I took off on a road trip across the Rust Belt this summer both because I saw it as a potential for some good stories (which you can find here) and because it seemed like a great opportunity to visit a part of the country that I knew solely through reading and conversation. I also veered a bit out of the Rust Belt’s traditional boundaries to do a story for NPR’s Latino USA (scroll down and then listen here) on immigrant urban farmers in Cincinnati.

And it turns out I wasn’t the only person with such ideas. One group of planning students from Department of Urban Planning at the University of Illinois made a similar trip, calling it “Rust Belt Road Trip.” Another group did the same thing as well. It has to be more than the catchy alliteration–there must be something in the air.

We at Rust Wire have certainly done our share of beating up on Forbes Magazine on this blog.
But here’s an interesting editorial by Aaron Renn on the “mayor as CEO” idea, and the importance of a city’s strategy and “brand.”
And before you tell me, “We’ve heard a million times already how cities should be run more efficiently and business-like,” just read the piece. This isn’t the usual “lessons cities can learn from the private sector” story.
-KG

That’s Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and our friend Stacy Jurich reminding everyone to shop local this holiday season to help stimulate their local economy.
It’s a good message for any of our cities and a way everyone can contribute to economic recovery. Toledo is lucky to have a group like this!
-AS

Great Lakes Urban Exchange is bringing its “I Will Stay If” campaign to Cleveland tomorrow.
If you’re in the Cleveland metro area, stop by Speakeasy Bar, 1948 West 25th Street, between 5:30 and 8 p.m. Hear from speakers Lillian Kuri, Randell McShepard, and Matt Zone. Connect with like-minded urban advocates.
Also, tell local leaders what you want from your city.
Here’s mine: “I will stay in Cleveland if the city finally coordinates its traffic signals and takes down the 300 that are completely unnecessary.”
-AS

Next April is going to be a very bad time to be a transit-rider in Cleveland if RTA moves forward with proposed service cuts. For a system that’s been devastated with fare hikes and service cuts over the past few years, this might just be RTA’s nail in the coffin.

Something particularly important that caught my eye in the Plain Dealer story is this quote from RTA’s general manager, Joe Calabrese:
“We will spread the cuts among the seven days,” [Calabrese] said. “The staff feels it is more detrimental to have any …

Ohio voters recently passed a constitutional amendment that will allow for the construction of four casinos in the state for the first time.

One will be located in each Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
Ohio voters have turned down ballot initiatives like this one before. But it seems this time the need for jobs and the pervasiveness of casino gambling in neighbor states helped sway the electorate.
Anyway, there’s been a lot of debate over whether this will ultimately be good or bad. I thought it would be interesting to hear from other …

Reading this Wall Street Journal piece about “pranksters” causing “mischief” in Detroit’s abandonded buildings totally pissed me off.
It sounded more like wanton destruction for the sake of destruction to me.
The article details how this group used sledgehammers to break down this wall and push a truck out of a fourth story window in the old Packard plant (a site we’ve previously highlighted on this blog). They even videotaped their caper.
I don’t fault people for wanting to go inside and explore these old structures - I’ve done it myself. But wrecking …

By now you have probably heard, police have found ten bodies inside and east Cleveland home.
The resident, Anthony Sowell, was arrested by Cleveland police earlier this week after a short manhunt. Sowell, a convicted rapist, was found not far from the home.

He previously served 15 years for rape and was being monitored by police when he was accused of raping and strangling a neighborhood woman he lured into his house with an offer of alcohol.
For days, investigators have been dismantling Sowell’s home, finding remains throughout. Neighbors reported a foul smell, …

The city of Youngstown is experiencing another arson spree, this time though the crime is personal for many city activists.
A historic mansion in the Wick park neighborhood was burned a few weeks ago, according to the Youngstown Renaissance blog.
Instances of Arson are familiar in the city, however, many city boosters are outraged because there was talk of renovating the particular house and the Wick Park neighborhood is the site of an ongoing revitalization campaign that is seen as crucial to stabilizing downtown and Youngstown State University area.
The fire was part …

Are African American males our greatest untapped resource?

The answer is yes, according to a study by Policy Bridge, Cleveland-based, minority-focused think tank.

“No single resource in Northeast Ohio is as underutilized as African-American males,” reports the agency in its study, Untapped Potential, African-American Males in Northeast Ohio.

• In Cleveland, roughly 65 percent of all males living in poverty are
African-American.

• Roughly a third of African-American men in