20 May 2008

New tech center opens downtown

bit by bit, a growing tech cluster is emering dowtown.

More on the grand opening here.
"Since 2000, said Garry Mrozek, chairman of the incubator board and area president of National City Bank, the incubator has contributed to the creation of 250 jobs and 17 patents. The success of incubator, he noted, has forced the organization to revisit its plans for growth. “We’re more of an accelerator rather than an incubator,” he stated.

Future endeavors call for working with the CIC to transform the Semple Building into new offices for technology-based companies.

Much of this growth has been fueled by Turning Technologies, which officially moved into the Taft Center two weeks ago.

Turning Chief Executive Officer Michael Broderick said the building is critical to the continued growth of his company. Five years ago, Turning consisted of a handful of employees. Today, it employs more than 135 -- 120 of whom work from the corporate headquarters downtown.

Broderick reported the company topped $28 million in sales least year and expects to increase revenues by 50%, or $14 million. The company occupies portions of all three floors of the new building."

how technologies from Youngstown save you money

from the Business-Journal
HMHP Works with Eris to Ensure Billing Accuracy

How can the the technologies being developed downtown help you?

Check out this recently announced partnership?
"Humility of Mary Health Partners is working with Eris Medical Technologies, a new tenant of the Youngstown Business Incubator, to reduce the errors and omissions that occur when health-care insurers are charged for the treatments patients receive.

Eris is providing HMHP with software tools to help health-care insurers, HMHP management and physicians achieve a greater level of confidence that medical charges that should be billed are billed and at the right prices."

what's up with the river's restoration?

This article from the Youngstown Vindicator explores how the revitalization of polluted riverbeds have helped other regions.

So how goes it for the Mahoning River?
". . . the dredging project is at a standstill in its second phase, “feasibility.” During this phase, the corps will investigate restoration methods and proposed costs and determine who is responsible for paying for the project.

DeCicco estimates that 99 percent of the feasibility study is complete."

16 May 2008

news: 15 Dec 2008

Unfortunate but Necessary: Marc Dann had to Go
from the Business-Journal
"In a statement issued by his office, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan offered only that his prayers were with Dann and his family. Dann was appointed in 2002 to the state senate seat held by Ryan, who had defeated him in the 2000 Democratic primary for the seat.

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams reflected that Dann’s involvement in monitoring the financial problems at Forum Health “was truly both necessary and vital to brining that particular situation to a stage” where the parties involved could sit down and address it.

“Mark was really doing some good work on behalf of this community, and to have all of that now come to an end the way it did is just tragic,” he remarked.

Additionally, Williams said he was “saddened and frustrated at what’s being said about the Mahoning Valley and the city of Youngstown” as a result of the scandal. “None of this happened in Youngstown, but it’s Youngstown that is being held up and this is not really a Youngstown issue,” the mayor remarked."

14 May 2008

Going Downtown

Kudos to Mark Peyko for a wonderfully enlightening tour of downtown's business district. Federal Street has always drawn my attention as I've walked along it, and I will now have a deeper appreciation for its history and its details thanks to the tour.

You can catch another tour next month, so keep your ears open for the date. I have always wanted to learn about the theaters and skyscrapers and department stores and banks here and gone. Mark covered all these and more!

Be sure to check out Lincoln Avenue's interview with Phil Kidd:
One of the things that has impressed me about Phil is his ability to turn ideas into action. I’m excited about all the thoughtful conversation that has developed out of the “thinkers and drinkers” gatherings, but I’m also always a little skeptical about the value of talk. And yet I know from my own experience how easy it is to comment on issues and how much harder it is to go out and do something. But Phil has a philosophy about how to make things happen. He believes that getting people involved means creating opportunities for them to speak and act, and those who have the resources and power to make things happen need to listen to what others want, not just forge ahead on their own. He understands, too, that community engagement is not only a good way to get things done but also a way to transform the community by building relationships and changing attitudes. He also knows how to organize a project, a skill he says he learned in the military.
Audio available here

13 May 2008

The Pearl Paradigm

Shout Youngstown provides today's featured post:
Youngstown is building a mixed-used residential/commercial neighborhood adjacent to the univeristy and downtown in Smoky Hollow, but many design elements and construction have yet to be accomplished. What places can they emulate as the project moves forward?

Atlanta created the uninspiring Atlantic Station on the grounds of an old steel mill, a tacky collection of disneyland-esque buildings, a destination adjacent to the interstate north of Midtown with an "in and out, but not staying" existence.

Portland's emerging Pearl District, anchored by many LEED certified buildings and free wi-fi throughout, is a nice mix of old and new, livable and walkable designs of which Youngstown may learn from.

The rest of this post shows photos from three separate smaller "pocket" parks in the Pearl, possible role models for downtown youngstown, wick park, and the smoky hollow. The Pearl's wikipedia article has a good aerial photo of what the railroad yards used to look like.
Visit the post for the pictures and more details.

If you're looking for some new music, check out Jason Mraz's latest, "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things", just out today. It's been on repeat on my iPod all day. And "Dynamo of Volition" makes a great workout track, FYI.

07 May 2008

community college to begin in 16 months

Mahoning Valley Community College Becomes Certainty
in the Business-Journal
The Mahoning Valley will have a community college, the chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents announced Monday, and it will open its doors to students for the fall 2009 term.

In the Chevrolet Centre Monday, Chancellor Eric Fingerhut promised a room filled with Mahoning Valley education and political leaders that the two-year college will be ready for students in roughly 16 months with an undetermined number of classrooms and instructors prepared to begin teaching.

The college, however, will not have its own campus and be concentrated in one location. Instead it will likely use classrooms at Youngstown State University, in the Salem and Champion campuses of Kent State University, and the Mahoning County and Trumbull County technical and careers centers.
more here.

01 May 2008

calling for blockwatch captains

Councilman Paul Drennen coninues to use to blog to promotes events and get public participation. bravo!

Now is is looking for "Block Watch Captains in these areas on the West Side and South Side":

find out more here.

YBI's Zethus links with YSU research

from the NEO Inc blog:
"Zethus Software, a portfolio tenant company of the Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI), has entered into a contract with Youngstown State University (YSU) for software development to support its CyberLabNet Project.

The CyberLabNet system will allow people at multiple locations to remotely control analytical and testing equipment used to perform chemical analyses on a variety of materials, including pharmaceuticals, ceramics, plastics, and composites."
read more on the agreement here.

The YLM story

Jambrain provides a historical perspective to the beginning of Youngstown Local Music - YLM.
"VexFest proved it was possible to have a major musical event in downtown Youngstown without the hassles associated with the area in the past. That was not a minor accomplishment.

Now, knowing they could do it, DeCapua and his Youngstown Local Music partners wanted to do a festival that was purely festive; to kick off springtime downtown with good time music, games, food, drinks. That’s what JonesFest, May 31 will be. Good music, positive vibes, all day; influencing local music by selecting and promoting it.

Jimmy D envisions Jones For Revival as a regional touring band, playing 100 shows a year on three tours and providing a living (and health insurance) for the band members, and sees Youngstown Local Music influencing the development of local music and even the rebirth and growth of Youngstown, which he loves."
read more on the players involved and upcoming events here.

the miracle of loaves and fishes

Tales from the Rust Belt tells of a recent visit to Pymatuning Reservoir, where the Mahoning Valley goes to see fish literally jumping on top of each other for bread.

This is how one can walk on water.
"There is plenty to do once you watch the carp crawl all over each other trying to score some bread. And if you watch the video, you will see that they literally crawl over one another for those tasty morsels."
more fish here.

youngstown pride is back!

After a few month haitus, Youngstown Pride is back up and running. Here's component from the most recent post:
"The "da Vinci," a robot that is already changing how surgery is done in Youngstown, is only one of the ways that the city is changing from a manufacturing base into a high technology corridor. While high-tech companies like Turning Technology are leading the charge to make Youngstown a player in the software industry, we shouldn't discount the significance of St. Elizabeth Medical Center getting its own high tech robot that will change the way health care is delivered in the Valley.

The St. Elizabeth's Center for Robotic Surgery has been in operation since September of last year, and using the da Vinci have already performed 40 robotic prostatectomies (prostate surgery), 20 robotic hysterectomies, one robotic pyeloplasty (removal of a blockage in the ureter leading from one of the kidneys to the bladder), and one robotic cystectomy (removal of all or part of the urinary bladder)."
I heard it make milkshakes as well.

read more about it here.