Why Do Most Clevelanders Love to Highlight the Negative? (Ohio City: transplants, transfer)

[QCongress83216]

I saw this post on Facebook highlighting reasons why Cleveland is an underrated city. Most people (current and ex-Clevelanders) praised the video. On the flip side, you had the haters (former and current residents) constantly harped on the negatives (i.e. crime, weather, lack of nightlife, skyline). I know that Cleveland has its issues, but I just feel that you should point the pros and cons of a city; not just highlight the positives (like most people on the Coast) or negatives (like some Clevelanders). Why do most Clevelanders love to point out the negatives? Is it because they're miserable? Is it because they never lived anywhere else? Did they want to move out and they feel they can't? Or are they just bitter and ignorant? Somebody let me know!


Here's the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/clevelandonly/?fref=ts#

[Minervah]

Dunno. I recently moved to the Cleveland area from Portland, OR and I love it. Maybe I am too new to complain.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by QCongress83216

Why do most Clevelanders love to point out the negatives? Is it because they're miserable? Is it because they never lived anywhere else? Did they want to move out and they feel they can't? Or are they just bitter and ignorant? Somebody let me know!


Here's the Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/clevelandonly/?fref=ts#

I don't think most Clevelanders in city-data hype the negatives, so, in that regard, your premise is false.

In fact, Clevelanders have a reputation in city-data forums, such as city vs. city, of being (unfairly IMO) notorious homers.

[QCongress83216]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I don't think most Clevelanders in city-data hype the negatives, so, in that regard, your premise is false.

In fact, Clevelanders have a reputation in city-data forums, such as city vs. city, of being (unfairly IMO) notorious homers.

You misread my post I wasn't referring to CD I was talking about on social media and other sites.

[teacherdad]

We ate at the Butcher Brewery and the manager came up and thought we were all from Boston- his daughter lives there HE was bad mouthing CLE like crazy! I was getting pissed.

"See 4th with all the people? This is all we have here."

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

We ate at the Butcher Brewery and the manager came up and thought we were all from Boston- his daughter lives there HE was bad mouthing CLE like crazy! I was getting pissed.

"See 4th with all the people? This is all we have here."

Perhaps he was just aggrandizing East 4th St. and his establishment. Perhaps he was just ignorant.

In my experience, the Market District is often more busy than East 4th St., likely because of the better mass transit connections and cheap parking.

And certainly the rest of Gateway and the Warehouse District offer alternatives to East 4th St., especially after games.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by WRnative

I don't think most Clevelanders in city-data hype the negatives, so, in that regard, your premise is false.

If anything, a great many Clevelanders in City-Data overhype the positives and downplay the negatives. It drives me a bit nuts sometimes.

Originally Posted by WRnative

In fact, Clevelanders have a reputation in city-data forums, such as city vs. city, of being (unfairly IMO) notorious homers.

To be fair, Chicagoans, and residents of various other cities, do the same thing.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by teacherdad

We ate at the Butcher Brewery and the manager came up and thought we were all from Boston- his daughter lives there HE was bad mouthing CLE like crazy! I was getting pissed.

"See 4th with all the people? This is all we have here."

Trust me, boston is vastly overrated. I'd take cle any day if I could get transfer my job there (which I cant).

Getting in tomorrow, upset today's game got rained out... but hopefully I'll be at the alcs on friday.

[QCongress83216]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Trust me, boston is vastly overrated. I'd take cle any day if I could get transfer my job there (which I cant).

Getting in tomorrow, upset today's game got rained out... but hopefully I'll be at the alcs on friday.

What's wrong with Boston? I'm asking because I'm curious since you live there.

[j_ws]

My general experience has been that second and third-tier cities with large portions of residents who grew up there and have remained there tend to have higher numbers of people who hate it and wish they could "get out."

Cities which tend to draw a lot of transplants, such as Seattle, benefit from the positive perspectives of all of the people choosing to relocate there as well as the attributes that made them into places that so many people wish to live in the first place.

I think Clevelanders have such polarized views because the city is reaching the point where it has sizeable cultural assets (despite the opinion of the manager at Butcher and the Brewer) and some very strong resident communities, but it isn't high profile enough or free of enough issues that the majority of the population can appreciate these assets. For every group of dedicated Ohio City residents there's probably at least double the amount of Cleveland natives who can't afford full meals every day. So while I think Cleveland has a lot to offer for the upper half of the population that has some level of disposable income, and particularly great for the 21-35 age bracket, there's still about 35% of the native population that really can't afford to utilize almost any of the assets that are making the city notable for positive reasons. Whereas in a city like Seattle, a much larger portion of those being born and raised in the city are able to have a positive experience regardless of their socioeconomic status.

There is also a negative perception of the city from a lot of the surrounding suburban residents that don't travel into the rapidly changing core and inner-ring neighborhoods. I would say the perceptions of Cleveland from someone who has recently moved into this core are entirely different than those of someone who has lived in the general suburban and exurban areas for more than a decade.