Removing tires from a river doesn’t just help the river; it helps build community among political leaders, businesses, environmentalists and other groups, and in the Mahoning Valley, these groups have often been in conflict.
The waters of the Mahoning River have recovered somewhat since the steel mills that dotted the banks shut down in the 1970s and '80s. Now there’s an effort to take down the dams that provided a water source for the mills and continue to hold back the toxins dumped in the Mahoning. However, upriver, in rural Trumbull County, residents don’t want to lose their dam.
Parts of the Mahoning River were once considered unsafe for human contact. But in the five decades since most of the industry left, the water quality has improved. The fish are back, and it’s even safe to eat them. There are people who've been watching the river’s recovery.
Like many Northeast Ohio rivers, the Mahoning has an industrial legacy. It was once deemed too polluted for human contact. But when the steel mills began closingin the 1970’s, the river started restoring itself. Now some trailblazers are working to reconnect the people of the Mahoning Valley with their river.
Several studies have drawn a connection between living in neighborhoods that were subject to redlining, the historic discriminatory mortgage lending practices instituted in the 1930s, and an increased likelihood that a resident will suffer from asthma today. Experts say the historic systems and structures which pushed many African Americans into redlined communities affect many Cleveland and Akron residents who live in the Ohio Valley Asthma Belt today.