Cleveland 2010 census figures released (Columbus, Cincinnati: crime, how much, neighborhood)

[no1brownsfan]

Originally Posted by YaFace

Regionalism will only work if the suburbs get to keep the school districts, and the people who are in charge of the city now are NOT in charge of the "new city." Otherwise it will just be a 1.54 million person city that will trend downwards. I agree wholeheartedly that having 84 different police departments is a complete waste of time. Why do Newburgh Heights, Linndale, and Cuyahoga Heights have their own police departments?

No kidding. And yes, there definitely has to be changes in government, and also allowing the cities to keep their school districts. Maybe more along the lines of boroughs, I don't know. Either way, something has to be done. One positive note is all of the new construction ready to pop, but that needed to happen years ago! Just like with the RNR HOF! How many years did it take before it opened? Things move way too slow here. And furthermore, to make people move to Cleveland proper is going to take a complete overhaul in the schools, streets, and it's politics. Nobody is going to want to live somewhere, where they feel like a prisoner in their own home. Let's put it this way. We cannot compete with the sunbelt, nor should we. However, we CAN and SHOULD compete with other midwestern and northeastern cities, and we should be able to run circles around them!

[tom11011]

Originally Posted by no1brownsfan

No kidding. And yes, there definitely has to be changes in government, and also allowing the cities to keep their school districts. Maybe more along the lines of boroughs, I don't know. Either way, something has to be done. One positive note is all of the new construction ready to pop, but that needed to happen years ago! Just like with the RNR HOF! How many years did it take before it opened? Things move way too slow here. And furthermore, to make people move to Cleveland proper is going to take a complete overhaul in the schools, streets, and it's politics. Nobody is going to want to live somewhere, where they feel like a prisoner in their own home. Let's put it this way. We cannot compete with the sunbelt, nor should we. However, we CAN and SHOULD compete with other midwestern and northeastern cities, and we should be able to run circles around them!

And by compete, I think that should mean we are the most business friendly place on the entire planet, taxes, red tape, all of it. It's the only answer. People must want to come here, the medical field- I don't think is enough.

[no1brownsfan]

Originally Posted by tom11011

And by compete, I think that should mean we are the most business friendly place on the entire planet, taxes, red tape, all of it. It's the only answer. People must want to come here, the medical field- I don't think is enough.

Agreed. And with that nice big body of water next to us, we should compete, and excel! What we do have is:

a superior medical industry,
a nice downtown (need more buildings)
an awesome park system (the Metroparks, combined with the Cuyahoga Valley)
a pretty good entertainment district (not the Flats but still good)
Natural beauty (I love it here in June when everything is so lush and green)
a world class orchestra
3 top notch sports complexes
one of the best zoos in the country


Weather is not going to draw, which is why competing with the sun belt is out of the question. However; as a short vacation destination, it is very doable. Other than Chicago, or New York, I'd probably choose somewhere like Cleveland for a small getaway in the region (OK I'm biased, but still). I'd take Cleveland over Pittsburgh, or somewhere like Indianapolis for sure! Cleveland also could take lessons from Chicago, and Baltimore with how they built up their waterfronts. It would also help if we could utilize Cleveland Browns Stadium a helluva a lot more for outdoor events. Again, and most importantly the residents of Cleveland have to take their streets back if they expect a significant population boom other than regionalism.

[Rodeno]

I go to all of these different cities around the midwest and I can't understand why Cleveland can't get it's **** together. Indy's population is hovering close to 800,000; Kansas City around 450,000; Omaha 420,000; Milwaukee 570,000. All of those cities offer some nice things, but not to the level of Cleveland. Top rated symphony, some of the best museums the country has to offer, great urban park system, three major sports (regardless of how bad they are), great culture, amazing restaurants, etc. Cleveland could be such a force in the region of the people in charge would pull their heads out of their asses. Though hospitals aren't enough the city needs to build on it. Welcome biotech and clinical research firms, and pharmaceuticals. Give some damn tax breaks to businesses!!!! The lakefront needs to be utilized, first by demolishing Burke Lakefront, what a waste of ****ing space that place is.

In a perfect world we could all run around destroying malls and retail centers out in the suburbs and force businesses back in to downtown, hahaha!

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by YaFace

How do we stop the bleeding? Urban farms, legalize weed and prostitution, and have monthly Mardi Gras parties in the now retractable domed flats. Booyah!

(laugh if you want, partiers spend money, not destitute crackheads or families)

LOL! Nice fantasy, but it ain't gonna happen. Ohio is just too socially conservative. Too many small-minded people there. You're never going to see Ohio on the cutting edge of such radical ideas as "legalizing weed and prostitution".

California, maybe. Ohio, no.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by Rodeno

So sad... I would still prefer to live in Cleveland over Columbus. More culture and has a true city feel. I wish Cleveland would annex and count a 20 mile perimeter as their population like Columbus...

And how in the world do you annex municipalities that aren't willing to be annexed? Cleveland simply does not have the authority to do so.

The situation with Columbus was different. Unlike Cleveland, it wasn't landlocked by its suburbs early on. Columbus is configured much more like a typical Sunbelt city. There was plenty of undeveloped, unincorporated land immediately adjacent to the city limits, so annexation was pretty easy.

[Buckeyes440]

Originally Posted by xanthines

By my calculation ((2000-2010)/2000), Cleveland Heights lost about 7.6% of its population from 2000-2010. City of CLE folk ain't headin' here apparently!

Almost all of the inner ring suburbs lost people.

Generally speaking the inner ring suburbs had minor (2-5%) to significant (7-10%) decline and the outer ring suburbs had minor to significant growth. Basically....people are moving outward. Unfortunately, the declining suburbs outnumber the growing suburbs.

[Na zdrowie]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

Arizona doesn't have the water resources. Neither does Georgia. Both of them are living on borrowed time. NC is the only place that has a chance.

Who has truly done a better job at "reinventing" themselves? Pittsburgh? Milwaukee? Neither of them have much to brag about on the population or employment front.

The thing you have to ask yourself is, "Who's leaving?" It's mostly old folks moving to Florida and poor people looking for labor work elsewhere. The old people eek by and the poor remain in poverty. The disparity of wealth in the so-called "growth" areas like AZ is immense. The bleeding will stop when the continued emphasis on our excellent medical and emerging technologies sectors bear more fruit. I work in these sectors. Trust me when I tell you that it is thriving.

At this rate, it can't fill the obviously huge chasm that blue-collar outsourcing has created. Nothing can. It will all take a bit of time. This kind of economic base shift is never instant, nor is it painless. Just ask Pittsburghers. They're supposedly the poster child for "reinvention" and they still lost a bunch of people. Well, their issues are synonymous with ours. The quantitative differences lie only in geographic restriction (they're more resistant to sprawl) and the magnitude of former reliance on heavy industry (we outnumbered them by nearly 50% in manufacturing jobs at one point).

Somebody who actually analyzed and thought about this...good summary. Lots going on right now (some of it not making headlines) and the city will show gains by the next census. Good point about Pittsburgh also, which might be the U.S. city/metro that most closely resembles Cleveland in terms of population (and ecomonic) change, but that as you point out differs in several important ways.

Amazing how this thread brought out all the frothy mouthed ex-pats!

[Cleveland_Collector]

Pittsburgh and Cleveland can and do learn from each other. It shows. The simpletons simply cannot grasp exactly how difficult it is to transition away from a blue collar, manufacturing economy when under duress. Reinventing one's economy in the midst of losing your primary income base to Mexico and Asia is neither simplistic nor is it precedented. There is no proven model for it. Bumps in the road and wrong turns are to be expected. And, yes, there will be *gasp* failures from time to time.

Isn't it, though? They just can't wait to pounce on anything that they perceive as bad news about Cleveland. It's all negative, all of the time.

[Mz.Rae]

YIKES! Out of all of them Columbus is the only one that gained... That sucks, Cleveland is far more interesting city than Columbus. Last time I was in Columbus it looked really depressing (maybe cause of the rain). But I am rooting for you Cleveland