What Chicago Can Learn From Cleveburgh

The Cleveland-Pittsburgh economic corridor is in the news again. Southwestern PA has emerged as a proximity asset for Northeastern Ohio. There are benefits for both cities if two regions functionally can become one. Yesterday, Aaron Renn (The Urbanophile) reviewed a recent OECD report about Chicago's struggles and what can be done about it. You can find the 300+ page paper here. Aaron focuses on the talent issue:

To be sure, the Chicago Tri-State metro-region remains an attractive place for many migrants, but it is less attractive than many of its US metro-region peers. Moreover, if the analysis is confined to highly educated people of prime working age (25+, with at least a bachelor’s degree), then the picture is even more problematic. During 2005-09, more such people moved into the area than left it, but the net gain was relatively small compared with other large US metro-regions. Los Angeles, for example, benefited from a net gain of nearly 80,000 highly educated people in 2009, compared with 3,500 for the Chicago Tri-State metro-region.

Emphasis added. I've looked at Chicago's college degree migration in the past. Granted the data are for one-year (2007-2008), but Pittsburgh net imported more "bachelors +" than Chicago, 5,659 to 2,047. I bet that surprises a lot of readers. The numbers sharpen the point that both Aaron and the OECD are trying to make. Concerning highly skilled talent, Chicago is an underperformer. As a global city, Chicago is failing.

What does that have to do with Cleveburgh? The OECD makes mention of Pittsburgh twice as a way forward for Chicago. The first mention is on page 168 and concerns the efforts of the research universities to impact economic development. The second recommendation is about regional collaboration (p. 186):

The Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown (Ohio) and Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) area was one of the 19th century industrial motors of the US While it has suffered from industrial decline, the region has taken many innovative actions to reinvigorate declining industries. The study found such federal innovation funds were too time consuming to access and siloed, that state and local funds were easier to access but were more limited in amounts, and that the combination of programmes did help firms both leverage private financing as well as benefit from new expertise and financing sources. Federal funds were found to be more successful at supporting incremental improvements in goods and services than state funds, in part due to larger aids. The study also suggested that federal programmes work more closely with state and local leaders who are close to firms to take into account more regionally tailored and new approaches to regional economic development (Feldman and Lanahan, 2010). Indeed, with respect to supporting research, federal and state governments should pay attention to the balance between longer term basic R&D for new development and applied R&D for the use and dissemination of existing technologies. Such a focus can lead to more inter-institutional collaboration and partnerships of a complementary nature.

I added the links to the study referenced. Consider the OECD report another nudge for the Tech Belt (or whatever you call it) to move along more aggressively with integration. The corridor is a global exemplar. The effort is still in its infancy.

What are the benefits? For one, Pittsburgh's successful attraction of talent can spillover into Cleveland. Research universities in Southwestern PA can act as an economic development catalyst for Northeast Ohio. What Chicagoland could be, Cleveburgh is. Alone, Pittsburgh cannot rival Chicago. Together, the region can be a world class metro.

The Cleveburgh Dividend

Perversely, Cleveland is trying to be more like Pittsburgh. I suppose such a development is better than the zero-sum thinking that usually dominates the regional rivalry. Via the Null Space Twitter machine, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Sandra Pianalto spells out what is wrong with Ohio:

“We don’t have world-class universities in Ohio,” she said, adding Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University and the University of Cincinnati are all “moving up” as research institutions, but haven’t yet matched the contribution that Carnegie Mellon University provides Pittsburgh.

Place envy is the wrong way to frame a conversation about economic development. I suggest looking at what Pittsburgh doesn't do well and, at least as far as Cleveland is concerned, figure out how to compliment your neighbor instead of coveting his assets. Pittsblog to the rescue:

Pittsburgh is an amazingly innovative place. There is no shortage of innovation here, no shortage of ideas, and no shortage of innovators. What Pittsburgh needs more of is the will to move innovation *quickly* into the commercialization pipeline.

What if Cleveland focused on commercializing Pittsburgh innovations instead of investing in CMU Lake Erie? Part of Pittsburgh is already in Ohio. Parts of the state can and do leverage the close proximity of Pittsburgh and its universities.

Failing to acknowledge points of regional collaboration generates bizarre geographic arbitrage opportunities. For example, Cleveland is subsidizing TechBelt air travel by supporting an airline hub:

It was a new experience for Lorain resident, Elsie Kral, too. She lives just 20 miles from Cleveland Hopkins Airport, but drove across the state line 120 miles to Pittsburgh's airport for her trip to Vermont. She saved $300. Kral said it was worth it even with her time, gas and tolls. ...

... The trip to Vegas in August may be cheaper out of Pittsburgh, but it connects in Cleveland.

"It's crazy isn't it?" Kral remarked.

Kral isn't going to Vegas, but a connection in Cleveland saved the Northeast Ohio woman money too. To save $300, Kral drove from Lorain to Pittsburgh. Then, she flew to Cleveland and then to Vermont.

"It doesn't make any sense at all," Kral said.

At least Cleveland didn't lose its hub like Pittsburgh did. Parochial pride is a killer. Cleveland should take advantage of the shortsightedness in the Pittsburgh market. The commercialization pipeline for CMU innovation needn't be in Silicon Valley or Boston. One could build it in Cleveland and both cities would be the better for it.

Cleveburgh Rising

The next Silicon Valley won't look like Silicon Valley. The era of greenfield economic development is over, at least in most OECD countries. Here in the United States, we've done a good job of picking that low-hanging fruit. The next innovation heartland will be in the Rust Belt, brownfield economic development.

Richard Florida, and others, are very good at mapping where the current clusters are located. We also understand why regions such as Silicon Valley are now economic powerhouses. Unfortunately, that hindsight doesn't project well into the future. What we read and hear is that the current winners will only get stronger. In many cases, that's likely true. But there will be new winners. How might we divine them?

Worthy of reiteration, Detroit hopes to be the next Pittsburgh:

Primary metals and all of manufacturing continued to decline as a share of metro Pittsburgh’s employment earnings. But it didn’t consign the region to permanent low- prosperity status. By the 1990s Pittsburgh was at or above the national average in per capita income even though primary metals accounted for only 4 to 5 percent of employment earnings and 17 to 19 percent for all of manufacturing. In 2008 Pittsburgh returned to its previous peak compared to the nation—104 percent of the national average. Of the 55 metropolitan areas with populations of a million or more, it ranked 16th and was more prosperous than Dallas, Raleigh/Durham, Austin, Portland and Atlanta.

In terms of prosperity, Pittsburgh hits way above its weight. If Cleveland could gets its act together, look out world:

Cleveland historically had the more diversified economy [than Pittsburgh] and traditionally was the most successful and largest city in the region. The city primarily built component parts, providing the essential industrial pieces to other mostly producer products. Companies such as Parker Hannifin, Standard Products, Cleveland-Cliffs, the Eaton Corporation, Yale & Towne, TRW, White Motor, and Sherwin-Williams exemplify the entrepreneurial efforts that build Cleveland.

This proud historical legacy is a blessing and a curse. It is a curse because the industrial decline of Cleveland has been more gradual, punctuated by many efforts to restructure alongside a common belief that corners were being turned—only to face another setback amid the steady decline of employment in industrial manufacturing across the Midwest. But it is a blessing because many parts and components are still manufactured in the city, along with the important service components that accompany their distribution. These industries remain highly competitive in the global economy, sustaining the region for export markets and defining a source of expertise and strength.

Pittsburgh shed its manufacturing base much more quickly than Cleveland did. Hence, Detroit looks at Pittsburgh as opposed to Cleveland as a model for a way forward. Ironically, Cleveburgh is a tried and true economic geography that lends itself to cluster-based economic development:

The fortunes of regions, of course, are tied to the fortunes of their firms and industries. The success and specialization of 19th-century achievements are still visible and still define many of the expectations, capabilities, and obstacles in this region. Writing in 1936, economic geographer Richard Hartshorne noted that the Pittsburgh-Cleveland region—geographically situated in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio—was one of the most important regional economies in the United States.

The name "Richard Hartshorne" should be familiar to anyone who majored in geography at university. (I didn't realize he was born in Kittanning) Cleveburgh was obvious in 1936. Cleveburgh should be obvious now. It isn't. I think we are looking at the first regional innovation cluster to cross state boundaries. At least, where better to test the policy idea?

Cleveburgh, not the Great Lakes Economic Initiative or the Global Midwest, is the policy geography of the future. The TechBelt is further along than anything John Austin or Richard Longworth has proposed. The reason why is buried in obscure texts about historical geography. If only more analysts and pundits read them.

Johnny Knoxville Regional Cluster

Johnny Knoxville should have gone to Youngstown, not Detroit. His film is a celebration of Rust Belt Chic, the artistic side of ruin porn. The cultural vanguard for this movement is not living in Detroit or Buffalo. Hip dying cities are taking their cues from places such as Braddock. There exists a Rust Belt Chic heartland and it defines one of the most potent regional innovation clusters in the world.

The core of the Industrial Heartland (i.e. Rust Belt) is the metals region outlined on this map. Today, some call this corridor the TechBelt. This geography can also be described in cultural terms. Youngstown photographer Tony Nicholas explains in an interview with Metro Monthly:

Metro Monthly: There’s a small group of people using “Rust Belt” as a brand. I was wondering what the thinking was behind that and are all these groups of people affiliated?

Nicholas: It’s an identifiable term that can be used to group a lot of different things together. . . . I’ve worked on shows with Daniel Horne. He’s a local sculptor and he started Artists of the Rust Belt Festivals at the B&O Station. . . . It’s a marketable term that people can relate to. This is where we’re from and this is who we are.

Metro Monthly: The thing that’s interesting about it is that you’re taking [and using] something that has been – for about 25 or so years – a pejorative way to describe the region. Everyone knows what Rust Belt means, but your group has redefined it in a way where you’re using the recognition that Rust Belt has but really creating a new identity for it.

Nicholas: Absolutely. That’s part of it. That’s part of the motivation – to show people that we are, in a sense, the Rust Belt. We are from here. This is who we are. But, at the same time, we’re trying to change people’s perceptions, their attitudes about the area that has evolved so much, and is always evolving to a more positive light. To show people. . . . You don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t come to these [art] shows and see what’s going on. I’m trying to use this as a tool to show people that this is not just what you read 20 years ago. Youngstown is a different place. There’s a group of people here that choose to be here and they live their lives in a really interesting way and they make art that speaks about the area in more ways than I can even explain. ...

... Metro Monthly: You said that when you met someone it led to you meeting maybe five more people. I have a few questions. How many portraits do you plan on doing and what is the area that you’ll cover geographically? How far out do you consider the Rust Belt to be?

Nicholas: Well, I try not to be too limited because it can be a vast area. . . . But, at this point, it seems that most are in the Mahoning Valley, the Youngstown area. Jenn Cole lives in Liberty. That’s probably the furthest north I’ve gone, actually. But if you live from here to almost to Cleveland and to Pittsburgh – in-between that. To me, that’s the heart of the Rust Belt. It [the project] has become such a big thing already. . . . I don’t want to say I’ll limit how many I will shoot. It’s more who’s willing to let me photograph. . . . The more the merrier, is what I say. I had to turn away a few musicians who wanted to do it. I’m happy to photograph them, but this has got to be more or less the visual artists. I just had to narrow the focus. It’s just too vast already.

That conversation is from early August. I've been waiting for the right time to plop that exchange, as well as the Rust_Rococo show, in the middle of a blog post. These artists are appropriating the term "Rust Belt" and reinterpreting the surrounding landscape:

Their work unearths the lush, the curvaceous, the vibrant, the smooth, the solid, and the sexual from apparent barrenness. They indulge. What these artists create is a new aesthetic of abandon. Rejecting the macabre pantomime of aimless nostalgia and refusing to be overcome by the heavy shadow of memory and doubt, these artists invigorate and reconquer how we understand our wasted landscape. By doing so, they expose how our rust can empower, not suffocate, our future.

Jimmy Hagan and Leslie Cusano

That's a radically different approach than the more common refrain, "Our hometown is no longer the Rust Belt. We are not a dying city. Come here and be surprised by what you find."

Detroit is keen to show the world what's just outside the frame of the ruin porn shot. The goal is to dispel the negative place-branding, shatter the myth of an empty city with no hope. Detroit isn't what you think it is. Perhaps Detroit is like Beirut. The past devastation is still too recent.

The perspective on Rust Belt decay as a point of pride is unique to the TechBelt. Here we have a discernible region that will readily lend itself to cluster-based economic development:

To begin with, the cluster framework reveals and emphasizes the regional nature of the economy. Until recently, very little national or state economic thinking recognized the centrality to the nation’s economic outcomes of its regional economies.57 Instead, attention has been focused on either the macroperformance of the nation or on the fortunes of individual industries or firms. However, because physical proximity and locally bounded exchanges matter so much to their workings, clusters highlight the importance of geography, space, and regions in the structure of the national economy. Clusters, in that sense, make unavoidable the fact that locations matter. And the truth that flows from that recognition is critical: As Michael Porter writes, “There is no national economy…but a series of regional economies that trade with each other and the rest of the world.”

Not only do we have to identify a pre-existing cluster to leverage; we must locate a functioning region. This is where economic geography overlaps with cultural geography. The cluster initiative is complicated by the legacy of political geography (e.g. states as containers of power). The strong identity of the Rust Belt Chic heartland indicates to me that these barriers can be overcome. Artists are drawing a map that economic development professionals should use.

High-Speed Rail Economic Geography: Cleveburgh

Digging Pitt is doing a great job of promoting Cleveburgh. Today's post has video of an interview of Youngstown's Hunter Morrison talking about the geography of the TechBelt. Towards the end, Hunter talks a little bit about high-speed rail and the gap in the national plan which effectively divides Cleveburgh. Ultimately, I think Hunter makes the wrong pitch. The entire HSR conversation is missing the boat.

Today must be Cleveburgh Monday. Null Space looks at another pressing TechBelt issue:

That and it looks like Ohio may be looking to ante up to keep the combined airline from cutting flights up there. I really have a big Cleveburgh post building up inside of me.. two major airports two hours from each other; just can't be good if governments start throwing in fiscal incentives that will only work against each other in the end.

This passage has everything to do with my first paragraph. What, exactly, do you want high-speed rail to do? In Europe, true HSR helps to connect major cities. I don't think that makes much sense at all in the United States. Hunter's invocation of the national scale doesn't speak to the economic geography of Cleveburgh. But Chris Briem's post does.

To bring another voice into the discussion, please recall Aaron Renn's "Mega-Skepticism":

Geographic proximity alone can offer some benefits. Philadelphia is certainly benefitting from proximity to New York as NYC prices turn it into the sixth borough. Pittsburgh can’t tap into that. But I view this as less of a mega-region, than just the colossus that is New York City expanding its sphere of influence as it becomes an ever more important world city. There is a similar effect going on with Chicago and Milwaukee, but is that replicable elsewhere?

Even with high-speed rail, Pittsburgh isn't going to benefit from New York City like Philadelphia does. Maybe Pittsburgh-to-DC makes sense. Cleveland-to-Chicago? No.

Cleveburgh is not a megaregion. From the perspective of Youngstown, the TechBelt is a singular talent pool and job market. Put a software firm in the Mahoning Valley and you can tap workers in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. In this regard, better rail in the corridor makes sense. It would functionally expand the density dividend.

Connecting the region's three biggest airports would build the necessary infrastructure to breathe life into the TechBelt. Right now, it's a zero sum game. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Akron/Canton are all competing for the same shrinking market share. More efficient rail service would make one trans-Atlantic flight economically viable. Instead, Cleveland and Pittsburgh each subsidizes its own flight. Civic pride results in a tragedy of the commons.

The next generation of rail could catalyze more urban economic spillovers. This approach makes the most sense in the Rust Belt given how so many cities (large and small) are packed so closely together yet remain worlds apart. The parochial silos are too small. Megaregions are too big. Urban pairs are just right. Welcome to the Cookie Table Express.

Slovak Diaspora And Cleveburgh

I haven't written much about Cleveburgh in quite some time. The economic corridor is still swimming around in my head. A speech from the Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs rekindled the geography:

I would like to thank the Centre for Transatlantic Relations at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University and, in particular, its Managing Director, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Director Daniel Hamilton, as well as Michael Haltzel and many others who contribute their efforts to the strengthening of transatlantic relations, and for having given me this opportunity to stand before you here today.

I am especially glad that I can do so right here, in the capital of the country of which thousands of Slovaks called and still call their second home. As you may or may not know, Cleveland and Pittsburgh had once been the biggest “Slovak” cities measured by the size of their Slovak communities. The US was a beacon that guided several generations of Slovaks on their quest for freedom, prosperity, or both. Whether they emigrated in pursuit of a better life during the Great Depression in the 1930s, or escaped the consequences of Fascism in the 1940s, or from the Communist seizure of power in the early 1950s, or from the Warsaw Pact tanks that suppressed the Prague Spring of 1968, virtually every generation of our fathers and grandfathers experienced one massive wave of emigration to the US.

I emphasized the relevant part of the passage. When considering regions, there needs to be a cultural foundation that ties together all the communities. The cradle of the Slovak Diaspora fits the bill.

Youngstown is part of the Slovak band stretched between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. You can read more about the ethnic experience at Steel Valley Voices. The Slovak ties are important because Cleveland and Pittsburgh represent two different historical geographies. Pittsburgh and Youngstown are Northern Appalachian cities. Cleveland is Midwestern. It is not uncommon for Browns fans to refer to Steelers fans as hilljacks:

From the southern region of the Midwest (see Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and the better part of West Virginia). Hilljacks have a penchant for sleeveless t-shirts, Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet and low-end regional beer. Family gatherings come in the form of cookouts and all of them culminate in drunken brawls and multiple arrests. Young hilljack chicks are usually very attractive but undergo a metamorphosis sometime after they have their third kid before the age of twenty.

Most of the Rust Belt attempts to distinguish itself from Appalachia. One can find the same attitude in Pittsburgh. Residents haven't embraced their city as "The Paris of Appalachia". That's too bad.

I imagine that ethnic Slovaks in Youngstown don't appreciate the differences between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I'm sure they are aware of the rivalry, but I doubt the tension is all that important in the Mahoning Valley. To them, Cleveburgh is one long cookie table.

Cleveland Brain Drain

A few days ago, a fellow blogger sent to me a few links concerning the brain drain issue in Cleveland. The Cleveland Commitment is a project designed to get regional talent to return after seeing the world. I like the concept.

I have two tales in support of the Cleveland Commitment. First, a different take on the "forced" out-migration going on in Ireland:

An Australian, Mark Ballantine, who runs the Belavista restaurant next door, is the son of Sligo emigrants. He came back to visit family, fell in love with Strandhill and never left.

"The general consensus among everyone is doom and gloom at the moment," he said.

"A lot of young people ask me about Australia and the state of the economy there.

"The older guys who are going over have worked in the building trade but there is absolutely nothing happening here for them. The kids are different. They are going for the adventure."

The economic push factor is very real, but graduates might leave even if there were a few more job opportunities. To reinforce the point, consider some brain drain from the UAE:

“I often ask myself what I’m doing in China when I go back home and am reminded of the bountiful comforts of the UAE,” Amina says. “But the scale of the opportunity here is huge – everything is bigger, faster and crazier. Abu Dhabi has changed a lot, but I feel like my own life there would be predictable.”

The sisters say there’s a generational difference between the adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit that drew their parents to the UAE in search of a better life, and a more laid-back approach among their UAE-born peers, who are enjoying the fruits of their parents’ success. That’s exactly the course they wanted to escape.

The sisters, who studied at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, say all of their UAE high-school classmates took university courses abroad, with about 90 per cent returning to the UAE after graduation. The rest moved back to the countries that their parents had left a generation earlier, such as Lebanon, Jordan or Egypt, which now afford greater opportunity than in the past.

There are jobs at home, but young talent leaves anyway. I suppose someone might point out that life in the UAE is boring and that spicing up the downtown offerings might keep graduates from exploring the world. I think the article makes clear just how ridiculous the cool city concept is. The transient journey is about getting out of one's comfort zone, not finding a place more hip.

Yet this perspective persists, even at the highest levels of leadership. Back to Cleveland:

The [Beachwood High School] students decided to focus on reversing the “brain drain” for their project after interviewing [Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc.,] and other key Cleveland leaders, such as Toby Cosgrove, president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic; Charles Ratner, president and CEO of Forest City Enterprises; and Mayor Frank Jackson.

“We asked them about their views on Cleveland and what could be improved,” Stern said. “The major idea that came across was that we have this problem of ‘brain drain.’ ”

Crosby said what stood out in her mind from the interviews was that “Cleveland’s biggest problem was among Clevelanders and their view of (the city), not necessarily an outside view.”

And so the cycle continues ... The people at the helm of the region's economy perpetuate the brain drain myth and prescribe an attitude change so graduates won't leave. The solution to the fabricated problem isn't even novel. It has all been tried before. Which is why the Cleveland Commitment is so refreshing. A better understanding of the baseline is always welcome.

Youngstown Business Incubator Success Story

I've been back in Colorado for about a week. I'm still buzzing from my trip to Youngstown. I'm pleased to report that the Greater Youngstown 2.0 project was well received and I expect to be able to announce an expansion of our efforts within the next month. There is international interest in our innovative approach to talent attraction and economic development. If you would like to learn more, then check out this story about us in the Youngstown Business Incubator supplement for this month's Inside Business magazine. You can also read about how the incubator is driving the revitalization of Youngstown's core. The YBI success story is nothing short of astounding and we at GY 2.0 are proud to be part of it.

RUST FEST

Companion post at Greater Youngstown 2.0. For here, the full press release:

McDonough Museum of Art
RUST FEST digital arts and new media festival
June 13 - July 24, 2009
Opening Reception, Saturday, June 13, 6:00-8:00pm
A selection of digital arts and new media from MFA programs within the United States.

Beginning June 13th the McDonough Museum of Art on the campus of Youngstown State University will open the exhibition Rust Fest, featuring the work of graduate students enrolled in MFA programs in digital arts and new media from eight universities across the United States.

Each institution was asked to submit seven examples of notable work from students currently enrolled in their graduate programs. Rust Fest will feature a presentation of screen based work in all forms - from animation to computer games and novel visualization environments - to works in 2nd life. This exhibition will provide an unparalleled opportunity for visitors to the Museum to encounter compelling new media and digital art works from several progressive MFA programs.

The schools participating in this exhibition include, Rhode Island School of Design, the University of California at Berkley, Alfred University, New York University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Minnesota.

The opening of the festival on Saturday, June 13 will include an exciting performance piece by Leslie Raymond and Jason Jay Stevens, professors in New Media at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Potter-Belmar Labs presents a live mix of music and video projection. Both artists perform from laptop computers augmented by external digital devices used to manipulate their palette of images and sounds. The duo carries the audience through an improvised collage experience in sound and image. They build as they go, weaving field recordings with threads sampled from pop culture and their own rich sound and image compositions. The performance begins at 7:00pm and will take place in the McDonough auditorium.

The McDonough Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00am until 4:00pm with extended hours on Wednesday evenings until 8:00pm. The exhibition and all related programming are free and open to the public. For further information please call 330.941.1400

Proximity and Economic Development

Score another one for urban economic geography:

An economic study published in 2004 by Holland-based Whittaker Associates listed proximity to Chicago as the top strength for developing new industry in the Twin Cities.

That came despite the report's assertion that more than a quarter of all jobs in the area are in manufacturing, and most of those are in tool-and-die shops that supply automakers.

The report said distribution and logistics are the industries with the most potential for growth around the Twin Cities. That again points to the advantage of being in between Chicago and Detroit, and the importance of both cities' economies.

"Twin Cities" is a reference to Benton Harbor and St. Joseph in Michigan. The Twin Cities advantage reminds me of Youngstown. At least, such a perspective beats the navel gazing going on in Cleveland. Cleveland's proximity to Pittsburgh is an asset, not cause for concern.

Announcing Greater Youngstown 2.0

Late last week, Jim Cossler (CEO and Chief Evangelist of the Youngstown Business Incubator) officially launched a diaspora networking initiative for the Steel Valley:

A couple of recently run national news stories on YBI have only confirmed what we always we knew. Legions of talented people have left our area over the years because we have not been creating the compelling and rewarding employment positions they were seeking. That's the bad news.

The good news? The telephone calls and emails we received in response to those same news stories strongly indicates a whole lot of them want to move back.

That's why we are so pleased to announce that the Raymond John Wean Foundation has agreed to support an ambitious YBI led project to map this far flung diaspora, create a self-sustaining online community for them, and beginning building the institutional capacity to aid in their return migration.

Just imagine the possibilities when we begin bringing our talent back home again, armed with the knowledge, perhaps, of how thing are done faster, smarter and better in other communities.

Priceless.

I will blog about Greater Youngstown 2.0 here. I'm spearheading this effort, using my Burgh Diaspora experience to figure out how to derive local economic benefit from this region's migration of talent. I view brain drain as an opportunity and a regional asset. A key part of Greater Youngstown's future well-being is the success of its expatriates. The diaspora network will provide the infrastructure for displaced natives to play a significant role in the redevelopment of the Steel Valley.

Ohio to Blame for National City's Demise

Via Null Space, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has issued a report that investigates the disparity in foreclosure rates between Cuyahoga (Cleveland) and Allegheny (Pittsburgh) Counties. An article in Crain's makes obvious the cause:

“Ohio in general was the wild, wild West,” Cuyahoga County treasurer Jim Rokakis said. “When it came to regulation, there wasn’t any.”

Mr. Rokakis said that wasn’t the case in Pennsylvania, where the state did a better job of cracking down on predatory lenders. His attempts to lobby legislators in Columbus to strengthen this state’s regulations and monitoring were often rebuffed, Mr. Rokakis said.

Claudia Coulton, co-director of the Center on Urban Poverty & Community Development and a professor of urban research and social change at the Mandel School of Applied Social Science at Case Western Reserve University, said the huge lobbying effort by lenders against such regulations likely contributed to a lack of control here, and the explosion of the region’s foreclosure problem.

People in Ohio “needed better consumer protection,” Ms. Coulton said. Many new homeowners were cheated by the fine print.

In Pennsylvania, the state benefited from a wave of foreclosures earlier in the decade that led to the drafting of more stringent lending legislation, said Sabina Deitrick, an assistant professor of urban affairs in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Ms. Deitrick said because Pennsylvania “reigned in things” earlier in the decade, the state positioned itself to minimize the impact of another wave of foreclosures. In Ohio, she said, there were fewer limitations and fewer rules monitoring what people could do.

“It looks like a free-for-all,” she said. “The volume here was not the same. There were fewer controls on people getting loans and lenders in the Ohio market.”

Bad mortgages helped to undermine National City. You might say that the Cleveland bank shot itself in the foot. Instead of blaming Pittsburgh or national economic recovery policies, Cleveland should hold its own politicians into account for the job losses and the damaged civic pride.

Youngstown Value Proposition

Thanks to the funding from the Raymond John Wean Foundation and the backing of the Youngstown Business Incubator, I'm pursuing a diaspora networking project for Greater Youngstown. I'm defining Greater Youngstown as the five counties that make up the "nation's first Interstate Workforce Region": Columbiana (OH), Mahoning (OH), Trumbull(OH), Lawrence (PA), and Mercer (PA). Please read this post in order to understand my geographic rationale. The economic vitality of Greater Youngstown, where Cleveland meets Pittsburgh, is instrumental to the success of the Tech Belt. As a proponent of the Cleveburgh Corridor, laboring on behalf of Greater Youngstown is a logical extension of my Pittsburgh efforts. Furthermore, I see the Mahoning Valley as a hotbed of civic entrepreneurship. Youngstown is affording me the opportunity that, quite frankly, I can't find in Pittsburgh. (Please see "Liminal Youngstown") I'm looking forward to putting all the knowledge I've gained blogging here to work for Greater Youngstown and, more specifically, the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI).

As many of my readers likely know, returning to Pittsburgh isn't easy. Cracking the parochial job market is tough to do. I'm of the opinion that one needs to be an "entrepreneur of self" in order to make relocation practical. Understanding Pittsburgh as Cleveburgh has opened up a world of possibilities, my own frontier geography. In Youngstown, the regional labor shed is vast. Concentrating certain industry in the Mahoning Valley makes good economic sense. One can sell a Cleveland or Pittsburgh cosmopolitan lifestyle that's close enough to the cauldron of ideas in Youngstown.

Take, for instance, Pittsburgh's airport connectivity problems:

For years, the K&L Gates law firm routinely brought employees from its offices throughout the world into Pittsburgh for firmwide management meetings that, by extension, helped show off the city.

But for the past few years, the firm has held the meeting outside of New York City and this year selected a location near Washington, D.C., for the gathering. It wasn't for a change of scenery.

Rather, because of dramatic cutbacks in flights at Pittsburgh International Airport, it was becoming too hard to get people into the city. Many were left at the mercy of clogged and chaotic East Coast airports to make connections.

"We had some horror stories," K&L Gates Chairman Peter Kalis said. "You work like hell to recruit them into the firm, and then you subject them to the Philadelphia airport and you get what you deserve."

Mr. Kalis and his colleagues are among local business travelers who are finding that more and more, air travel from and to Pittsburgh is an ordeal akin to an Indiana Jones adventure, thanks in large part to cutbacks by US Airways.

A business located in downtown Youngstown can effectively leverage airports in Pittsburgh, Akron/Canton, and Cleveland. The possibility of avoiding the "clogged and chaotic East Coast" are much better when mulling over three options. And a trailing spouse could look for employment in Cleveland, Akron, or Pittsburgh given the proximity. Attracting talent and businesses to Cleveburgh is much easier than doing so for Cleveland or Pittsburgh. Thus, I see my current endeavor also in service of both poles of Cleveburgh (and points inbetween).

Can Steubenville Save Cleveland?

Richard Longworth turned up in my morning news sweep. He spoke at the Small Cities Conference hosted by Ball State University. Longworth offers a reminder to cities such as Cleveland that globalization demands a change in the traditional way of thinking:

The good news, he said, is that most small cities are no longer in denial; they have stopped thinking that the industrial era will last forever.

Longworth offered some answers: new technology, including green energy like wind, solar and biofuels; community colleges that teach 21st century skills; communities like Steubenville, Ohio, that are willing to link to big cities, even those like Pittsburgh that are in other states; embracing immigrants and public transportation like high-speed and light rail.

"I'd like to see this Midwest region take a truly regional approach to its problems and solutions," Longworth said. "Some of the Midwest's tired old towns and cities may not survive in any real sense. But those that do won't do it by relying on their own dwindling resources, by staying proud and independent, by refusing cooperation with other towns and cities.

"The Midwest today remains not a singular coherent region but a Balkanized collection of political and economic fiefdoms based on the states. These Midwestern states have everything in common but they are trying to fight this battle on their own, and they are simply too small, too outdated and too parochial to do the job."

Cleveland leadership is still stuck in the industrial era and the surrounding region is being punished as a result of this shortsightedness. On its current track, Cleveland will fail. The stubborn parochial rivalries will make sure of that.

Geography of Cleveburgh: Making the Connections

I'm still angry about Team NEO's ignorance of the economic challenges facing Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities. Team NEO is reinforcing the same dysfunctional geography that birthed the obvious gap between Pittsburgh and Cleveland in President Obama's proposed high speed rail initiative. Framing Pittsburgh as competition ultimately hurts other Northeast Ohio communities, particularly Youngstown.

Surprisingly, at least to me, Pittsburgh leadership seems to appreciate Youngstown's plight better than Cleveland does. The Imagine Greater Pittsburgh campaign defines the region as comprising of 4 states and 30 counties, including Mahoning (Youngstown). How Youngstown in Northeast Ohio ends up as part of Pittsburgh became obvious to me when I considered the Fourth Congressional District of PA, Jason Altmire's territory. This district connects the North Hills of Pittsburgh with Mercer and Lawrence counties (i.e. Greater New Castle).

What does that have to do with Youngstown? Everything. Lawrence and Mercer counties have joined with Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana in Ohio to coordinate workforce development efforts. This collaboration reveals just how shortsighted (and Cleveland-centric) the NEO project is.

That point brings me to The Sprout Fund's Community Connections campaign and a book sent to me for review. I engaged program coordinator Dustin Stiver concerning the regional ambitions of the book, Making the Connections:

Sure, the impetus for this program was the region's 250th anniversary, but by engaging citizens in the idea phase, giving them the power to select which projects should be supported, and enabling project managers to achieve their individuals goals, we built a powerful network of civic leaders from all corners of the region. This network, and the process by which it was created, can be utilized again under any banner and for nearly any purpose.

One of The Sprout Fund's objectives is to encourage regional stakeholders ("the treetops") to adopt these kinds of approaches when engaging citizens ("the grassroots"). By telling this collection of stories, we now have a tangible, proven product that can be grasped when appealing to civic leaders and grassroots advocates alike.

You are likely still wondering what Stiver's comments have to do with Youngstown. Lawrence and Mercer counties are part of this region, part of the book, part of the Community Connections program. From the book about Lawrence:

Despite close social and historic ties to Youngstown in Eastern Ohio, Lawrence County and its principal city of New Castle have managed to carve its own identity while still maintaining links to its neighbors to the West and South in Pittsburgh. Home to the Zambellis, the First Family of Fireworks, Lawrence County has strong community traditions dating back to the immigration of whole European villages in the 19th century. Lawrence County chose to commemorate 2008 by dedicating its Community Connections dollars to serving area children.

Fair to say that Lawrence County is closer, in many aspects, to Youngstown than it is to Pittsburgh. Any regional identity formation would naturally extend to Youngstown and intensify the links between that city and Pittsburgh. The economic reality is that a thriving Pittsburgh boosts Youngstown and therefore the rest of Northeast Ohio. But that wouldn't occur to anyone who wasn't familiar with the world outside of Cleveland. Coming from a purported booster of regional collaboration, such a parochial perspective is shameful. And once again, Cleveland is more than a few steps behind Pittsburgh.

Green Shoots in Youngstown

American Public Media's Marketplace returns to Youngstown for an update on the Mahoning Valley economy. I like what Phil Kidd has to say:

That's who's being attracted to Youngstown. People who want to search for that answer, and people who want to engage in that process of figuring this out. It's like an urban laboratory of sorts.

If I merely want to blog about Rust Belt revitalization, then Pittsburgh makes for an excellent subject. But if I actually want to do something, implement my ideas, there is Youngstown. I doubt there is another city that affords this kind of opportunity to the legions of enterprising amateurs who dabble in policy, economic development and urban planning.

Rust Wire describes a daunting problem. I don't see decay. I see an urban frontier. I see a city that will let me, and anyone else, "figure this out."

Zero-Sum Thinking in Northeast Ohio

Cleveland is not the entirety of Northeast Ohio (NEO). A better definition of Cleveland is a cul-de-sac of globalization. Team NEO's recent Cleveland show-and-tell spells out the entrenchment of parochial politics and the lip service paid regionalization. Even more distressing is the following comment:

To distinguish its red-carpet tours, Team NEO crafts attention-grabbing invitations. For the tour during the Rock Hall's induction weekend, invitees received small guitar cases with invitations tucked inside.

"We are competing for these jobs against Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh," said Team NEO's Carin Rockind, vice president of marketing and communications. "We have to break through."

Does NEO include Youngstown or not? Is the Tech Belt Initiative dead on arrival? There is considerable overlap in talent and opportunities between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Nowhere is that more evident than in Youngstown. But Cleveland-centric Team NEO fails to understand this geography. No wonder Richard Longworth characterized Cleveland as a hopeless casualty of globalization:

In all my travels through the Midwest, Cleveland was the only place, big or small, that seemed heedless of the global challenge. Only 4 percent of its population is foreign-born, in an era that demands new blood; the city government isn’t sure it wants more. One of its leading economists told me, ‘You can’t kill manufacturing–that’s stupid,’ but manufacturing is fleeing and cities need new ways to support themselves. In an era of global connectivity, only one non-stop per day, to England, links Cleveland to the world. The first-rate Cleveland Clinic is expanding, but every Midwestern city is building up its health industry: few expect it to carry the city’s economy.

Team NEO, like Cleveland, is heedless of the global challenge. It also seems ignorant of the challenges facing its regional satellite cities. At least, that's what the comment about Pittsburgh suggests. That kind of zero-sum thinking is what will continue to kill economic development in Northeast Ohio.

Geographic Mysteries of Pittsburgh

America's proposed high-speed rail network does a good job of graphically representing the Pittsburgh perspective on regional connectivity. The Chicago octopus stops in Cleveland. I'd bet that suits Cosmopolitan Pittsburgh just fine.

Northeast Ohio Talent Pipeline

According to Rick Batyko of Cleveland Plus, Northeast Ohio (NEO) retains over 79% of its graduates from public universities. Ohio does almost as well keeping 76%. Compared to Michigan, Ohio isn't suffering from brain drain. Then why do regional boosters keep saying otherwise?

Investing in our young people, those who are from Northeast Ohio as well as those who attend college in Northeast Ohio, is particularly important to our region. We have all heard about the “quiet crisis” and “brain drain” with regard to Northeast Ohio. Having the prospect of a good job in Northeast Ohio will keep our students here, and will ultimately make our region more vibrant and economically strong.

The above comment is indicative of the prevalent labor market protectionism that typically drives workforce development policy. This perspective is no different than the current mood swing against hiring foreign-born talent over the domestic alternative. Keeping students in the area, something NEO already does well, is a bad practice (captive labor scenario) servicing an outdated economy. In fact, actively seeking outsiders has a number of economic benefits.

A sure way to dampen regional entrepreneurial activity is to incentivize the decreasing geographic mobility of talent. Ironically, JumpStart is attempting to accomplish this feat. The most vital talent pipeline is the one from out-of-state or even out-of-country. But the parochial mindset seems unable to grasp this opportunity.

Update: Cleveburgh Immigration

The Cleveland Plain Dealer keeps promoting liberalizing immigration law as a way to give Cleveburgh a boost:

For too long, Greater Cleveland's business community has shied away from this issue. So it is very good news indeed that the Greater Cleveland Partnership's 2009-10 public policy agenda unambiguously identifies immigration as key to attracting needed talent.

Specifically, the partnership pledges to support welcome centers and encourage programs to make it easier for foreign students to study here and remain in jobs after they graduate. It also calls for the creation of high-skill immigration zones. That last idea -- soon to be introduced in the U.S. House by Pittsburgh-area Democrat Jason Altmire -- would give businesses easier access to visas for highly educated professionals, provided they employ them in economically distressed areas.

Business and political leaders need to support efforts already under way to attract immigrant-investors through a federal program that gives them access to green cards. The EB-5 visa, as it's known, just got a six-month extension in the omnibus spending bill but needs congressional action to keep going.

The geographic scope of the commentary is Greater Cleveland, which makes the mention of Congressman Altmire's bill all the more interesting. Altmire is part of the Tech Belt dynamic duo, the other member being Congressman Tim Ryan (Youngstown). I just noticed that Chris Briem makes the same observation.

The Pittsburgh press seems oblivious to the Tech Belt initiative, at least compared to coverage I've seen in Cleveland or Youngstown. I'm not aware of any reaction, positive or negative, to the idea in Akron. However, I do know that various stakeholders in Pittsburgh are committed to increasing immigration to the region. Giving Altmire some ink is a good place to start. Strange to think that Altmire's biggest cheerleader for his immigration bill is the Greater Cleveland Partnership.