Wednesday, February 15, 2012
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- “This statement is not an exaggeration: The Youngstown-Warren area has become the darling of the national/international news media,” states the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber in its email newsletter to members.” On nearly a daily basis, the Regional Chamber fields calls and emails from U.S. and foreign news outlets interested in visiting the Valley to do a ‘comeback kid’ story about the Valley's rebirth.”
Here is the remaining text of the chamber’s advisory, titled “Valley’s resurgence attracts media coverage from around the U.S. and the world”:
Just in the last few weeks, the Chamber has worked with staff from NBC News, CNN Money, two television stations from Tokyo, Japan, and reporters doing stories for the New York Times and Washington Post. They all are interested in what's going on here economically, as well as the work that's being done to improve urban life in Youngstown-Warren.
The Chamber tracks positive national and international stories about the Valley and works to promote the positive change happening here. While the Valley used to attract dozens of negative stories each year about the area's poor economy, the destruction of its manufacturing base and the demise of our urban communities, that trend has dramatically reversed in recent years. Now the positive stories about the Youngstown-Warren area number in the hundreds.
The pivital year seemed to be 2009, when the Chamber logged about 400 positive national/international stores; in 2010 that number jumped to 725, helped by dozens of stories about GM's decision to manufacture the new Chevy Cruze in Lordstown. In 2011, the Chamber counted 604 positive national and international stories, in keeping with the recent positive trends.
Here are some examples of last year's headlines about the Valley:
- A Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, "Where the Jobs Are," in October 2011 talked about a new $650 million steel-pipe mill being built in Youngstown.
- The National Public Radio piece "Gas drilling boom brings new life to Steel Industry" in October 2011 noted that the shale gas development boom in Ohio and Pennsylvania is bringing industrial towns like Youngstown back to life.
- A story in October 2011 by the AtlanticCities.com, an offshoot of The Atlantic, titled "These cities are shaking the rust off the belt" noted that cities like Youngstown, Cleveland, Akron and Toledo are among the most resilient coming out of the recession."
- An October 2011 story in the international Financial Times headlined "US shale gas bonanza: New wells to draw on" noted the construction of the $650 million V&M Star pipe mill in Youngstown and how these and other industrial investments in the Valley are positioning this area to help lead the U.S. out of its recession.
- The September 2011 story in the New York Times titled "Deep recession sharply altered jobless map" noted that the "rate of recovery in Rust Belt areas around Youngstown and Akron [...] has outpaced that of former boomtowns like Colorado Springs and Tucson."
- The October 2011 story in the Detroit News headlined "Diesel Chevy Cruze coming to Lordstown, Ohio plant" detailed how the impressive first-year sales of the new Cruze and the good management-labor relations at the Lordstown plant where the car is made contributed to GM assigning the new diesel Cruze to the plant.
- Forbes magazine in September 2011 reported that Ohio's oil billions will unleash a manufacturing tech boom in Ohio and in Youngstown, specifically.
- Wall Street Journal in September 2011 said the new hot spot for energy in the U.S. is in the Youngstown-Warren area.
- Wall Street Journal in August 2011 featured the revitalization of manufacturing in the Youngstown-Warren area and the V&M Star project.
- In June 2011, CNN listed the Youngstown-Warren Metro Area as the cheapest housing market in the U.S.
- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in April 2011 printed the Sunday feature story "Youngstown Rejuvenated," which highlighted V&M Star, the Marcellus and Utica shale formations and their huge and untapped natural gas reserves.
- Governing magazine in February 2011 called Youngstown one of the next cool places to live.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
