Say it ain't so...is Cleveland becoming a Portlandia-like transplant/hipster place? (Fairfield: fit in, apartment)

[captaincatfish]

Originally Posted by Midwestern Maniac

Huh? It's just lame that Cleveland my sanctuary from pretentious east coast tools is getting yuppified. Stay on Coventry but it's just so lame to walk through a place and it's all young unmarried liberal wierdoes who didn't grow up in the area and drink craft brew and work in artistic professions.
And dude I'm a native Clevelander and gay to boot. I've been to NY and Chicago and Frisco and seen how nice working class areas with generations of ethnic history (Italians Poles Jews Blacks etc) gets turned into trendy wasteland. What about blue collar? What about grit? Cities are better when they are not "cool" and sanitized and safe.

I'm 59 years old now...is/are there old school stuff I wish was still around? Yep

But...even I know the world around me is changing, every day...some stuff I like, and some I don't

But I'm not gonna rail on about places being sanitized and all that...and you saying 'all young unmarried liberal wierdoes who didn't grow up in the area and drink craft brew and work in artistic professions'

First of all, how do you KNOW that? Just by looking at them, and making assumptions? Somehow I think you're better than that

Secondly, some of this stuff ain't your call, man...you can click your steel-toed slippers together and say 'there's no place like home...there's no place like home' all you want, but when you open your eyes, Harry Hipster and Bonnie Boho are still gonna be there

I'm just trying to give you a glimpse of reality...change, like s**t, happens, whether you/we/I like it or not

[nep321]

Not to mention, the Cleveland metro area is one of the more liberal metros in the entire U.S. It's solidly liberal as is. There ain't no influx of east or west coast liberals moving in. The population has been declining, for crying out loud!

Now, I happen to be a liberal myself, but so what? You have your views, I have mine.

[TPH2]

Originally Posted by nep321

Not to mention, the Cleveland metro area is one of the more liberal metros in the entire U.S. It's solidly liberal as is. There ain't no influx of east or west coast liberals moving in. The population has been declining, for crying out loud!

Now, I happen to be a liberal myself, but so what? You have your views, I have mine.

Cleveland is very 'Democratic' but it's not really 'liberal.'

[L2DB]

Originally Posted by Midwestern Maniac

Unfortunately due to my better looking half's work we are currently in Detroit

There's a "please tell me Detroit isn't becoming full of weak-willed, significant-other followers" fake thread joke in here somewhere, but you'd have to post it in the Detroit forum and it wouldn't make any sense and it's generally too much effort, IMO.

Oh well.

[that412]

Got to be one of the weirder thread premises I've seen on here. It's like the OP actively wants his hometown to be on a downward slide into an unsalvageable wreck.

It's also utterly bizarre to see certain attributes automatically ascribed as negative when they have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of one's character (drinking craft beer, working in an "artistic" profession).

[theurbanfiles]

I can see why people occasionally have negative views of yuppies. A lot of times it stems from a negative experience, or from them being the "cool kids" in school, or whatever. I know people who feel that way. Change also makes me sad too, but it's what happens, Cleverfield's summation of the fact that the country is no longer primarily functioning on those types of jobs is accurate. Are there manufacturing jobs still? Yes, but they generally now require a higher education. I don't think education and awareness are a bad thing. However, my hope is that when the Ellis Island generations are primarily not there anymore, that people have enough nostalgia about them to preserve the historic nature of these areas. I do think that's proper to do to best of abilities. I think it's positive that Little Italy, even though the neighborhood is currently only about 15% Italian, retains the fact that it maintains the "idea" of being Italian (sort of like Tom Sawyer talking about how for the story's sake, they could SAY that they were digging for 37 years) with basically all Italian restaurants/bakeries still in place. I hope Sokolowski's is around and the West Side Market also 100 years from now.

I realize this is a long rant, lol. I think it's unfair to categorize people that are yuppies as all behaving in a certain way, in fact many of Cleveland's newest restaurant openings, have a distinctly vintage vibe (Sweet Moses, Melt, Happy Dog). People should be encouraged to strive and work to the best of their abilities and become educated about a wide array of topics, that should be celebrated, not criticized. I am a doctoral student, but I do not think I am better than anyone at all, in fact there are many things I could learn or don't do as well as almost anyone. But at the end of the day; you want the right kind of yuppies, who enjoy themselves and make a city fun, yet are not going to be all the same or have some type of attitude, and are hard working and kind to their neighbors. To me that's an ideal city.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by TPH2

Cleveland is very 'Democratic' but it's not really 'liberal.'

As long as it's a similar breed of liberalism that is found in say, New England, I'll be pretty comfortable. But either way, I don't care. It wouldn't affect my decision, as long as people aren't antiy-gay, which I know they generally are not anti-gay in CLE.

[nep321]

The kind of yuppies that I do not like are the obnoxious ones who still act like they're in post-college mode and feel the need to live a luxurious lifestyle with super high standards. Here in Stamford, CT there are TONS of them and it drives me nuts. They have attitudes, too.

[theurbanfiles]

FWIW, I tend to think that those who are in cities such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland have more of a blue collar mindset/mentality than those in other regions, because of the fact that there parents likely did. Or even just winter, because while it's not that difficult to deal with , something about colder weather tends to breed more blue collarness, as opposed to warmer places which are generally much more relaxed. However, going any further with that philosophy may be too hot to touch here, LOL. I for one have a blue collar attitude, I know that my parents worked at hard physical labor growing up and I'd be willing to do the same to make ends meet.

[nep321]

Originally Posted by clevelander1991

FWIW, I tend to think that those who are in cities such as Pittsburgh and Cleveland have more of a blue collar mindset/mentality than those in other regions, because of the fact that there parents likely did. Or even just winter, because while it's not that difficult to deal with , something about colder weather tends to breed more blue collarness, as opposed to warmer places which are generally much more relaxed. However, going any further with that philosophy may be too hot to touch here, LOL. I for one have a blue collar attitude, I know that my parents worked at hard physical labor growing up and I'd be willing to do the same to make ends meet.

Well, how do you define a "blue collar mentality?"

I mean, there's gotta also be a significant white collar presence in CLE, right? I mean, there's gotta be plenty of doctors, lawyers, teachers, office workers, etc, too. Right?