Honestly, Youngstown has some of the cheapest housing in all of Ohio. The problem is with that comes the ghettos, which will swallow up surrounding areas, creating an expanding ghetto. Another comment mentioned that there's no decent work after GM shut down, and that's somewhat true, but now that the lordstown ultium cells plant is up, we should see an increase in opportunities for better careers. I know it takes much more than one big plant, but it's a start. Youngstown isn't a huge booming city like Cleveland, and with that, you get the good and the bad. We get fewer homeless people and crime, but we also get fewer opportunities for good careers compared to a bigger city. I'm currently driving to Cleveland for work daily, and I'd prefer that over Youngstown turning into Cleveland. I damn near have to fight off a bum every morning as I'm just trying to park and go to work. I'd much rather live in a suburb surrounding a low population city like Youngstown and drive out of town for work. You don't have to work in Youngstown just because you live here, so expand your search. Most cities don't have enough work to support the whole city with promising careers. This isn't a Youngstown problem, it's an American problem.
I grew up in Austintown and lived there until I was 30 then moved. The problem is, and always has been, the lack of work diversity. When the steel industry came in they were 100% focused on keeping it that way. Guess what.......it went away. Yet they got another golden goose in Lordstown with the GM plant and again that was the entire focus of the town.
I remember being in highschool and thinking if I could land a job at GM I'm set for my life and can retire from that job. Obviously that would have backfired. Once GM went away (and affiliated companies like Delphi) what was left to do? If you worked there and lost that job you'd have to work 2-3 "regular" jobs to make that kind of money.
So I guess I'd say yes, Youngstown is the worst thing about Youngstown. They had chances to expand their work culture but never did anything.
One last thing, living there is kind of a black hole. Everyone there knows it's bad and it has been going downhill for 50+ years however it's still home. Until you get a kick in the ass (as I did) to have to leave in order to have a better way of life you just stay and hope to be content.
This is šÆ. I have even contacted some real estate agents and Chambers of Commerce in the area about starting a new agri-business (non-cannabis related) and their response boiled down to "go pound sand, we don't want you here." To be completely frank, that was the reaction I got from Dayton, too. It seems like the smaller urban areas are content to wallow, and it's incredibly sad.
Contact the cities economic development department about some green industrial developments for something like that. There are a few indoor production facilities in the area.
I don't know anyone who thinks it's still the 70's. Litter, gun violence, people driving recklessly with no license or insurance are the worst things in this city that you don't see nearly as much in the suburbs and surrounding areas.
That its a shitty little town but people are so broken they wallow in that shittiness. Thereby making it impossible to make any progress.
Good ole Youngstown . . . .
Yes! Youngstown has a lot going for it, but the Youngstown attitude really brings me down. Even on this sub, there are a lot of people who just shit on Youngstown.
For context, I am from Youngstown, living in Minneapolis, and have lived in St. Louis, West Palm Beach, and Istanbul.
As someone from the city the attitude and constant negativity really brings you down. I live in one of the best cities in the country now and people here are happy and positive and it definitely has changed the way I think.
Pretty cool honestly. I was mainly in Uskudar, which is more low-key than some of the other touristy areas. I got to explore, see a bunch of cool things, see a failed romance through, and head back to Youngstown as covid set in.
The food is great! The people are pretty welcoming, would recommend!
I live in the Youngstown Area (Struthers), and travel to the Akron area for work. I see the Summit Racing building at the exit ramp I get off at every morning. Some of the employment opportunities are starting to improve in the area if you work in manufacturing, Youngstown, and almost every surrounding area are actively trying to attract new businesses to set up shop locally. Ultium Cells is set up in part of the old Lordstown complex. Trivium (formerly ExAl Can) is in the Poland Ave corridor. And of course, Vallourec Star is in the old Brier Hill Sheet and Tube works. All top paying employers. Downtown. Federal Plaza is seeing somewhat of a renaissance. A metric shit ton of money is being spent to beautify the area. Youngstown Amphitheater is drawing top notch entertainment (I believe Tim McGraw is headlining this year's YLive event).
Don't get me wrong -- Youngstown still has a lot of blight, but it's not the same busted down steel ghost town that it was. And this is coming from someone old enough to remember Black Monday.
Groups and people that have been in power for years and resist any change that comes to the community. Incompetence in the city govt. Brain drain. Lack of cooperation between suburbs and the city. People who work for the city but live in the suburbs. No vision of what Youngstown could be, or how to get people and businesses to come here. Maybe those in power don't actually want that, as they might be held to a higher standard. After living here for almost a decade, I'm not feeling good about the future of the city.
The Get Mine attitude of the politicians and infrastructure. Youngstownās only eve lotion is going from decades of corrupt white politicians, police chief and fire chief to now having a corrupt black mayor , police chief and fire chief . Sad progress
I was the last kid born in Youngstown in ā63 before my family moved to Orange County, CA.
When my parents went to my fatherās 50th high school reunion, they found out my father and another classmate (Florida) were the only ones who got out of the area. The rest lived between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Most were still in Youngstown.
It was not a joyful event.
I love Pittsburgh. After 2 years of living in a 7500 sq ft warehouse with no heat and a leaking roof in downtown Youngstown (that was supposed to house a small arts collective that failed) I moved to Pittsburgh to go to the Art Institute. I loved it there. Lots of culture and activity going on. I will never shit on Pittsburgh. Even though it's not far from Youngstown it feels like a different world.
My Wife is from Youngstown and I met her when I lived there in the late 80s. We are back in SoCal and she lives in here. A big coincidence happened that we found out a guy she went to Fitch HS with lives a few streets over from us. He left Youngstown after HS and came to California and had a career in the Carson oil refinery. He retired as a supervisor with a very nice pension. Youngstown could never have given him that opportunity. He married here and bought a home. Very few of his friends got out.
There still is an old mentality in the valley from a bygone era. It won't be fixed until boomer politicians die or retire. Edit: Please forgive my ignorant and uninformed comment. I would delete it but I kind of deserve it.
Shhhh, this isnāt about sound logic or good information; this is about blaming of our problems on a single demographic and wishing them dead! Come on, man. Show some solidarity!
That might take a little more time, but it does seem to be changing. I used to joke about how mentalities were a generation or a generation or two behind. Many gen xers act more like boomers or even silent generation. The millennials seem more like gen xers. Now that I have lived away from the area for a while, I'm not really joking anymore.
Not that it's all bad. Growing up there, I've noticed that those of us from that area seem to be able to feel comfortable with and communicate better with a wider range of age groups than others at the same age can.
Yes I was in that comment, Yes I mean all of the valley. The people in this valley voted for Jim Jordan for the last 15 years and have voted for Trump twice so far. There's no positive way to spin this bullshit
We moved there in 2004 from a small town in Southern Illinois. We thought itās still part of the Midwest, not a big city, weād adjust easily. That wasnāt the case, primarily because of the people. It seemed like strangers would be rude before you could be rude to them. Maybe itās the lack of jobs or consistently overcast weather, I donāt know. I just know from our experience and Iām glad we moved out back in 2018. I have no reason or desire to return.
The lack of investment by the state into a high tech based economy. They have a great University in YSU where they could have used the graduates to build the economy. Itās time to move past low end manufacturing and into higher paying fields. The higher the paying the jobs are the more tax money gets into the city and helps improve the area. For example The state funded the Intel factory in the middle of a corn field county when they could have put it in Youngstown. It would have changed the entire area
Iām the one who said lack of educated work force. I can tell you that includes all of the valley.
Like Itās considerably cheaper than most placesā¦.housing especially.
Worst things: I feel like the people are rustbelt fatalists. Meaning they expect bad things to happen and there is a secret group of rich people who control everything hellbent on their destruction. When the reality is they lost their great grandparents immigrant energy. These people left Europe with nothing in their pocket and a name and address of a relative in Youngstown. They proceeded to get jobs learn the language and build America. Now these same peopleās ancestors sit around Youngstown bitching and wondering when the GM will comeback answer: never. When these people could just move to place jobs and prosperity.
Honestly, Youngstown has some of the cheapest housing in all of Ohio. The problem is with that comes the ghettos, which will swallow up surrounding areas, creating an expanding ghetto. Another comment mentioned that there's no decent work after GM shut down, and that's somewhat true, but now that the lordstown ultium cells plant is up, we should see an increase in opportunities for better careers. I know it takes much more than one big plant, but it's a start. Youngstown isn't a huge booming city like Cleveland, and with that, you get the good and the bad. We get fewer homeless people and crime, but we also get fewer opportunities for good careers compared to a bigger city. I'm currently driving to Cleveland for work daily, and I'd prefer that over Youngstown turning into Cleveland. I damn near have to fight off a bum every morning as I'm just trying to park and go to work. I'd much rather live in a suburb surrounding a low population city like Youngstown and drive out of town for work. You don't have to work in Youngstown just because you live here, so expand your search. Most cities don't have enough work to support the whole city with promising careers. This isn't a Youngstown problem, it's an American problem.
One plant is a start but there will be nothing else in the future
I grew up in Austintown and lived there until I was 30 then moved. The problem is, and always has been, the lack of work diversity. When the steel industry came in they were 100% focused on keeping it that way. Guess what.......it went away. Yet they got another golden goose in Lordstown with the GM plant and again that was the entire focus of the town. I remember being in highschool and thinking if I could land a job at GM I'm set for my life and can retire from that job. Obviously that would have backfired. Once GM went away (and affiliated companies like Delphi) what was left to do? If you worked there and lost that job you'd have to work 2-3 "regular" jobs to make that kind of money. So I guess I'd say yes, Youngstown is the worst thing about Youngstown. They had chances to expand their work culture but never did anything. One last thing, living there is kind of a black hole. Everyone there knows it's bad and it has been going downhill for 50+ years however it's still home. Until you get a kick in the ass (as I did) to have to leave in order to have a better way of life you just stay and hope to be content.
If you have a career that can support remote work you can slay though. That's if you're okay still living in Youngstown.
Yep I work out of Columbus remotely and loving how cheap the rent is. Still moving though cuz it's boring AF here
This is šÆ. I have even contacted some real estate agents and Chambers of Commerce in the area about starting a new agri-business (non-cannabis related) and their response boiled down to "go pound sand, we don't want you here." To be completely frank, that was the reaction I got from Dayton, too. It seems like the smaller urban areas are content to wallow, and it's incredibly sad.
Contact the cities economic development department about some green industrial developments for something like that. There are a few indoor production facilities in the area.
Corruption
I don't know anyone who thinks it's still the 70's. Litter, gun violence, people driving recklessly with no license or insurance are the worst things in this city that you don't see nearly as much in the suburbs and surrounding areas.
That its a shitty little town but people are so broken they wallow in that shittiness. Thereby making it impossible to make any progress. Good ole Youngstown . . . .
Yes! Youngstown has a lot going for it, but the Youngstown attitude really brings me down. Even on this sub, there are a lot of people who just shit on Youngstown. For context, I am from Youngstown, living in Minneapolis, and have lived in St. Louis, West Palm Beach, and Istanbul.
As someone from the city the attitude and constant negativity really brings you down. I live in one of the best cities in the country now and people here are happy and positive and it definitely has changed the way I think.
What was Istanbul like lol
Pretty cool honestly. I was mainly in Uskudar, which is more low-key than some of the other touristy areas. I got to explore, see a bunch of cool things, see a failed romance through, and head back to Youngstown as covid set in. The food is great! The people are pretty welcoming, would recommend!
I live in the Youngstown Area (Struthers), and travel to the Akron area for work. I see the Summit Racing building at the exit ramp I get off at every morning. Some of the employment opportunities are starting to improve in the area if you work in manufacturing, Youngstown, and almost every surrounding area are actively trying to attract new businesses to set up shop locally. Ultium Cells is set up in part of the old Lordstown complex. Trivium (formerly ExAl Can) is in the Poland Ave corridor. And of course, Vallourec Star is in the old Brier Hill Sheet and Tube works. All top paying employers. Downtown. Federal Plaza is seeing somewhat of a renaissance. A metric shit ton of money is being spent to beautify the area. Youngstown Amphitheater is drawing top notch entertainment (I believe Tim McGraw is headlining this year's YLive event). Don't get me wrong -- Youngstown still has a lot of blight, but it's not the same busted down steel ghost town that it was. And this is coming from someone old enough to remember Black Monday.
Hopelessness from the politicians, the police and most of the people. Crime.
...and old money protecting their own interests that won't accommodate any new approach.
Old money? In Youngstown???
Groups and people that have been in power for years and resist any change that comes to the community. Incompetence in the city govt. Brain drain. Lack of cooperation between suburbs and the city. People who work for the city but live in the suburbs. No vision of what Youngstown could be, or how to get people and businesses to come here. Maybe those in power don't actually want that, as they might be held to a higher standard. After living here for almost a decade, I'm not feeling good about the future of the city.
The Get Mine attitude of the politicians and infrastructure. Youngstownās only eve lotion is going from decades of corrupt white politicians, police chief and fire chief to now having a corrupt black mayor , police chief and fire chief . Sad progress
I was the last kid born in Youngstown in ā63 before my family moved to Orange County, CA. When my parents went to my fatherās 50th high school reunion, they found out my father and another classmate (Florida) were the only ones who got out of the area. The rest lived between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Most were still in Youngstown. It was not a joyful event.
Nothing wrong with living in Cleveland / Pittsburgh āVenn diagramā area IMO. People shit on CLE and PIT as well lol.
I love Pittsburgh. After 2 years of living in a 7500 sq ft warehouse with no heat and a leaking roof in downtown Youngstown (that was supposed to house a small arts collective that failed) I moved to Pittsburgh to go to the Art Institute. I loved it there. Lots of culture and activity going on. I will never shit on Pittsburgh. Even though it's not far from Youngstown it feels like a different world.
Iāve traveled to both towns many times and Iāve always looked forward to returning. No disrespect to those metros.
My Wife is from Youngstown and I met her when I lived there in the late 80s. We are back in SoCal and she lives in here. A big coincidence happened that we found out a guy she went to Fitch HS with lives a few streets over from us. He left Youngstown after HS and came to California and had a career in the Carson oil refinery. He retired as a supervisor with a very nice pension. Youngstown could never have given him that opportunity. He married here and bought a home. Very few of his friends got out.
There still is an old mentality in the valley from a bygone era. It won't be fixed until boomer politicians die or retire. Edit: Please forgive my ignorant and uninformed comment. I would delete it but I kind of deserve it.
Boomer politicians? Who on the city council is a boomer? The mayor certainly isn't a boomer.
Shhhh, this isnāt about sound logic or good information; this is about blaming of our problems on a single demographic and wishing them dead! Come on, man. Show some solidarity!
Most of the boomer leadership at all levels is gone in the valley.
That might take a little more time, but it does seem to be changing. I used to joke about how mentalities were a generation or a generation or two behind. Many gen xers act more like boomers or even silent generation. The millennials seem more like gen xers. Now that I have lived away from the area for a while, I'm not really joking anymore. Not that it's all bad. Growing up there, I've noticed that those of us from that area seem to be able to feel comfortable with and communicate better with a wider range of age groups than others at the same age can.
My employer is this mentality. No plans for growth or innovation, just keep the organization in the black.
The shootings
Corruption
Why don't we ever hear things come out of the YBi?
I was wondering the same thing.
Government corruption, crime Has gone up due to so much fentanyl.
Yes I was in that comment, Yes I mean all of the valley. The people in this valley voted for Jim Jordan for the last 15 years and have voted for Trump twice so far. There's no positive way to spin this bullshit
The people
We moved there in 2004 from a small town in Southern Illinois. We thought itās still part of the Midwest, not a big city, weād adjust easily. That wasnāt the case, primarily because of the people. It seemed like strangers would be rude before you could be rude to them. Maybe itās the lack of jobs or consistently overcast weather, I donāt know. I just know from our experience and Iām glad we moved out back in 2018. I have no reason or desire to return.
The lack of investment by the state into a high tech based economy. They have a great University in YSU where they could have used the graduates to build the economy. Itās time to move past low end manufacturing and into higher paying fields. The higher the paying the jobs are the more tax money gets into the city and helps improve the area. For example The state funded the Intel factory in the middle of a corn field county when they could have put it in Youngstown. It would have changed the entire area Iām the one who said lack of educated work force. I can tell you that includes all of the valley.
Like Itās considerably cheaper than most placesā¦.housing especially. Worst things: I feel like the people are rustbelt fatalists. Meaning they expect bad things to happen and there is a secret group of rich people who control everything hellbent on their destruction. When the reality is they lost their great grandparents immigrant energy. These people left Europe with nothing in their pocket and a name and address of a relative in Youngstown. They proceeded to get jobs learn the language and build America. Now these same peopleās ancestors sit around Youngstown bitching and wondering when the GM will comeback answer: never. When these people could just move to place jobs and prosperity.
More about the secret club of rich people controlling please
Did you read Why the garden club couldnt save Youngstown? Because that is literally what happened
The ignorance, lack of worldlyness, and people who would be conservatives if identity politics didnt make them think theyre liberal in anyway.
Everything, the place is a shithole and should be wiped off the face of the Earth.