Lorain Historical Society hosts conversation with Greater Sandusky Partnership CEO

LORAIN — The key to Lorain's future economic success may lie in a generation that does not remember its heyday. The idea was one of several discussed at Lorain Historical Society's inaugural community conversations Thursday morning. In the first session Eric Wobser, CEO of Greater Sandusky Partnership, answer questions from Historical Society Executive Director Barb Piscopo and others in front of more than 100 people gathered at the Carnegie Center. Wobser, who previously worked in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood and in Cuyahoga County government, suggested that for legacy cities like Sandusky and Lorain, their economic futures lie in public and private entrepreneurship, and those who may not remember when their cities were in their industrial prime — as those younger generations may not try to hold onto that past so much it stifles development. It is about finding people, regardless of age, who see Lorain not for what it was, but what it can be, he said. "In many ways the most authentic way to get where you need to go is to build on that proud past, but not try to hold on to it so much that you can't build from those assets into something else," he said. Piscopo agreed, she — and the Historical Society — want people to remember Lorain for what it was, but it is not going to go back. "As much as we work to preserve so many things about the past of Lorain, this year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lorain tornado," Piscopo said. "And we want people to remember that, to honor those who passed away but to remember the resilience of that community, the hard work … for everyone to do what they needed to do to move forward to get beyond the tragedy and to rebuild (the) community." Wobser said a lot of the "rallying cry" in Sandusky is to kick-start its economic development efforts — framing it as where the city could go in its next 200 years. The impact of those efforts are not felt immediately, he said. For example, Sandusky moved its city hall downtown five years ago, freeing up its waterfront for development and helping restore a historic downtown building into a mixed-use space with apartments alongside the city offices. He said if Lorain were to do the same — as officials have previously discussed moving City Hall out of its lakefront property — it would probably not see a return on the investment in the next 10 to 12 years. "But it was the first domino," he said of investment in downtown Sandusky. " Wobser compared a city to a business — both in need of marketing and an entrepreneurial spirit — but whereas a business can fail and close, a city cannot go under. Despite the challenges many Rust Belt cities faced as industries declined and investment left, they have not closed up shop, but changed. A city's work is never done, he said, looking toward Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley for confirmation. There is no "getting back to basics," he said, it is adapting to attract new residents and investment when they have a choice to go elsewhere. It does not stop when a major streetscape is finished or a city hall finds a new home. "At the end of the day, it's always going to be a matter of trying to pull things into focus," he said. The end goal is to see collaboration between community foundations, nonprofits and public entities to build toward a shared future for the area. "The world doesn't always reward those who go first," he said. He compared the potential of the city's downtown to Crocker Park — while he would never trade the authentic downtown in either Lorain or Sandusky for the manufactured community in nearby Westlake, he said cities need to learn what is making those developments successful. "What I would ask is are you appropriately resourcing your own public realm management, your own day-to-day marketing of the district? … Designing programming will it put people into the seats or shopping in the stores. There's a role for philanthropy in that, there's a role for the city in that and there's a role for nonprofits in that and for the businesses themselves trying to roll up their sleeves and be a part of it." Like Sandusky, Lorain's lakefront is a major asset, he said. Piscopo asked the lynchpin question: Where does the money come from? For Wobser, allocating the money is a balance between filling residents' needs and recognizing development as a priority — both attracting new residents and investment in city centers and not pushing out those already in the area. "It feels almost irresponsible sometimes to invest in creating markets in our cities. … It doesn't have to come at the expense of those things and you need to continue to focus on rebuilding the schools, dealing with the environmental degradation that happened from the closure of all the heavy industry that was here, working with aging housing stock, providing the basic human needs to those who lack choices. But at the end of the day, one of the easiest things you can do to demonstrate in a visual way that there is something happening sort of starts in the core of the city." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.