Youngstown, other Ohio cities aim to dispel Forbes's grim view

‘It will be an inspiring day,’ an organizer of Saturday’s symposium in Dayton said.

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Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams

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Phil Kidd

By David Skolnick

YOUNGSTOWN — Mayor Jay Williams and a local community activist will attend a symposium in Dayton of leaders from eight of the 10 communities listed by Forbes as the nation’s fastest-dying cities.

The Forbes 10 Fastest Dying Cities Symposium will bring together government officials, grass-roots activists, concerned citizens, artists and entertainers Saturday from cities on the list, said Peter Benkendorf, an organizer of the event.

“It will be an inspiring day,” he said. “It’s a celebration of these cities. We’re highlighting the innovations of these cities. It’s a starting point. We hope it will be a way to collaborate with other communities to move us all forward.”

The Forbes magazine list, released in an Aug. 5, 2008, article, includes four Ohio cities: Youngstown, Canton, Dayton and Cleveland. Also on the list were Buffalo, N.Y.; Charleston, W.Va.; Detroit, Mich.; Flint, Mich.; Scranton, Pa., and Springfield, Mass. The latter two cities aren’t sending representatives to the event, Benkendorf said, primarily because of the distance from there to Dayton and the travel expenses.

Traveling with Williams from Youngstown is Phil Kidd, a community organizer with the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, and founder of Defend Youngstown, which promotes the positive aspects of the city.

“We want to articulate what’s going on in the city, how it is moving forward and that it isn’t a dying city,” Kidd said.

Kidd points to the economic success of the Youngstown Business Incubator, downtown revitalization, the creation of neighborhood associations, and the city’s being named by Entrepreneur magazine as one of the 10 best cities to start a business as examples of the Youngstown’s rebirth.

“All of the cities on the list have something to contribute,” he said. “We want to find out what the cities are doing to improve themselves.”

Joshua Zumbrun, the Forbes reporter who wrote the story on the 10 cities, will give the opening remarks at the symposium.

The list was statistically driven based on declining population, unemployment rates and the lack of economic growth.

Each city will have about 30 minutes to make presentations about what positive activities are occurring there.

Each will discuss how their “demise” was greatly exaggerated and share innovative ideas and creative solutions that work in their cities, Benkendorf said.

Later Saturday, there will be music, a photo display and poetry readings from artists from the cities.

skolnick@vindy.com