MRCI, port authority team on development

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

VIENNA

The Western Reserve Port Authority has teamed up with the Mahoning River Corridor Initiative to continue and expand the MRCI’s economic- development work in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the port authority approved contributing $15,000 to help fund the joint venture.

James Floyd, a port authority member, said the collaboration will put the port authority in the lead position in the writing of grant applications.

Communities in the MRCI are Youngstown, Warren, Girard, McDonald, Niles, Newton Falls, Lowellville, Struthers and Campbell.

“The mayors emphasize we have to get out of the game of everyone competing for the same money,” Floyd said Wednesday of the nine communities in the MRCI.

The port authority carries out economic- development activities and runs the Youngstown- Warren Regional Airport.

The MRCI has worked about five years to redevelop former industrial sites. Among its other partners are Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies and the Mahoning River Corridor Mayors’ Association.

One of the priorities of the venture this year is to identify former industrial properties in the townships near the MRCI communities, which will expand the scope of the MRCI’s work, said Sarah Lown, the port authority’s director of economic development.

Scott Lynn, chairman of the port authority, said in a statement he is hopeful the collaboration will help provide funding the port authority will need to continue its economic- development work.

The port authority also approved the allocation of $10,000 to Project RESTORE, a nonprofit organization, to conduct an assessment to determine the most significant weaknesses in the region’s rail lines.

The assessment, which will take about six months, will focus on improvements that can be addressed in two years or less that will have a positive impact on attracting new businesses to the Mahoning Valley, especially those in the oil and gas industry.

Ken Prendergast, head of RESTORE, has said that many of the rail lines in the eastern part of Ohio where Utica and Marcellus Shale deposits are located are inactive or have been removed since the 1970s.

Rail plays an important role in the development of shale-related industries, Prendergast has said, especially in the hauling of sand.

The port authority also approved a contract with Keynote Media Group of Youngstown paying Keynote $4,850 to develop a strategic plan for the port authority.

Lynn said Keynote will gather comments from officials from Mahoning and Trumbull counties to determine the highest-priority projects they would like the port authority to address.

“Some board members go on a wild tangent,” so it would be helpful to have a plan that identifies what the public thinks the port authority’s priorities should be, Lynn said.

In other matters, Lynn said the port authority has “shelved for a while” the idea of changing the name of the airport to “Northeast Ohio Regional Airport” after comments from local leaders concerned about the removal of Youngstown and Warren from the airport’s name.