2011: Year of opportunities, challenges, new beginnings

We ring in the New Year on an optimistic note — even though the Mahoning Valley struggled mightily in 2010 to cope with the national recession

Why the optimism? Because a solid economic foundation was laid that should pay dividends in 2011.

Just swirl the figure $650 million around your mouth, and the sensation will be same as when you sipped Champagne at midnight. It’s the promise of riches.

Or, keep repeating the word “Cruze” and it’s strawberries and cream.

Steel making

The $650 million is the amount of private investment by the French company Vallourec in a state-of-the-art steel pipe-making plant along route 422 on land in Girard and Youngstown. The facility is being built next to Vallourec’s V&M Star steel mill in Youngstown.

The new plant has begun to take shape with the start of the initial phase of construction.

Aker Construction of Canonsburg, Pa., has been awarded the contract and 400 workers will be hired when work is in full swing. Aker is a subsidiary of the global engineering and construction firm, Aker Solutions.

The new plant is expected to have a payroll of 350, with an average salary of more than $50,000.

The project has put the Mahoning Valley on the international map. The pipes will be used for gas exploration of the Marcellus Shale region.

The Cruze

When General Motors selected the Lordstown assembly plant to produce its latest compact model, the future of the auto manufacturing in the Valley was set.

The Cruze rolled off the assembly line in August and has been a huge success. GM invested $350 million in the plant, which is now running three shifts. Total employment: 4,500.

There were other major developments on the economic front in the Mahoning Valley that hold out the promise of job growth this year: The reopening of Severstal Steel in Warren; expansion of VXI in downtown Youngstown; the relocation of Revere Data from San Francisco to the Youngstown Business Incubator; and, the development of a business incubator in a building in downtown Warren. They point to an improving economy.

The purchase of financially embattled Forum Health by Community Health Systems not only saved thousands of jobs, but brought the pledge of an investment of millions of dollars to upgrade the system’s various components, including Northside Medical Center, Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.

Challenges

But this year will also poses some challenges, and how we deal with them will speak volumes about us as a region.

The biggest one will be on the political front, where the redrawing of the congressional district boundaries could result in Mahoning and Trumbull counties being separated. That does not seem likely, but a non-partisan concerted effort by business, community and political leaders is demanded to ensure that this region’s commonality of interest is not undermined.

Another challenge also involves politics — of the dirty-laundry type in Mahoning County.

The June criminal trial of the defendants in the so-called Oakhill Renaissance scandal will center on this question: Were government officials illegally influenced by a prominent businessman and his various companies to oppose the purchase of the former South Side Medical Center by the county commissioners.

The defendants in the criminal-conspiracy case are: Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., former president of the Cafaro Co.; county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino; county Commissioner John A. McNally IV; former county Treasurer John B. Reardon; former county Job and Family Services Director John Zachariah; and, Ohio Valley Mall Co. and the Marion Plaza Inc., both affiliates of the Cafaro Co.,

Special prosecutors allege the defendants conspired to impede JFS’ move from Cafaro Co.-owned rented quarters to Oakhill Renaissance Place.

Visiting Judge William H. Wolff Jr. is presiding.

Youngstown schools

Finally, 2011 will determine whether the troubled Youngstown city school system will exist in its current form, or whether the state will step in to prevent further academic and financial deterioration.

A new superintendent, Dr. Connie Hathorn, today takes over the urban school district that has had the distinction of being the only one in Ohio in academic and fiscal emergencies.

Hathorn does not have the luxury of time to turn things around because the Ohio Department of Education has made it clear that the district is on a short leash.

A new year has dawned, offering the Mahoning Valley opportunities — and challenges that will test our mettle.

May we have a prosperous 2011.