‘Garden Club’ looks at stories of Youngstown, Allentown

By Sean Barron

“Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the Rust Belt” by Sean Safford (Harvard University Press, $29.95).

It’s entirely conceivable that two so-called Rust Belt cities nearly identical in population, area and labor force composition can face similar collapses of their main industries, yet take divergent paths in response — and have the different results still transparent decades later.

The cities are Youngstown and Allentown, Pa.

In the roughly 30 years since losing many of its once-vibrant steel mills and numerous manufacturing jobs, Allentown, in eastern Pennsylvania, has, for the most part, reinvented itself.

This was done in part by encouraging other means of investment, transforming surviving companies and building an entrepreneurial spirit.

Youngstown, on the other hand, has largely failed to adapt to its crisis, which many people contend got under way Sept. 19, 1977, the day Youngstown Sheet & Tube Corp.’s Campbell Works closed, idling at least 4,000 workers. After that day, often referred to as “Black Monday,” Youngstown “fell into a mean race to the bottom.”

These are among the core themes explored in Sean Safford’s recently published book “Why the Garden Club Couldn’t Save Youngstown: The Transformation of the Rust Belt.”

In it, Safford uses various statistical analyses and data, some dating to the late 1960s, to compare both cities’ manufacturing employment, average incomes for workers and growth of wages, among other things.

Safford, an assistant professor of organizations and markets with the Chicago-based Booth Graduate School of Business, argues that social networks among the cities’ civic, economic and political structures account largely for the divergent tracks Youngstown and Allentown took in the aftermath of their losses.

The book provides a historical context for the decline and surprising rebuilding of some Rust Belt regions.

“Garden Club” also places an emphasis on the ability of social networks to influence responses to job losses en masse, determine access to and control of resources, and encourage collective action to deal with crises.

“There was more cooperation in Allentown, more of a unified effort after their mills shut down,” Safford said in a telephone interview. “That included social services agencies, the [local] government and powerful business people to corral a lot of resources to get things done.”

By contrast, much of Youngstown’s history saw a small number of tight-knit families controlling much of what occurred in the city, adopting a “divide-and-conquer” strategy that, among other things, saw different ethnic groups living in separate neighborhoods from one another, he said.

As the mills went down, the families’ control “essentially went down with them,” causing the city to have little center of gravity, Safford continued.

After the demise of the mills, Allentown became more civic-minded, as did Youngstown, he argues. Some Mahoning Valley businesses, however, withdrew from city life; likewise, many company leaders had little or no participation in Youngstown’s civic life, Safford noted.

Also, Allentown formed a regional board that encouraged greater cooperation in the surrounding areas. Youngstown, however, saw many of its suburbs fighting with one another for resources, he argues.

Additionally, companies that succeeded in Allentown quickly became more visible in the community, something that’s becoming more evident in Youngstown, Safford pointed out, citing the Youngstown Business Incubator and Taft Technology Center, both downtown.

“[Allentown] just got there first,” he added.

Safford, who grew up near Buffalo, N.Y., and has no local ties, said he recalls when Bethlehem Steel shut down, and the effects on his community. He also has worked for the United Auto Workers union, is trained as a labor economist and has read extensively on the history of steelworker unions and strikes, he explained.

Does all of this mean that Safford feels the Mahoning Valley continues to show no signs of a rebirth?

Hardly.

“Youngstown has made a lot of really positive steps,” Safford said. “It continues to get rid of corruption, has a charismatic mayor and is doing smart things.”

More about Youngstown

“Polluted and Dangerous” by Justin B. Hollander (University of Vermont Press, $29.95)

Justin B. Hollander’s book “Polluted and Dangerous,” looks at how five cities, including Youngstown, have used urban planning, redevelopment strategies and environmental means to transform brownfields and make them more sustainable.

Hollander discusses the Youngstown 2010 plan and how it fits into the idea of Youngstown’s remaking itself as a shrinking city.