Many Rust Belt communities have tried to use art galleries, theaters,  cheap studio space for artists, and more to revitalize downtowns and drive growth.
It looks like Wheeling, West Virginia is the lastest, as this New York Times article explains.
“So can an old factory city find the key to revitalizing its downtown?
I think so,” said Luis Rico-Gutierrez, director of the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. ‘But it is more a matter of attitudes than a matter of scales or money. They need to understand that culture is …

Local elected officials in many Rust Belt communities, such as Toledo, Lorain, and Erie, have challenged population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.
And this recent article from the Erie Times-News makes it clear: size matters.
“…data collected through the 2010 head count will directly affect how $3 trillion is allocated to local, state and tribal governments over the next 10 years. Those dollars, in turn, will shape decisions about how local communities fund public-health programs, transportation, education, senior services and more.
And when it comes to landing competitive funds, a city’s size …

Check out this interactive map by The New York Times.
It shows what areas of the country have been the hardest hit by the Recession.
You can see the Rust Belt places that have been impacted, like Michigan and Ohio. But there’s also some very dark patches in Sun Belt states like California, Nevada, and Arizona, places that experienced a (now burst) housing bubble.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html
Thank you Dad, for pointing this map out to me.
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Check out this interactive map by The New York Times.
It shows what areas of the country have been the hardest hit by the Recession.
You can see the Rust Belt places that have been impacted, like Michigan and Ohio. But there’s also some very dark patches in Sun Belt states like California, Nevada, and Arizona, places that experienced a (now burst) housing bubble.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html
Thank you Dad, for pointing this map out to me.
Tweet

If you have a vacant house next to yours, or even on your street or in your neighborhood, you know what a serious problem it can be.
I can personally attest to this; I live next to a house that has been abandoned for years. There is a large hole in the roof and a family of raccoons has taken up residence. Worse, vacant homes are often magnets for drug use, vandalism and other crime, fires, and can in general just take a terrible toll on a neighborhood by reducing property …