Everybody keeps complaining about how the steel mills went out. It's time to get over it and move on,'' said Case, owner of Geo's Music. City officials couldn't agree more and have started several projects to clean up Youngstown, attract jobs and stem the population loss. From 1990 to 2000, the city lost 13,680 people, or 14.3 percent of its population, which is down to 82,026, according to census figures released Friday. The 20-year loss is 33,410 people.
Many suburban residents are reluctant to go near the deteriorated downtown area.
I've heard a lot of people don't even want to drive through downtown, but it's probably the safest area in Youngstown because the police patrol it and are highly visible,'' said George Brundage, director of economic development for Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, a metropolitan planning commission. Officials have been fighting to get money to build a planned 10,000-seat multipurpose arena to add life to the city. Construction on a new federal courthouse started this month. Downtown serves as a window of the soul of this community. Youngstown is just starting to realize that in order to survive, it has to give up its blue-collar past, said Don Curry, a labor market analyst for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in Youngstown.