People should research Public Choice Theory, which applies the concept of self interest to politicians and government officials.

Once you start to look at it this way, it becomes entirely logical why government’s almost always follow and reinforce old and often failed ideas and industries over new ones.

In this case, Youngstown lacks one major thing–political pull from a large enough base of potential voters. It’s a better political bet to spread the grants around to the places where larger number of people live– even if they don’t have good ideas or projects.

This is also likely why we continue to repair and build new roads and infrastructure in suburban areas that are so visibly unsustainable. It’s why Amtrak runs lines in all over the country in places that make little sense rather than reinforcing the high density ones that work. It’s why we have the government schemes like “cash for clunkers” to get already broke consumers to buy cars they can’t afford or don’t need at the same time the same government acts worried about global warming. It’s why we still can’t get rid of evil budget busting dogs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which subsidize sprawl housing.