LEWISTON – Greg Mitchell will take his economic development expertise to Pennsylvania this weekend.

Mitchell is scheduled to be the featured speaker at 2004 Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Chamber of Commerce Economic Summit in Johnston, Pa., Friday morning. The summit is a chance for economic leaders of that area to learn about ways to increase business and revitalize their communities.

“Their situation was very similar to ours,” Mitchell said. “In their case, it was Pennsylvania Steel leaving their area. They are trying to figure out how to deal.”

Mitchell said he was contacted by Chamber of Commerce leaders from that area after the Washington Times ran a story about economic development in Lewiston and Auburn. That article, which appeared in the April 22 editions of the paper, told how the Twin Cities had retooled after Bates Manufacturing closed. Mitchell was one of several local officials quoted in the story.

“They contacted me soon after that story ran and invited me to come share some of our secrets of success,” Mitchell said.

Greater Johnstown is a city of about 80,009 in southwestern Pennsylvania, about 100 miles north of the border with Maryland. The Conemaugh River runs through the middle of it.