News of the Rust Belt from around the world, brought to you weekly by the staff of Belt Magazine. We’re independently owned; become a member and support us (plus get cool stuff for free!).

Meet The Refugee Helping To Feed Cleveland [Al Jazeera]
I like American culture but we do not want to lose our culture. We don’t have to forget everything from the past; we can adjust by taking the good parts here and maintaining our good parts, too.

In Flint, Lead Contamination Spurs Fight For Clean Water [The Michigan Daily]
Not long after water started flowing from the Flint River and into taps and showerheads across the city, residents started noticing their water running yellow and brown. It smelled funny, and tasted strange, too. People were showing up at Flint City Council meetings displaying bottles filled with the brown-colored water. “It’s a quality, safe product,” Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said at the time. “I think people are wasting their precious money buying bottled water.”

These Beautiful Art Projects Saved One Rust Belt Community From Economic Ruin [NationSwell]
Ravaged by the decline of the city’s manufacturing industry and the onset of another recession, vacancies used to dominate Cleveland’s central thoroughfare, Waterloo Road, and more stores were boarded up than occupied. By 2013, however, a new generation of small businesses was reviving the neighborhood, but infrastructure improvements needed to catch up.

The Ace Hotel Chain Heads East, Sets Up Shop In Pittsburgh [Frontiers Media]
Located in a former YMCA, the hotel chain’s newest property, which opens Dec. 10, joins four West Coast locales and those in New York, London and Panama.

Zach Eberly: Industrial Inspired Art [duPont Registry]
“The industrial world that created us barely exists anymore. Woodshop, auto shop, those gritty classes I took in high school are gone.” The world is slowly changing, but his current works, large, minimalistic and bold, strive to hold on to the art of industry.

Renaissance Fair [Cleveland Magazine]
“I have looked into the eyes of children soldiers overseas,” says English, who served a platoon leader stationed in Somalia. “I see the same look in Cleveland and Baltimore. That is what decades of disinvestment has created in our urban areas. It’s got to stop.”

Banner photo of Pittsburgh bridges over the Monongahela River by 6SN7