New ideas forge Valley

I recently finished reading “Steelworker Alley,” which was written in 1999, for the second time.

The first time I read it, I was drawn in to every chapter because I could relate to the descriptions, the struggles, the security and the insecurity of working in the mills.

Many of my relatives worked in the mills ... when work was good, money was good ... when work was bad or there were strikes, things were bad.

The author, Robert Bruno, talked about how many of his family were steelworkers or who had jobs related to steel.

His family mirrored my family.

What brought our families here from foreign lands was the hope and desire to make a good living and raise a healthy family.

The mills helped forge a strong community – not a perfect community – but a strong one.

Much of Bruno’s narrative included the class and racial struggles that sometimes were heightened between “punch in” and “punch out” time within the cavernous buildings that made us the fourth largest steel-producing community in the country.

The pivotal date in the book – Sept. 19, 1977, has been the subject of several volumes, programs and university round table discussions over the years.

In September 1977, I was a priest at St. Christine Church. Within weeks, dozens of families left the parish and headed west as Lykes-Youngstown offered jobs to middle and upper management workers in the Sheet & Tubes’ Indiana Harbor Works.

The parish, St. Christine School, the neighborhood, the city and the region would be changed forever.

On page 153 of “Steelworker Alley,” a poem written by a young girl back in those sad days, may be a capsule statement of the book.

What brought many of our families here helped to forge a strong community. What will forge the strength of the Youngstown-Warren area in the future?

In the decades since September 1977, many have said a strong commitment to new ideas and a cooperative spirit among communities will be the foundation of our future.

It is difficult to let the past go and the uncertainty of new concepts tempts us to turn back to what we know.

There have been some strides at cooperation spurred on by some county officials and those who work at the chamber of commerce.

Some land reclamation along the Mahoning River has happened because several communities have taken a risk.

We did approve county-wide mass transit that is looked upon favorably by companies considering coming into an area.

We have a phenomenal natural asset in Mill Creek MetroParks, which has multi-community funding.

I think Volney Rogers, who gifted the original park to the community, would be surprised how the impact of the original gorge has reached well beyond Mill Creek.

I have a strong love for my family and community history here.

My 26 years at St. Patrick Catholic Church on the South Side have been difficult at times, but extremely rewarding.

We cannot simply be a community of museums to the past.

We must dream and look ahead or we are dead.

The recent population count in the census for 2010 shows our Valley’s three major counties losing population.

This erosion affects everyone.

When I see two large church buildings within a mile of each other (St. Dominic and St. Patrick), how can one be na Øve to think that both parishes will survive if current trends continue?

Other religious denominations face the same challenge.

When Jay Williams first proposed the Youngstown 2010 initiative before he was mayor, some were puzzled, some disbelieving, some encouraged — many had many questions.

Now as mayor of the city, Williams has often been in the regional, national and international spotlight because reinventing ourselves and “growing smaller” might be the only way, certainly a better way.

When someone interjects the possibilities that hint at fewer school districts, police and fire departments, and dare I say it, fewer political boundaries, many run to the “safety” of the past.

Bigger is not always better, but prospering communities in our nation (many of which are attracting our young people from the Mahoning Valley) have exemplified successes when old boundaries are crossed.

Many books like “Steelworker Alley” have been written in recent years.

Many “national think tanks” have come to our Valley to study who we were, to experience who we are and to offer some unbiased reflections on us.

I think I am done with reading books about our past and present.

I think those two parts of our history have been very well documented for a community our size.

I would like to start seeing books on the shelves that take us into totally new and unprecedented discussions that will forge us into a strong, competitive community that will actually give the next generation a reason to stay.

What we have done and are doing have not worked that well.

Dismissing progressive discussions that chart new paths will keep us stagnant.

Let’s write a new book together that will be picked up from bookshelves not because it’s a best-seller, but because it’s a book that works for our community, and most importantly, for the generations being born today.

Two hundred years ago people came down the Mahoning River for a reason and a future.

The river still flows — hopefully the flow of the future here will include our willingness to get off the shoreline.

The Rev. Edward Noga is pastor of St. Patrick Church in Youngstown.