Mark Knows It All

I truly believe that the Mahoning Valley will be the growth center for Ohio for the next ten years. The reason is clear. The rest of the state, for that matter the nation, is going through what we went through 30 years ago when the steel industry collapsed. More people lost their jobs in the Mahoning Valley in the years following 1977 than are currently employed by General Motors nationwide…and there was nobody there to help us. Over the past 30 years, although the area has continued to lose established large company manufacturing jobs, the area has done an outstanding job at establishing a highly diverse small business base which has held its own during the current recession. There are approximately 3500 new call center jobs in the area. It has become a warehouse/distribution center. A local specialty pipe manufacture is expanding. Several technology companies have moved into the area or have been “homegrown” in the business incubator/tech center downtown. While cities like Toledo and...

Over this past week I had an occasion to attend a business meeting with a friend of mine with an eye to doing some business out of town. The meeting was in Pittsburgh. Since my friend lived on the way, I picked him up at his lovely condominium located in Columbiana County. It is gorgeous unit in a beautiful development. I have known my friend for quite awhile, and he is a mover and shaker. He started his career in Chicago, which his hometown. Staying with the same company, he was transferred to the Cleveland office, then to the Youngstown office, then retired and moved to Columbiana. He flies back to Chicago on a regular basis to visit his family, but he is one of us now. It struck me, as I walked through his gorgeous home, that is amazing how he started in Chicago, and ended up Columbiana. I don’t mean that in a pejorative sense. I like it here, and I like it here a lot. He does, too. That’s why he stayed. The point is, isn’t it funny where we end up…and how we got there? I think it w...

I have always been a proponent of legalized gambling in Ohio. As I watched other states build casinos, I wondered how Ohio could let gambling revenue leave the state. Our budget is in shambles. Our schools are in need of funds. Our libraries are closing. The demographics of the state, especially in southern Ohio with its strong fundamentalist bent, tend to stack the deck against gambling initiatives. Initiative after initiative has gone down to defeat in Ohio. They are now trying it once again. This time, the constitutional amendment would allow one casino each in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, and Toledo, with the state revenue being shared equally by all of Ohio’s counties. The Cincy casino will be located close to an area decimated by job losses, numbering in the tens of thousands over the past 5 years with the closing of Airborne Express and numerous auto manufacturing plants and its attendant suppliers in the Dayton area. The promise of 35,000 jobs is almost too good to pass up,...

Two things happened to today which spells trouble for the Democratic Party as it currently exists. Van Jones quit as the Green Jobs Czar, and Jim Traficant had a welcome home party attended by 1200 very Traficant loyalists. What does a black man from Oakland, California, and Jim Traficant have in common? Nothing, and that is exactly my point. Let’s start with Van Jones. For those of you who watch NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN…you probably don’t know that Van Jones was the radical extremist among us. If you want to know what a President’s policies are or will be, look at the people he surrounds himself with for advice. Van Jones is a black activist whose past is stunningly radical. He compared George Bush to a crack-head; he stated overtly that he was a communist; he stated all the wealth should be given to Indians because America took their lands; he blindly supported a black cop killer; and signed a letter of support for the 9/11 Truth group which claims Bush was complicit in the 9/11 attack...

If there is one constant in the life of the Mahoning Valley, it is the Canfield Fair. For the most part, it looks the same today as it did when I went for the first time over 50 years ago. If there is change, it is slow. No technology here. It might not be the largest county fair in the country, but my guess it would be close to the top of the list. Even when attendance is down, the figures are staggering. What is even more interesting is that it is smack in the middle of the rust belt, and is adjunct to what is thought to be an industrial area. Who grows corn here? Well, a lot of people. The northeast quadrant of Mahoning County may be industrial, but the rest of it is about as rural as one can get, and so are the adjoining counties. 11,600 acres of Mahoning County land grows corn, producing 1.4 million bushels/year. I have mixed feelings about the fair. In this area, it is the traditional end of summer. For students, it the last fling before school starts. It is alternately beastly h...