The Future of East Palestine; Community looks forward to better economy | News, sports, jobs

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern train derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

EASTERN PALESTINE – In light of the Feb. 3 train derailment nearly nine months ago, the village of East Palestine looked to the future Thursday at an economic development roundtable at the American Legion Hall in East Palestine.

Village leaders met with local and state officials, as well as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recovery coordinator Jim McPherson and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw, to shift the focus from environmental cleanup to economic recovery from the rail disaster.

“Today we wanted to bring together federal, state, local and community leaders and talk about how we can get this community back on its feet. “East Palestine will be a story of resilience, recovery and cooperation,” Shaw said. “We've moved past the most intensive phase of environmental cleanup, we've committed over $100 million to the community to help it recover and thrive, and this is basically the logical next step – bringing everyone together and say:”How do we invest long-term to help businesses and communities thrive? We all have to work together for this. That’s how we’ve gotten to this point so far, and I’m really encouraged by the level of coordination and collaboration and focus on the future.”

It is planned that the round table participants will meet again at the beginning of next year and continue the discussion with the village businesses. The team is expected to submit a summary in January outlining what will be needed to not only revitalize the village after the derailment, but also to resuscitate it from the economic problems it faced long before Feb. 3 . The summary was described as a roadmap for those involved to pursue and capitalize on East Palestine's strengths, which were as diverse as its population structure.

Roundtable participants also included East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway and Fire Chief Keith Drabick, Assemblywoman Monica Robb Blasdel, Norfolk Southern Vice President of Business Development Kathleen Smith, Columbiana County Port Authority Executive Director Penny Traina, Port Authority Private Sector Specialist Haeden Panezott and representatives from JobsOhio, Team NEO (a Cleveland-based economic development organization designed to promote business expansion and job creation throughout Northeast Ohio), and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Mike Jacoby and Jeff Harris of Bricker Graydon, the economic development firm that contracted the village with a $500,000 grant from the railroad, led presentations that included the initial assessment of the village's economic health as well as a live-work theme , shopping, visiting and relaxing were discussed in East Palestine.

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern train derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

“Our firm, Bricker Graydon, was hired to create an economic development plan for the village and we began in mid-September.” explained Jacoby, who also serves on the East Palestine Economic Development Plan Steering Committee. “The first phase was to listen and understand what problems we are trying to solve. Today we shared some initial insights and talked about some of the first steps and themes, as well as where we go from here.”

Jacoby said it was critical for the village to shake off the stigma left by the derailment. To remedy that, he said the village hired WRL, a Canton-based advertising firm, to change the narrative.

“WRL is running a brand campaign to talk about the good things that are happening in East Palestine and to provide factual information about what cleanup has taken place and what the test results are and to talk about how to move forward and that will be the case.” Image that will be conveyed not only to the residents but also to the entire world.”

While no detailed plans were announced at the roundtable, Jacoby said the idea is to rejuvenate the downtown district, using Columbiana as a blueprint. He also said that the businesses already in the village must remain in place, that new businesses must move in and that the village's manufacturing industry must be encouraged.

“The city center needs to become more lively. “You want shopping with restaurants on the first floor and offices and lofts on the second floor, but you also want manufacturers.” he said. “There are manufacturers here and we need to make sure they have what they need to grow. This could be a space for them to grow. They may be financing programs to help them grow. It can be training programs for the workforce to help them grow. There are many different things that can be done and it will take time, but you have to start with a good plan.”

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern train derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

Shaw said Norfolk Southern's role in this plan is to provide needed resources.

“I have said from the beginning that Norfolk Southern will be here for the long haul and that we will be here to see this community through. “Norfolk Southern will continue to provide assistance, its resources and its economic development arm to help East Palestine.” Shaw said. “People here are ready to channel their energy in a positive direction. There are many people in this fantastic village who are really willing to talk about resilience and recovery and work forward. People want to continue living here. People want to continue to raise their families and make a living here. The citizens of this village have a lot of pride and we want to help support and encourage this.”

Stephanie Elverd can be reached at [email protected].

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern rail derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern rail derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

Photo by Stephanie Elverd As the environmental cleanup following the Norfolk Southern rail derailment continues to reach key milestones, East Palestine is shifting its focus to economic recovery and, hopefully, rejuvenating the downtown area, filling empty storefronts and attracting new manufacturing companies to the village. Community leaders met with local, state and federal officials and Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw on Thursday as part of a roundtable discussion on economic development in East Palestine.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox