Youngstown’s Tyler Clark has a blog post today about a deconstruction forum that took place in Youngstown yesterday.
This process was first piloted on a large scale in Cleveland, with the support of the Cleveland Foundation. The best synopsis I’ve read was in this New York Times article last year.
Rather than demolishing vacant homes at a considerable cost to the municipality, a former architect named Brad Guy had the idea of taking apart homes nail by nail and scrapping the parts. The process has been attractive to many Rust Belt cities …

When I was a little girl my mom used to sing me an old cheer called “We’re Strong for Toledo.” My grandma used to sing me John Denver’s “Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio.” The songs portrayed two very different cities: one a proud metropolis, the other a laughing stock.
I thought it might be interesting to look at the most famous songs devoted to Rust Belt as a way to examine how these cities are portrayed in pop culture, and also how that image has changed over the years.
For example, the …

We brought you this story over one month ago, but it’s nice to see the trend of artists recolonizing foresaken Rust Belt neighborhoods is garnering some national attention.
The Wall Street journal reports today on a New York couple who purchased a home in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood, converting it into a home/studio/band space.
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Detroit’s City Council has voted to raze the old Michigan Central Station, Tuesday’s Detroit Free Press reported. (If you click on the link to read the Free Press story, be sure to look at the series of historical photos that accompany it.)
The last train pulled out of the station in 1988.

“I want it down now,” Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins, who introduced the resolution to raze the structure, told the Free Press. “It’s obviously a public hazard.”
I’ve never been inside the station, but I have driven by it a number of times. …

My parents both were born and raised in Buffalo. Though I’ve never lived there, I’ve always felt a strong attachment to the city.

This past weekend, I had my Dad show me some of the most significant places he remembered there. I want to point out I’m well aware Buffalo has a number of artistic, culinary and cultural attractions. It is a beautiful city, renowned for its parks, and architecture, and I don’t want anyone to think I’m just highlighting decay and blight.
But this tour was mostly about my family’s personal …

This Denver-based blog had some unkind words for Buffalo recently:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/03/buffalonians_buffalites_outrag.php
But Buffalo is striking back and the insults are flying!
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Anyone who lives in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Buffalo can attest that Rust Belt residents take their professional sports teams – especially football- very seriously. And why shouldn’t we? Who doesn’t love to cheer for our team, particularly when our cities aren’t doing so well?
A team can be so critical to a city’s self-esteem. I’ll never forget the dancing-in-the-streets joy I witnessed in Pittsburgh after the Steelers’ most recent Superbowl victories.
That’s why so many people are troubled by what they fear might happen in Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills have a …

Anyone who lives in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Buffalo can attest that Rust Belt residents take their professional sports teams – especially football- very seriously. And why shouldn’t we? Who doesn’t love to cheer for our team, particularly when our cities aren’t doing so well?
A team can be so critical to a city’s self-esteem. I’ll never forget the dancing-in-the-streets joy I witnessed in Pittsburgh after the Steelers’ most recent Superbowl victories.
That’s why so many people are troubled by what they fear might happen in Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills have a …

This site is intended to consolidate and develop news and information about post-industrial Great Lakes cities. It was developed by two former newspaper reporters with ties to Cleveland, Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio and Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We’ve noted that there is a lot of good information about Rust Belt issues coming from blogs and the mainstream media. We hope to sort out the good stuff and summarize it for problem solvers and concerned citizens from Buffalo to St. Louis.
We also intend to develop some original stories and photography. Any …

Buffalo has been selected as the site of the 2011 National Trust for Historic Preservation convention.

“The interweaving of great architecture, landscape architecture and important historic sites makes Buffalo a must-see destination for preservationists, designers, history buffs and anyone wishing to see an inspiring example of American design,” Richard Moe, National Trust president, said in announcing Buffalo’s designation.
Spokesman Ed Healy said significant changes in recent years, including the opening of Erie Canal Harbor, improvements to the Roycroft Campus and the restoration of the Darwin Martin House, likely enhanced the city’s …