Can “branding” a city through a snappy slogan and slick marketing campaign work?
A lot of cities apparently think so, including Dayton and Cleveland, as outlined in this USA Today story.
They point to successful and memorable slogans, like “I love New York,” and “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas.” It’s also interesting to read the comments under the story- on mentions great success North Dakota has had marketing itself as a “Wild West” destination for bicyclists.
The story doesn’t mention less-successful campaigns. (I’m thinking of the Michael Moore movie Roger & …

Dayne Walling, the former Rhodes Scholar, has done it. He won the special mayoral election in Flint with more than 60% of the vote.

I like this guy. He’s ambitious. He’s got his work cut out for him. Never underestimate the power of good leadership.
-AS

more about “Video: Flint’s New Mayor“, posted with vodpod

Los Angeles-based photographer David Zaitz took a six day road trip through the Rust Belt in July 2009.  Zaitz drove over 1,900 miles in seven days, visiting legendary Rust Belt cities such as Gary, South Bend, Elkhardt, Youngstown, Wheeling, Canton, Akron, Detroit and Flint.

Zaitz will be posting additional images and commentary from his trip in the coming weeks.
A selection of his photographic essay can be seen here.

Slate is running an awesome, awesome, story about the mayoral race in Flint, Michigan, where a 35-year-old Rhodes Scholar is battling a 64-year-old grandmother and state representative for the city’s highest office.

Why would anyone want to be mayor of a city with so many problems, Slate wonders.

This Associated Press story highlights the problem of fire - by arson or by accident - in vacant homes, increasing as does the foreclosure crisis.
It focuses on the sad story of one homeless man squatting in one vacant home in Flint.
-KG

This Slate piece was written by a Flint native returning to his hometown in search of affordable housing, driven out of San Fransisco by obscenly high housing costs.
It’s an interesting and well-written story.
Thanks to Rust Wire reader Claudia Raleigh for bringing it to my attention.
-KG

Since meeting with approval from the Ohio General Assembly in December, the new Cuyahoga County Landbank has spurred some creative rethinking for landuse in Cleveland.

Among the proposals:

It’s kinda nice to read a story about the housing crisis that isn’t set in my backyard (Cleveland) for once.
This time, my hometown of Columbus is front and center in the sad story of houses without owners. A neighborhood in west Columbus was found to have the highest vacancy rate in the country, according to an Associated Press analysis, based on Housing and Urban Development and Postal Service data.
This is kinda unusual because Columbus is generally regarded to be the golden child of Ohio in these parts.
I know the Columbus …

Rust Wire was able to sit down last week with the very busy Rhoda Matthews, executive director of Flint Club, a Flint, Michigan-based group working to improve the city and reaching out to the large group of Flint natives who no longer call the Vehicle City home.

Today’s New York Times has a story about a proposal to close off parts of the city of Flint, Mich. in order to focus on saving what can still be saved. “The population would be condensed into a few viable areas,” the article explains. “So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.”
I’m really surprised this article didn’t mention Youngstown’s planned shrinkage.
-KG