Lorain’s Future: Lessons from our Past Annual General Meeting Lorain Historical Society May 25, 2017 Martha Cook Piper| believe in luck. And lucky, | have been. | was truly lucky to have had the parents | did, Dan and Margaret Cook.....and | was lucky to have been born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. Growing up on the shores of Lake Erie, | benefited from a great public school education, a happy and secure childhood in a wonderful neighborhood where children played outside unattended, rode their bicycles wherever their hearts desired, took the public bus to shop downtown, and enjoyed all the pleasures and fun of having one of the Great Lakes in our back yard. Upon reflection it was idyllic---almost magical--and for that | am thankful. And while | am sure luck played its part in my early years, | also know that the Lorain | experienced, with all of its positive attributes--- good schools, safe neighborhoods, public transportation, and wonderful recreational facilities—all of those attributes were intentional. They did not just happen because Lorain was lucky. No—they happened because of the good intentions of Lorain’s founding fathers and civic leaders---people like John Reid, Captain Thew and Tom Johnson who chose Lorain as the place where the coal and iron ore meet to build Lorain’s first steel plant. These were men of vision and determination who saw the potential in Lorain and through grit and determination, and with smart intention, built the foundation of our city based on industrialized manufacturing. The rest is history so to speak: American Shipbuilding, American Stove Works, Thew Shovel, American Crucible, National Tube Division of US Steel, and the Ford Motor Company followed---bringing economic prosperity, jobs and a sound tax base. What can we learn from this history as we face the future of Lorain and the uncertainty associated with the demise of manufacturing in North America, the shuttering of factories and the erosion of capital? That is the question I have been asking myself eversince Barb invited me to speak. How can we build on Lorain’s historic strengths and values to face the future with hope and optimism? How can we combine its good fortunes, or luck, with smart intention? How can it transform itself into a vibrant community of the 21* century— offering everything it did when I was growing up—good schools, public transportation, strong and safe communities, affordable housing and clean and accessible recreational facilities. | am confident that City Council, the Port Authority, the Historical Society and the overall community have been grappling with this same question for quite some time. | am also certain that there have been some wonderful initiatives taken and that progress has been made. | know, for example, that the Society has been sponsoring charrettes where the community is asking itself these same questions. So tonight | do not come to answer this question or to offer you the silver bullet.No, rather | come to join you in the ongoing conversation—as a proud Lorainite and someone who cares deeply about its future. To begin | think there are three questions that need to be asked: 1. Will and more importantly, can, the industrialized manufacturing base return? 2. If not, what will the economy be based upon?, and . What needs to be done to support and develop such an w economy? Let’s start with #1. Can the industrialized manufacturing economy be revived? There are lots of opinions on this question, but let me say right from the start, | believe it is neither feasible nor advisable to build the future of Lorain on bringing back the manufacturing economy. Why do | say this? The real threat to manufacturing is not cheap immigrant labor, NAFTA, or factories moving to Indonesia—no the real threat tomanufacturing is automation. One thing we can be certain about: future manufacturing of almost everything will not be done by humans; future manufacturing will be done by robots and computers. This was brought home to me several years ago when | visited Prince George, a city in northern British Columbia that over the past decades employed hundreds of workers in the forestry sector. Today the industry looks totally different than it did twenty years ago. When you visit the saw mills, you see computers and automated machinery doing the work that had been done in the past by human labor. Very and those that are few people are employed in today’s lumber mills. are computer programmers and highly skilled technicians. They are well paid computer, electrical and mechanical engineers—making the mills more productive and globally competitive. | don’t care what manufacturing sector you choose—energy, the auto industry, agricultural, the extraction of our natural resources, and even theproduction of steel---it is computers and technical machines doing the bulk of the work—what is known as advanced manufacturing--not unskilled labor. While the factory economy of the 20‘ century may have served us extremely well in the past, it will not sustain us in the future. The world has moved on, and so, too, must Lorain. If that, indeed, is the case then we move to question #2. What will and should the economy of Lorain be based upon? When you study economic development in the United States in the 21% century, you need not look any further than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. What did both of these giants have in common? Brilliant ideas. They were not known for producing or manufacturing things—rather they distinguished themselves and built their respective empires on the basis of their ideas.| love to tell the story about Bill Gates. When he was a teen-ager he spent a great deal of his time in his basement. One day, his mother who was growing impatient with him, yelled down the basement stairs: Bill, what are you doing down there? Bill reportedly responded: | am THINKING! Thinking—yes, thinking creatively and having new ideas is the basis of the next economic wave: consider all the companies that have been created by ideas that did not exist 20 years ago: the internet and Google; new pharmaceuticals and health technologies; innovative retail methods, like Walmart and Amazon; renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal and, of course, the i-phone. The United States will compete by being the smartest and most creative nation on the globe through the development of new services, new products and newways of doing things, not on the basis of being the biggest or cheapest manufacturer. In short, the US economy is shifting away from industrialized manufacturing and moving toward idea-driven industries and what we call advanced manufacturing. As such, it will be built on the strength of its talent—on human capital. And the US with admittedly the strongest research and education infrastructure in the world should lead. What then, does this mean for a city like Lorain? Once again, history points the way. In 1935 C, Paul Stocker and his wife, Beth, moved to Lorain, bringing with them just $500 and a big “idea”. Paul Stocker was known as an inventor, an electrical engineer who loved to create things, a thinker. After spending years in his basement, “thinking”, he had come up with the idea of a “new and improved telephone ringing machine without moving parts”. This innovative10 idea, which became known as the SubCycle, formed the basis of Lorain Products....and the rest is history. | grew up living one door away from the Stockers, and one of their daughters, Mary Ann was my best friend. | spent hours in their house—imagining, dressing up, swimming off their innovative pier system that Mr. Stocker had designed and playing baseball in their drive way. My memories of Mr. Stocker are vivid. He was a man of few words, but I can still see him clearly, sitting in a blue leather chair in their living room, reading...and reading....and reading. Asa child | had no idea what he was doing. But today, | know what he was doing. He was thinking. An electrical engineer by training, he was constantly thinking—creating the next Lorain Products discovery, thinking about how he could attract to Lorain the engineering graduates fromuniversities throughout Ohio—the young Paul Stocker “want-to-bes”. He was thinking how he could build and expand his business into Canada and Mexico. He was thinking! As | thought about this presentation, the question | asked myself was this: Why did Paul Stocker choose Lorain? He did not grow up in Lorain. No, he consciously chose Lorain—bringing his ideas with him. Having read his biography, it is clear that two things happened. He had attracted an investment partner from Elyria—so he wanted to stay close to Elyria, but did not want to live in Elyria. Rather he wanted to be in a center of transportation , close to an urban center like Cleveland but not in a suburb, an area offering family living conditions and most important with an opportunity to “live on the lake”. He could have gone anywhere! But with those things in mind—he chose Lorain.Think about the impact of this one decision. A thinker chooses Lorain because of its geography and life style—and as a result—lives are changed. Hundreds of people are employed with good quality jobs. Immigrants and other engineers are attracted to locate in Lorain. Lorain County Community College, the Girl Scouts and countless students who received anonymous scholarships benefited from his philanthropic generosity. Ohio University became an outstanding university as a result of his unwavering support. And, his legacy continues to this day, as numerous NGO's benefit from the Stocker Foundation. He truly was a man ahead of his time. Simply put---we have to think of a future for Lorain that attracts numerous Paul Stockers—people with creative ideas who in turn attract others with creative ideas—who then develop the infrastructure to support the type of city | experienced growing up as a child.3 Our history also reveals something else, and that is Lorain has been the birthplace of creative talent—whether it be Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature , Helen Steiner Rice whose poetry is world reknown, Robert Nagy, the opera star, Don Novello the actor, or fashion designer, Jevon Terance-- Lorain has a history of inspiring creative talent. Why is this remarkable? In short, creativity is the basis for innovation. The invigorated cities of the 21% century will attract creative performers, designers and artists who will enrich their cultural communities and attract other people with innovative ideas and products. Perhaps Toni Morrison said it best when she accepted her Nobel Prize in 1993 in Stockholm: “| will leave this hall with a new and much more delightful haunting than the one | felt upon entering; that is the company of the laureates yet to come. Their voices bespeak civilizations gone and yet1“ to be; the precipice from which their imaginations gaze will rivet us; they do not blink or turn away.” So once again, our history shows the way. Let’s move to the biggest question of the three, and that is, what needs to be done to attract people like Paul Stocker and the “laureates yet to come”. In the 20" century, cities and regions spent most of their energy and working capital on attracting industries, largely through tax breaks, land deals, or cheap financing. The idea was to provide the “best deals” to attract the industries that would build the factories and provide the jobs. In the 21 century, | would suggest that this approach is dated. If one accepts the premise that it is individuals with ideas or creativity4s that cities desire, then the incentives a municipality must provide are different. Remember Paul Stocker. He could have gone anywhere, but he chose Lorain. There were no tax incentives or land deals—just a great environment to raise his family, good public schools, in the right size city, near a metropolitan area, with a fantastic location on Lake Erie. And think about Jevon Terance, an up and coming fashion designer, who returned to Lorain because of its cultural diversity and what he calls the “wild range of its landscape” —urban grit coupled with the natural beauty of the lake—all inspiring his dynamic work. Today’s young entrepreneurs are no different. They can work anywhere—as long as they are linked to the world through computer systems and information technology. They are networked to other entrepreneurs and often work out of their homes at odd hours of the day—connecting to Singapore in the middle of the night. Their office requirements are minimal; no large factories; just creative spaceswhere ideas emanate 24/7. Think about Bill Gates---Microsoft headquarters are in Redmond, Washington—not seattle. Redmond is the same size as Lorain and is located about 20 miles east of Seattle. Microsoft’s work force is networking all across the world—sharing ideas and creativity—not making products in a large factory. And who goes to live in Redmond? Well | know only too well---young engineering graduates from all over the world, including hundreds of UBC graduates—leaving their home towns, and countries, seeking other entrepreneurs with ideas . What then do these young entrepreneurs want in a location? In ‘one word—quality of life. Here is a quick list of the types of things these re-invented cities are offering: good schools and linkages to universities and colleges; quality health care; diversity in the population in terms of ethnicity and educational background; clean air and water; restored vibrant downtowns with boutiques, ethnic food and bistros,and small family owned grocery stores; great recreational facilities; affordable housing within walking distance of the downtown; cultural amenities such as libraries, museums, play houses and music halls; public transportation and bicycle paths so that the ownership of only one car is practical and feasible. Just a few of the amenities that will attract and retain the people with ideas in the 21% century. And if you doubt it can work, there are plenty examples of cities re-inventing themselves along these lines. For instance, Bend, Oregon, once a major forestry center that was becoming a ghost town with a declining population of less than 20,000, has become one on the most entrepreneurial cities with a population of almost 80,000. And who made that happen? Young entrepreneurs in a variety of areas including micro brewing, biosciences and information technology, who wanted an active out-door life style have chosen to locate there. Understanding that such entrepreneurs are attracted to vibrant,walkable cities with cultural and recreational activities, the city has focused its efforts over the past decade on quality of life amenities and downtown development. And you don’t have to look west to find examples. Just consider Mansfield, Ohio. With the closure of many of its factories in the 1980s, a new vision based on its expanding health care sector was established. This industry encompasses much more than hospitals and doctors’ offices. It includes medical devices, private ambulance services, home health services, medical transcription servicers, dialysis clinics, oncology treatment centers, and digital imaging facilities—resulting in other spin- off jobs in information technology, infrastructure construction, medical spas, and fitness centers. This transformation has resulted in an influx of highly skilled individuals to create new health care companies, administer agencies19 and staff specialty departments and clinics. In short, Mansfield established a vision and then focused its efforts on attracting the people necessary to implement the vision. And so, how does Lorain make it happen? Once again | turn back to our history—made up of good luck and smart intention. Let’s look at good luck. As one might say, good luck would have it that Lorain has the following attributes: 1. A magnificent location on one of the Great Lakes that is close enough to Cleveland to access all the benefits of a large metropolitan area, including an international airport, without being a suburb of a big city. 2. A history of diversity—known as the International City, Lorain was built as a city of immigrants. This diversity of ethnicity and background is viewed as a huge asset in today’s world.20 . Access to a network of an amazing set of universities, colleges and community colleges—all able to provide young entrepreneurs with research partners and a source of graduates for their workforce. Ohio is known for its post- secondary institutions—a substantial number of excellent state universities, elite private colleges and a thriving community college system. You do not have to build it. You just have to take advantage of it. . A historical downtown area with architecturally interesting buildings that could provide the backdrop for a dynamic city center. . The Black River with the continuing development of the river valley. . Wonderful beaches, parks, harbour, and places to swim, sail, and recreate. . Access to health care, disease prevention and medical facilities, and of course,21 8. The incredible history of Lorain What then constitutes the “smart intention”, i.e. the initiatives that might be taken to attract the entrepreneurial people, the Paul Stockers and Toni Morrissons, to live in Lorain? There are hundreds of ideas that should be explored and tested. The community will have the challenge of deciding how to proceed and which initiatives to pursue. | offer ten ideas to consider and serve as examples of the boundless possibilities. Intention: 1. Develop a vision with a ten year time horizon that identifies certain idea-rich sectors based on our historic strengths. Some of the sectors that might be considered include renewable energy (wind turbines), advanced materials (the “new” steel) , environmental and health technologies, creative arts andN w 2 design, and fisheries and aquaculture (bio-fuels, nutraceuticals, fertilizers) . . Identify key civic leaders to enact the vision, people who care about the city and are prepared to invest political and social capital to make it happen. Over and over again, when you study the success stories of reinvented cities, it is community leaders who take charge. As Aseop’s fable, “Belling the Cat” clearly tells us, good ideas may not come to fruition if they do not have people who are willing to step up and “bell the cat”. . Build and enhance the public school system. This may be the most important initiative and the most challenging. People will not come to a municipality if their children cannot obtain an excellent public education. While | understand all the reasons that the establishment of the state’s Academic Distress Commission may not be universally welcomed, | tend to take the opposite point of view. In my mind this should be viewed as a positive opportunity where the city can take advantage of23 the state’s interest, focus, and attention on Lorain’s schools. This opportunity, if properly embraced, could generate new programming, innovative teaching methods, initiatives to attract exceptional teachers and most important, additional funding to enhance the current performance of Lorain’s schools. . Restore the downtown area to attract boutiques, bistros, ethnic restaurants, small grocery stores and a farmer’s market with fresh and organic produce. This should be coupled with the renovation of the housing in the core of the city to create a dynamic downtown environment that people can walk to, in order to work, gather, eat, shop and network. One need not look any further than Jevon Terance’s downtown boutique located next to the Palace Theater to envision a creative, dynamic downtown. . Build on current linkages with LCCC, Oberlin College, Kent State and other universities to attract talent and ideas. Providinginternships for these college students in local businesses is one of the best ways to attract new talent to a city. Case in point: my great nephew Matthew Morrisson, a recent mechanical engineering graduate of Miami University has just taken a job in Novi Michigan with a company he interned with as a student. You ask me? Would Matt have even considered Novi had he not interned at a small international technology company? Now he has an offer of employment and is moving there to live. . Focus on the development of excellence in health care by fostering linkages with teaching hospitals and medical schools in the region and by acting as a beta site for clinical research, drug trials and new health technologies. . Continue to market the lighthouse, beaches and parks. Working with the Port Authority and building on the success of Black River Landing continue to develop the river valley as a recreational and tourist attraction25 8. In collaboration with the Stocker Arts Center at LCCC and Oberlin College establish the Toni Morrison Creative and Performing Arts Centre, to attract the future laureates to come to Lorain for conferences, writer in residence programs linked to the schools, and public readings. This center could be developed along the lines of the internationally renowned Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, in Banff, Alberta, where artists, writers, designers, musicians and actors congregate to learn, study, practice and perform. © . Establish the C. Paul Stocker Entrepreneurial Centre where young entrepreneurs can network, attend workshops, be mentored and access seed venture capital 10. Develop a funding strategy that might include the identification of an angel investor (perhaps a well-to-do Lorainite living in Cleveland), accessing relevant state and federal programs, working with the Community Foundation to support the vision, accessing national and global foundationsthat are focused on specific aspects of the vision, and partnering with regional municipalities. So that’s it. A combination of good luck and smart intentions. While | know there is skepticism about the feasibility of re- inventing Lorain, no one should underestimate the power of a vision—a vision that will create a future for all the city’s citizens to realize their potential. Our founding fathers had such a vision. Paul Stocker had such a vision. And, Toni Morrison wrote her vision with passion and creativity. Our history shows the way and provides us with the blueprint for our future.27 In closing, it has been a wonderful experience to grapple with the question of what the future holds for Lorain. | have read a variety of papers, researched our history, studied the biography of Paul Stocker, and talked with numerous people—enjoying myself as | rediscovered my home town. While | may have failed to convince you of my vision, you cannot deprive me of the personal joy | have had in crafting my presentation. Some people suggest that you can never go back. | disagree. This experience of returning to Lorain, reminded me of the many times | would return home from college, the University of Michigan. | had changed; | had experienced new and different ideas; | had been challenged to explore the world and discover what | believed in. But upon returning home for the summer or holiday breaks, while knowing that | was different than | was when | left home, | was comforted by the goodness of my28 surroundings....my bed was welcoming, my family was loving, my community familiar, and the lake was forever beautiful. That is what | have experienced in returning to Lorain this time. While! may have changed, my hometown will always be my hometown. Nothing can replace that in one’s life. Lorain is still welcoming, comfortable, familiar and beautiful...and for that | am grateful.