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Full disclosure: Nepotism alert- my Dad, Tony Giammarise, took these photos and submitted them to us. I think people will find them interesting so I still wanted to put them up. This series focuses on what I think is Erie’s best natural resource: the waters of the Great Lakes.
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Let me start off by saying, Youngstown is one of my favorite cities. It is a weird place, with a set of rules all its own. Some of my best friends in the world live there. Also, they make some killer Italian food in this city. Killer. It’s cheap too. Very cheap.
Anyway, photographer Mark Stahl, an acquaintance of mine from my days at The Vindicator newspaper, has generously donated the use of some of his photos. This series is about decay taking place in the city.

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Is City Hall threatening to cut back public transportation routes in your city? Or threatening a historic building? Young activists in St. Louis have found creative ways to express their opposition.
 
Jeff Vines of stl-style.com offered this explanation:

The City of St. Louis is quickly becoming known as an epicenter of creative urban activism.  In recent months, the St. Louis urbanist community has pulled off several quirky events to bring attention in unconventional ways to important issues facing our city.    
Last November, a group of St. Louis activists organized a “MetroLink Prom,” in which a convivial gathering of …

Is City Hall threatening to cut back public transportation routes in your city? Or threatening a historic building? Young activists in St. Louis have found creative ways to express their opposition.
 
Jeff Vines of stl-style.com offered this explanation:

The City of St. Louis is quickly becoming known as an epicenter of creative urban activism.  In recent months, the St. Louis urbanist community has pulled off several quirky events to bring attention in unconventional ways to important issues facing our city.    
Last November, a group of St. Louis activists organized a “MetroLink Prom,” in which a convivial gathering of …

Check out this video and story by one of my favorite Detroit News writers, Charlie LeDuff.
He visited what was left of the Automotive Components Holdings plant in Ypsilanti, Mich., which made parts for Visteon and Ford.
LeDuff writes, “You can now watch the liquidation of the American Dream in real time.”
He continues, “Any given week, the guts of a whole factory are auctioned off. Its contents are sold piece by piece and taken away for scrap or antiques or resale to foreign companies. Men with blowtorches and trucks haul off tool-and-die …

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Bill Toland says it is possible.
“Great economic distress can bring about great migration,” he points out.
This column discusses how the city might be able to snag some former Pittsburghers not so much from the Sun Belt, but from the East Coast or Midwest.
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This week’s Cleveland Scene has an excellent article on the implications of the Cleveland Diocese’s plan to close 52 parishes. Author Michael Gill fears that many of the churches, once closed, will be demolished to save money.
“Choosing to demolish rather than hang on to a building until it can be sold or a way can be found to re-use it deprives the city of another piece of its physical character, its culture and its history,” he writes. “In St. Andrew’s case, the imminent tax burden figured prominently into the decision. …