Cleveland: Annexation (Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron: 2010, city hall, neighborhoods)

[BelieveInCleve]

It might be a good idea for the city to annex some of the suburbs surrounding it. I know its pretty much out of the question for the city to do this and almost impossible since the other cities/suburbs are incorporated but I just made up a plan of what I would do to increase the population of the city to make it stand out more and it would also increase the land area of the city. A lot of other cities, especially across the midwest and south have done this and have such a high population only because they have such huge land areas. With my plan Cleveland would still be much smaller than those.

Cities/Suburbs to annex on the Eastside: East Cleveland, Cleveland Hts., Shaker Hts., Warrensville Hts., Garfield Hts., Maple Hts., Newburgh Hts., Cuyahoga Hts.(mostly Industrial), North Randall, University Hts., Bratenahl.

The Westside: Lakewood, Brooklyn, Rocky River, Fairview Park, Brook Park, Brooklyn Hts.(mostly Industrial). Also areas of Parma, Seven Hills north of Snow rd.

Adding all these cities/areas to the population and land area of Cleveland would make the city a lot bigger. Cleveland: Population-780,000 Land Area-155 sq. miles. Population Density-5,000/sq mile. This would make it the 14th largest city (5,000 behind Indianapolis) but the 4th smallest land area out of the top 20 largest cities.

[costello_musicman]

Nah, let's not be like Columbus--let's fight it out. Plus city limits that size make it even worse to manage everything if/when things ever get worse.

[BelieveInCleve]

I thought about what bad effects that it would have and it has the potential to have many. First of all Bratenahl would get hit pretty hard (maybe) because it would not only be right next to a bad area in Cleveland, but now it would be in the same city. This would really only do good for Cleveland and East Cleveland. The main thing I was thinking of was giving Cleveland the title of largest city in Ohio again instead of it being Columbus. We all know that Cleveland is bigger than Columbus but some people look at the city size instead of the metro size and right now Columbus is bigger. Also people couldnt make generalizations that the entire city was bad because it would now have good areas in it.

The main ones I thought that Cleveland should add and take over are East Cleveland, Newburgh Heights, and Brooklyn. Also maybe Lakewood and Bratenahl. Adding those cities would add 100,000 people to the city.

My other idea was to make the city limits of Cleveland Warrensville Center rd. (or Green rd.) on the east, Rockside/snow rd. on the south, and the Rocky River (actual river) and park on the west or the western boundaries of Rocky River and Fairview Park. This would take up a little less land area than my first idea but would give more definite boundaries to the city. The rest of the cities/suburbs that were split up would be added to the next suburb over

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by costello_musicman

Nah, let's not be like Columbus--let's fight it out. Plus city limits that size make it even worse to manage everything if/when things ever get worse.

Not be like Columbus? I don't know.. Why not be like them? Surely, it's a completely different situation, but Columbus is far ahead of Cleveland right now in most categories. This would help out the image of Cleveland ALOT and could potentially bring more people into the region. I'm all for it.

Cleveland.com has had a lot of articles on regionalization and such. It was back in 2005 I believe.

[BelieveInCleve]

I think that some people might not like it because its change, but Cleveland really needs change right now. Yes, Cleveland is getting the Euclid Ave. revitalization and downtown/flats redevelopment but most of the things happening to Cleveland are bad. Being in the top 10 most dangerous cities, top 5 poorest cities, top 5 dirtiest cities, gang presence, polluted and others is not a good thing. With all of that combined with losing over 500,000 people and tons of jobs I think it would be enough to make some big changes.

Cleveland really needs change because if it stays the same it will continue to go downhill. We have good sports teams now, the Gund arena and Jacobs field stadium being renamed, and we are getting some of the city revitalized and getting some jobs. Thats a good start but thats not going to set us apart from other cities. With my plan the city would have from 760,000-800,000 people, making it the official largest city in Ohio. It would also take up around 135-160 sq. miles, still a lot smaller than Columbus. The cities that get annexed would be most of the inner ring suburbs and would just be renamed neighborhoods (Shaker Hts. neighborhood). Indianapolis takes up 360 sq. miles, and Cleveland only takes up 77, I wouldnt really call that fair. If it worked out right this would do nothing but good for the region.

[hillside]

Cle440,

I don't think being a spread out city benefits as much as it seems. Sure Indy and Columbus have big populations, but the cities lack character, espescially Indy. I live in Columbus and I really don't enjoy living in a city as spread out and faux-big as Columbus. It's a capital city bailout strategy, not exactly Cleveland's style. 155 sq mi would put Cleveland around the company of Philly and Detroit, which is huge but not too huge. My concern is that Cleveland and the new development spurred would be watered down considerably. Older suburbs that look identical to the City would make some sense, but city services would be strained, and it is an expensive transition.

Boston, San Francisco and Washington are all smaller than Cleveland, and they're great cities.

[ottomobeale]

With a few exceptions all those cities are run far better than Cleveland and the residents would fight.

Cleveland schools stink.
Cleveland police amazed me with their lazyness.
City Hall etc etc.

I dont think they would want their cities run just like Cleveland.

[hillside]

Cle440,

Also, Cleveland is the biggest city in Ohio. I don't pay too much attention to city proper, but metro is 3 million. I did hear Cleveland is in jeopardy to fall behind Cinci-Dayton in the 2010 census though.

ottomobeale,

I didn't want to take it there, but you are right.

[JR_C]

School districts are separate entities from municipal boundaries. If Cleveland annexed surrounding communities, schools would probably not be affected.

In Youngstown, there has been a lot of talk lately about JEDDs. One of the more unusual reactions that I've heard from the suburbanites (probably a minority of them, but I don't know) is that they would rather be annexed. They see this as a way of taking control of a city that, in their opinion, has gone off the tracks because of ineptness and corruption. (I disagree, but the huge increase in tax base and doubling the population would definitely help the city come back.)

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by hillside

Cle440,

Also, Cleveland is the biggest city in Ohio. I don't pay too much attention to city proper, but metro is 3 million. I did hear Cleveland is in jeopardy to fall behind Cinci-Dayton in the 2010 census though.

ottomobeale,

I didn't want to take it there, but you are right.

I dont think that Cincinnati and Dayton are even in the same CSA. If they are than the population would be 3.2 million over Cleveland/Akron 3 million. If they are then it happened just recently because they used to be seperate. Also Cleveland and Akron are a lot closer to each other and more connected than Cincinnati and Dayton are, and lets not forget that the Cleveland/Akron MSA doesnt even include the Canton area (? not sure why) which is very connected and right next to Akron, that would put it well ahead of Cincinnati/Dayton.

I thought that the school district could possibly be added together but they would still have the same boundaries. Like people living in the Lakewood neighborhood wouldnt go to public schools in the old city limits of Cleveland. Of course there would be problems, but i think they would be worked out and it would do more good than bad.