Found this in C-Notes at Scene today:

Think tank says Ohio is struggling. Think tank needs more original material

Yes, we know. Her's what they list as solutions:

:To relieve this economic stress, this report shows, we need a new economic strategy. We need to stop using tax dollars to bail out Wall Street bankers and start using public money to benefit the struggling middle class. This means the creation of new, good jobs here at home and a strategy for retaining knowledge and technology in America. We need to expand public investment in infrastructure as well as human capital in order to ensure the safety and well-being of all Americans. This includes investment in roads, bridges, education and health care. These reforms are the foundation for a new economy in which all Americans benefit.

The elements of the new direction include:

• New Energy for America
  We should launch a concerted drive for energy independence, and put people to work building a green economy.
• A National Strategy in the Global Economy
  We need a clear strategy for our nation in the global economy. The first step out of the hole we are in is to stop digging. No more NAFTAs, no more trade accords written by and for multinational corporations and banks.
• Invest in People and Basics that Work
  We need to ensure our children have access to the best education in the world: universal pre-kindergarten, smaller classes in earlier grades, challenging after-school programs, and affordable college or advanced training. Invest in repairing roads and bridges, sewage systems and school buildings, ensuring that the jobs created are good jobs.
• Health Care for All
  We need to revive the American Dream and help working families with the basics. We should start with health care reform, providing for all a guaranteed choice of health care, just as members of Congress have. Provide every business and individual with the option of either keeping their current private plan, if they like it, or the ability to buy into a high-quality public plan.
• Sharing Prosperity
  We need to correct the imbalance between the top floor and the shop floor to ensure that profits and productivity are widely shared. Raise the floor – increase the minimum wage, guarantee workers paid sick days and family leave. Empower workers to organize, pass the Employee Free Choice Act, turn the National Labor Relations Board back into a watchdog for workers. Pass comprehensive immigration reform, gain control of our borders and enforce fair labor standards so employers can’t exploit undocumented workers.

Americans have a right to know how we can build a sustainable economy. Presidential candidates need to address the issues that are relevant to working Americans, refocusing national attention from the wants of Wall Street to the needs of Main Street. We can begin to relieve Americans’ economic stress by challenging candidates and elected officials to support and promote real solutions to real economic problems."

I can't see the Federal government doing anything about Ohio now or in the future. Every 4 years a (democratic) presidential candidate rolls through Ohio and proclaims that "good people are struggling and we need to change that," they then leave Ohio never to return. Hell, Pat Buchanan went through the Midwest saying that NAFTA was bad for America and that we shouldn't pass it. Despite being against NAFTA, free trade AND being socially conservative even he couldn't make any progress.

From what I have read online SE Ohio seems to be doing well, but Northeast Ohio is in a long term decline leading to economic and social oblivion. Obviously no help will be forthcoming from the feds or the state capital for the forseeable future even if the state government is in Democratic hands.

Once you realize that no one will help you or cry for you if you fail, you realize that your region of the Rust Belt needs to plan its' future assuming no outside help or plenty of conservative republican hindrance.

Here is what I would recommend as a start: eliminate the Cleveland city government and turn all functions too big for a government that covers say 50k people over to the county. This includes the police, the fire department, and the water and sewer departments. The city electric utility should be sold or else turned over to the county as well. The area of the city should be turned into several smaller local governments that would handle streets and human services, allowing the residents to have a government that is closer to them.

The port authority should be barred from borrowing any more money, and possibly should be broken up and sold. This should go for any special purpose local authority that can borrow money or can condemn land.

The combined education system(s) of this county should all be listed and any overlap between the various systems should be eliminated. What I would recommend is having k-8 education handled by the cities and having high school handled by the county. Each student could be IQ tested and placed into a specialized high school that can prepare him for college, give him a trade, or at the low end make sure he can read and do arithmetic.
The community colleges should be checked to see if they serve any purpose other that to delude the students into thinking they too can go to college. If they are just a scam they can be repurposed as specialized high schools for those exiting the 8th grade headed towards college.

Clearly local govenment in Cuya county is a failure, it should be reworked to better suit a declining area.

I would hope all of this possible, but who knows.