Columbus, OH vs Indianapolis, IN vs Cleveland, OH (live, better, compared)
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I've been given the option of having a job in one of the 3 cities listed. I do not have the funds or time to visit each one and compare/contrast. WHAT SAY YOU INTERNET??
Note: This is not so much a "which is your favorite" thread. Please consider the criteria below when voting. Definitely feel free to interject with commentary and expanded answers, but please vote according to my criteria. Thanks!
Info Dump of Criteria That's Important To Me: *I'm a parent, so areas with top-notch and varied school options are great. *I'm 30-something and single. I would like to date again some time this century, so areas high in 25-40 year olds would be nice. *I'm eccentric, so areas fairly high in Weirdness Factor are ideal (I've heard this is hard to come by in the midwest?). *I have varied and varying interests, so areas with lots of different options are ideal (amusement parks, malls, museums, orchestras, water parks, plenty of unique shopping options, historical sites, public parks/hiking areas, near to camping sites, etc.). *Cities with an extensive network of biking lanes or at least wide sidewalks. We are not uber bikers, but when we do bike, I'd like to do so w/o fear of having to dodge pedestrians on narrow sidewalks. *I'm a gamer. I know that both Columbus and Indy have gaming cons. What of Cleveland? *I'm Buddhist. I don't need a shrine around every corner, but areas that have a sizable Buddhist populace would be swell. *I'm an entrepreneur. I have no idea how that would tie into a city, but I know it when I see it. Perhaps a city with lots of emphasis on small biz development, such as non-profit business incubators, etc. *I'm in the IT industry (mostly), so areas high in IT would be nice if I had to find other work. *I get that every city has good areas and not so good areas, but I would like to avoid areas that are overly crime ridden.
I think that's about it...
Thoughts?
Votes?
EDIT: I see Indy is slightly higher than Columbus in the population department 2013 Census City Estimates I assume that means it's the most "city"ish city? Did that even make sense? And Cleveland is the least city'ish?
Cleveland has lots of Asians and Indians throughout Cleveland, the most in Ohio. A place I like is Solon. Solon is a southeast suburb of Cleveland and is the safest suburb, has lots of restaurants and stores, has the best public schools in Ohio and has a large population of Indians and Asians. They are about to start building an Indian cultural center in Solon this summer. Solon also has the largest business district than all of the suburbs in Cleveland.
Actually it's reserve order of "city-ish" and "big city feel."
It'd go:
Cleveland
Columbus
Indy
I just got back from Cleveland from business after a week. Here is what I saw as an outsider; a spiffed up city with no people, empty restaurants, stores, streets and just an eerie feeling that this nice looking downtown was hit with a neutron bomb, killing the inhabitants except for a lucky few. My co-workers noticed the exact same thing; the airport was empty, the rock and roll museum sparse, and very nice people who were hungry for human interaction pointing out the "world's largest chandelier" at Playhouse Square. The three taxicab drivers all complained that there was no business, and gave us business cards begging for rides to the airport later, one commenting that his days there are numbered, and he is moving to Houston. All I could wonder what was the tipping point for this poor, but nice looking, city to work and entice human bodies to its borders. Coming home to Chicago was a shock to the system, in that you had to readjust to the hustle and bustle of a busy airport and a busy city full of people.
Cleveland has lots of Asians and Indians throughout Cleveland, the most in Ohio. A place I like is Solon. Solon is a southeast suburb of Cleveland and is the safest suburb, has lots of restaurants and stores, has the best public schools in Ohio and has a large population of Indians and Asians. They are about to start building an Indian cultural center in Solon this summer. Solon also has the largest business district than all of the suburbs in Cleveland.
Actually, Columbus has the most Asians in Ohio, both at the city and metropolitan level.
I just got back from Cleveland from business after a week. Here is what I saw as an outsider; a spiffed up city with no people, empty restaurants, stores, streets and just an eerie feeling that this nice looking downtown was hit with a neutron bomb, killing the inhabitants except for a lucky few. My co-workers noticed the exact same thing; the airport was empty, the rock and roll museum sparse, and very nice people who were hungry for human interaction pointing out the "world's largest chandelier" at Playhouse Square. The three taxicab drivers all complained that there was no business, and gave us business cards begging for rides to the airport later, one commenting that his days there are numbered, and he is moving to Houston. All I could wonder what was the tipping point for this poor, but nice looking, city to work and entice human bodies to its borders. Coming home to Chicago was a shock to the system, in that you had to readjust to the hustle and bustle of a busy airport and a busy city full of people.
I appreciate you're assessment, and you're right to an extent. However, if you think it's empty now, you should have seen it 10 years ago. Completely dead during off-business hours. Now there is constant foot traffic on Euclid between Tower City and E 4th. Not much for sure compared to a city like Chicago, but a big improvement from the past. Downtown's population has doubled in the past 10 years and continues to grow. I think getting more warm bodies to come back here is just a matter of getting the word out, which, with the Gay Games, the Global Center for Health Innovation, and Global Cleveland, will hopefully start to happen in the near future.
I just got back from Cleveland from business after a week. Here is what I saw as an outsider; a spiffed up city with no people, empty restaurants, stores, streets and just an eerie feeling that this nice looking downtown was hit with a neutron bomb, killing the inhabitants except for a lucky few. My co-workers noticed the exact same thing; the airport was empty, the rock and roll museum sparse, and very nice people who were hungry for human interaction pointing out the "world's largest chandelier" at Playhouse Square. The three taxicab drivers all complained that there was no business, and gave us business cards begging for rides to the airport later, one commenting that his days there are numbered, and he is moving to Houston. All I could wonder what was the tipping point for this poor, but nice looking, city to work and entice human bodies to its borders. Coming home to Chicago was a shock to the system, in that you had to readjust to the hustle and bustle of a busy airport and a busy city full of people.
No disrespect meant, and appreciate hearing from an outsider who sounds sincere with his/her observations, but it always seems like Chicago people love to crap on Cleveland. I wonder if it's because Cleveland's often been called a "Little Chicago?" I wonder. Whereas Cleveland often wins high praise from New Yorkers and even Bostonians, Chicagoans are usually the most negative toward Cleveland... Perhaps its a Midwestern sibling rivalry thing, who knows?
No disrespect meant, and appreciate hearing from an outsider who sounds sincere with his/her observations, but it always seems like Chicago people love to crap on Cleveland. I wonder if it's because Cleveland's often been called a "Little Chicago?" I wonder. Whereas Cleveland often wins high praise from New Yorkers and even Bostonians, Chicagoans are usually the most negative toward Cleveland... Perhaps its a Midwestern sibling rivalry thing, who knows?
No disrespect meant, and appreciate hearing from an outsider who sounds sincere with his/her observations, but it always seems like Chicago people love to crap on Cleveland. I wonder if it's because Cleveland's often been called a "Little Chicago?" I wonder. Whereas Cleveland often wins high praise from New Yorkers and even Bostonians, Chicagoans are usually the most negative toward Cleveland... Perhaps its a Midwestern sibling rivalry thing, who knows?
How can an honest assessment saying a city is empty and eerie be crapping on it? There is certainly no rivalry, I am a native Californian transplanted to Chicago, and have never heard of the term " little Chicago" frankly. I just told you Cleveland was nice looking, but when I was there, my group was at times the only ones in a restaurant; in a bar at night; my nine o clock flight out of the airport the only one left, and the taxi cab drivers were spilling their hearts out that they are hurting badly because of lack of business. I turned on the news, and the newscaster was saying that there were 40 homicides so far this year, compared with 20 this time only a couple of years ago. No offense to you, my friend, but you have to be more objective about your town, and quit being such a homer. If you visited other cities once in a while, you would see that unfortunately Cleveland is "empty".
What I thought was interesting is that in downtown Detroit, where i was the previous month, people were far more more optimistic about their town and its turnaround, even though I thought Cleveland was physically a nicer town.
I think Cleveland has great potential,because it was surprisingly much nicer and more beautiful that I thought it would be, but it really needs to attract people, although it seems you're able to attract movies, such as the John Travolta movie they were filming downtown when I was there. Believe me, there is no "sibling rivalry", I had no idea that the two were related.
How can an honest assessment saying a city is empty and eerie be crapping on it? There is certainly no rivalry, I am a native Californian transplanted to Chicago, and have never heard of the term " little Chicago" frankly. I just told you Cleveland was nice looking, but when I was there, my group was at times the only ones in a restaurant; in a bar at night; my nine o clock flight out of the airport the only one left, and the taxi cab drivers were spilling their hearts out that they are hurting badly because of lack of business. I turned on the news, and the newscaster was saying that there were 40 homicides so far this year, compared with 20 this time only a couple of years ago. No offense to you, my friend, but you have to be more objective about your town, and quit being such a homer. If you visited other cities once in a while, you would see that unfortunately Cleveland is "empty".
What I thought was interesting is that in downtown Detroit, where i was the previous month, people were far more more optimistic about their town and its turnaround, even though I thought Cleveland was physically a nicer town.
I think Cleveland has great potential,because it was surprisingly much nicer and more beautiful that I thought it would be, but it really needs to attract people, although it seems you're able to attract movies, such as the John Travolta movie they were filming downtown when I was there. Believe me, there is no "sibling rivalry", I had no idea that the two were related.
The situation at the Cleveland airport is definitely sad, but I think everyone knew it was coming once Continental merged with United.
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