Outside Erie

Michael Hronas believes in miracles.
And right now, he needs one.
Hronas is the president of Multi Products Inc., a small injection-molding company his family has owned since the 1970s and has been operating on the former Koehler Brewery parcel at 2131 State St. since the early 1980s.
Like many injection-molding companies, Multi Products did well in the […]

Could Erie market itself more effectively as a winter sports destination?
Chris, a commenter on this blog, thinks so.

How about developing an extreme sports industry on the bay in the winter? Snowmobile races and kite-skiing in addition to ice-fishing and a naked polar bear club. Though I remember hearing the casino was going to have snowmobile […]

I had the opportunity to interview incoming U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper this morning about her agenda and what she’s been learning as she prepares for her new job.
I’ll be posting a longer q-and-a from her and from my recent interview with outgoing U.S. Rep. Phil English soon.
But I do want to pass along a theme […]

Sure, Erie cannot compare with Pittsburgh in terms of scale.
But a story today in the Cleveland Pain Dealer explores why Pittsburgh is seemingly more ready to weather the recession than other cities in the Rust Belt.
The keys, according to the story:

Regionalize
Develop and use the waterfront
Develop educational leadership
Cooperate (by this, the piece means that corporations and […]

I had the chance to chat with outgoing Rep. Phil English yesterday — and he had some rather pointed words about the quality of Erie’s political and economic leadership.
I’ll be running a full transcript of the interview soon.
I’m also working to finalize the details of a similar discussion with his successor, Kathy Dahlkemper.
In the meantime, […]

Just to prove how open I am, I’ve chosen an analogy to the Boston Red Sox (gulp) as our comment of the week.
There were plenty of great choices this week, as the site really bubbled with some great commentary on issues such as public libraries and Erie’s mindset.
But I’m singling out a comment from Michael […]

My recent post on Erie’s biggest enemy prompted the type of discussion I love.
The question prompted a serious, entertaining, and thoughtful discussion about some of the biggest factors that have been holding Erie back for decades. It even contributed to a similar discussion on Jim Russell’s Cleveburgh Diaspora.
A lot of you touched on the theme […]

One of the clear goals of this site is to help give more opportunities to those who want to live in Erie.
On a broader scale, that is also one of the goals of a regional group called the Great Lakes Urban Exchange, or GLUE.
The effort is backed by foundation money, writes the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
Ms. […]

Now that the election craziness is over, we can return our focus to Erie — and address one of the more hopeful developments that is taking place there.
We’ve spoken some about the creation of the group Envision Erie — a community-led movement to create a plan to improve Erie’s quality of life and economy.
The group’s […]

GlobalErie writer Rebecca Styn is borrowing from The Ramones in relaunching her blog under a new title, Learn to Listen.
Rebecca was among this site’s early contributors, writing a blog called The Art of Erie.
But she’s long been interested in changing the focus of her writing — reflecting on her role as a young professional in […]