Preface
Youngstown 2010 is a citywide plan for the City of Youngstown,
Ohio. Youngstown 2010 began as a process to engage and educate the
community about the importance of planning and the planning process,
as well as create a vision and plan to help revitalize Youngstown
well into the future. The City of Youngstown and Youngstown State
University coordinated this planning process with help from nearly
200 volunteers, neighborhood organizations and businesses.
The City of Youngstown is operating under a comprehensive plan
that was formulated over a four year period in the early 1950s. The
plan was reviewed and updated with two additional volumes in 1974.
These plans were for a different era that anticipated a population
of between 200,000 and 250,000. The Youngstown 2010 Plan is based on
a new vision for the new reality that accepts we are a smaller city
that will stabilize at 80,000 people.
Linear population projections produced by the Ohio Department of
Development and analyzed by Youngstown’s metropolitan planning
organization, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, indicate
that by 2030 Youngstown’s population will fall to 54,000. Linear
projections may be accurate if there is no change in the status quo.
Youngstown 2010 is a chance to change the status quo and alter the
slope of the projected trend line.
The City of Youngstown is positioned to become a competitive city
once again. Keeping Youngstown 2010 a viable movement and not just
another plan on the shelf will take the continued involvement of the
community who helped bring the process to fruition. The City of
Youngstown cannot, on its own, do everything that is called for in
the plan. It will be the energy of each neighborhood and each
community member that makes this plan work. It is you that will make
this plan work.
Youngstown 2010 is a guide for the community and future city
administrations to follow and implement. Although, change is
inevitable, this document is intended to provide a solid foundation
for a cleaner, greener, and more efficient city.
This plan will be updated after each census due to the 74% of
Youngstown voters who approved a charter amendment requiring review
every ten years.