the age of manufacturing has passed in the United States, Toledo is just another city lying in the rust belt, trying to find its place just as Flint, Michigan is. Libbey Glass has lost its dominance in the glass market, Chrysler has taken over Jeep and threatened to move Jeep and its three plants out of Toledo, and many manufactures either left town or cut back on workers. This lead to the reduction in the usage of the sea port, which destroyed the downtown area. All of the business left the downtown area and went west, which lead to the people leaving the downtown area following the business, and the downtown and the immediate area surrounding it gradually moved to the low class structure that was described above in the paper. As like Flint, Toledo has tried many new things to get the downtown going again. The government has tried a beautification project to liven up the downtown area. As with Flint and its Water Street area, Toledo's government erected Port Side along the Maumee River. Port Side has had some success in beautifying the downtown and bringing more life to the downtown area. It attracts concerts, festivals, and most recently, a COSI was built inside of Port Side. Also, many old hotels were renovated and reopened to give downtown Toledo the historic look. Other development that are help rebuild Toledo's economic struggles are the building of the world headquarters of Owens-Corning, the building of a prison, and Chryslers commitment on keeping Jeep in Toledo and building another plant in Toledo.Toledo has changed one hundred folds in the last fifty years. Although Toledo still constitutes the majority of Lucas County and is still Ohio's fourth largest city, it's dominance has plummeted just as many cites that lye in the Rust Belt on the national level. Since most everything besides the city government has left the downtown area, it fits perfectly in to the move to outskirts of town to settle down. There has been...
