Civic leaders see the upcoming corruption trial of U.S. Rep. James Traficant as the last chapter in this Rust Belt city's checkered past, and as an opportunity to begin moving beyond the label "Crimetown USA."

Traficant's indictment is part of a wide-ranging probe of organized crime in the area, which has resulted in the convictions of 70 people in four years.

"We have been preoccupied with mafia in the media and everybody repeating the same stories about the corrupt judges and the crooked attorneys and the Traficant issue," said Thomas Humphries, president of the Youngs-town/Warren Chamber of Commerce.

"If you look at Mr. Traficant, guilty or innocent -- it's closure. We think we're in the last chapter. There's not a lot of dirty stuff left in the closet."

Humphries and others are working to improve the area's image, which they believe would lead to its rebirth. They plan to promote improvements that have been made but say they will not try to market the city until after the trial, which is scheduled to start Monday.

Traficant, a Democrat who plans to defend himself but is not an attorney, is accused of accepting gifts and favors from businessmen in exchange for lobbying federal agencies on behalf of their companies. He has denied the charges.

Jim Cossler, director of the Youngstown Business Incubator, said businesses considering moving to the area are concerned about its reputation for corruption.

"The Traficant trial certainly plays a role in slowing or blocking our growth," he said.

Mired in scandals, Youngs-town missed out on the economic boom of the 1990s that allowed other Rust Belt cities, such as Cleveland, to repair their images. Humphries and others have worked to bring business to Youngstown, but also standing in their way are boarded-up store fronts and rundown office buildings in the city's aging downtown.

Federal and county government buildings make up the bulk of activity because commercial activity slowed to a trickle after the steel mills began shutting down in the 1970s.

The city's image is a major barrier to growth, said Don Smith, director of a combined economic development program for the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

"People have in their minds an association of these places as depressed or distressed," Smith said. "Changing that image is an important step before they can have strong and robust growth."

Smith said a comeback is possible, but the region has to find a niche for which it is uniquely well suited, rather than simply trying to join the dozens of cities trying to develop high-tech or biotech industries.

The regional chamber -- with the assistance of organized labor -- has begun a campaign to focus on "The New Youngstown."

Humphries said a comeback has already begun.

In 2001, companies spent $390 million on buildings and infrastructure in the area, a record for a single year and more than triple the annual average, Humphries said.

A new industrial park has been built adjacent to a regional airport, and Delphi Packard has begun building a $58 million plastics plant there that is expected to employ about 180 people.

Several major telecommunications companies have established telemarketing call centers in the region, bringing several hundred entry-level jobs.

The area's weaknesses also are its selling points in luring new business.

Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties' population of just under 600,000 has a median income of less than $24,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census. The residents, who have a low cost of living, are willing to work for less, Humphries said.

"We have people who don't want to leave the market, people with a good work ethic," Humphries said.

The Youngstown Business Incubator has helped entrepreneurs start 12 software companies in the area since 2000, Cossler said.

Unlike traditional commodities, there is little cost involved in shipping data or software to distant customers, so a technology business can be located anywhere.

"If you are going to start a business anywhere, why not start it in the lowest cost area you could -- that's Youngs-town," Cossler said. "We're incredibly well positioned for the new economy."

But some people are not so optimistic.

Sitting on a bench in the Eastwood Mall in Niles, Robert Green, 66, said shops are closing and companies are going bankrupt.

"Kids go away to school and don't come back," he said. "Kids who quit school are staying because where else is there to go?"