Rustbelt Revives | ModeShift

Fossil Fuel Boom Is One of Several Trends Leading Ohio River Cities Back To Economic Relevance

by Keith SchneiderApril 5, 2012December 6, 20146

Thomas Jefferson once said,Â “The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted.” Downriver from Louisville, Kentucky, where the 1,000-mile long Ohio River reaches its widest points, and the mirroring waters slip by miles of unbroken hardwood forests, it’s possible to witness some of the very same beauty that inspired Jefferson. The Ohio is much in my …

Along A River of Descent, New Riches in Ohio

by Keith SchneiderMarch 20, 2012July 28, 20123

SARDIS, Ohio — Frank Ellis, who is a 51-year-old electrician from this Ohio River Valley town, spent much of his time since high school working upriver at the PPG plant in Natrium, West Virginia. He owns 140 acres and the rights to the oil and gas below them. Denny Cowley (in pix below) is a 55-year-old sheet metal worker who was raised on a dairy farm near Canton, Ohio, and 16 years ago bought a …

Fossil Fuel Boom Shakes Ohio, Spurring Torrent of Investment and Worry Over Water

by Keith SchneiderMarch 12, 2012July 28, 20121

Photo Â© Heather Rousseau/Circle of Blue WELLSVILLE, OHIO â€“ A torrent of investment in mineral leases, manufacturing plants, pipeline constructiion, and drilling platforms signals what business executives and state energy officials say is the most significant surge in oil and gas development in Ohio in decades. But the development of the Marcellus and Utica shales, two hydrocarbon-rich rock layers that lie beneath much of eastern Ohio, also is producing fresh public concerns about the consequences …

Uptown As Cleveland’s Downtown in New York Times

by Keith SchneiderNovember 29, 2011May 22, 20140

The New York Times today published my latest piece on places that are doing many of the right things to prosper and thrive in the 21st century. In this case it’s the collaboration between city officials, developers, institutions, universities, foundations, and bankers in Cleveland to produce the new Uptown District along Euclid Avenue. In the last couple of months I’ve reported on how Toledo is recruiting Chinese investment capital to redevelop its Maumee River waterfront. …

A Civic Pact: Owensboro’s Next Development Strategy

by Keith SchneiderOctober 25, 2011November 5, 20143

The privilege to spend six months studying an American community is rare in journalism. Nevertheless that was the assignment from Citistates last spring. Immerse yourself in Owensboro, Kentucky and emerge with a clear sense of where the community is, and where it might consider going in the 21st century. Last week, in a series of public events, Citistates described the findings in What’s Done, What’s Next: A Civic Pact. The project found a number of …