BY JOHN GALLAGHER
DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- If Mayor Dave Bing still hopes to offer incentives to move Detroiters out of the city's most distressed districts, the record here in Youngstown may give him pause.

Youngstown, too, talked of relocating people and shutting down parts of the city as part of its highly touted Youngstown 2010 plan adopted in 2005. The plan was designed to help Youngstown become a smaller but more livable city after 30 years of population loss.

But relocating people, ambitious in theory, proved difficult in practice. A lack of resources limited the scope. Ultimately, the city offered incentives of up to $50,000 to move just five homeowners. Four declined; one initially said yes but became too ill to accept.


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