the Realty Tower renovations.

In recent years, new buildings and parking lots have replaced boarded-up vacant structures downtown.

Also, plans are in the works for a variety of projects including additional tech facilities, restaurants and apartments/condominiums.

Ex-Gov. Bob Taft, for whom the tech center is named, praised the city and organizations for working together for the betterment of the city.

The organizations mentioned by Taft include the Youngstown Business Incubator, the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. and the Regional Chamber.

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,” 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.”

Downtown Youngstown will never be the Mahoning Valley’s retail center again, Cossler said.

But entertainment venues, bars and restaurants in downtown are making the area an attractive location for young professionals, Cossler said.

The emergence of innovation and creativity is a primary driving force behind the recovery of struggling cities such as Youngstown, Williams aid.

“We’re making a comeback,” he said.

skolnick@vindy.com