Is Cleveland culturally diverse enough for me? (Columbus, Cincinnati: fit in, houses)

[ahilmersen]

Hi everyone, I'm seriously considering moving to Cleveland but have never been there so I need help. My company sells software to Mfg's in the rust belt and customers I'd need to visit are within a 300 mile radius of Cleveland. I'm excited about being close my company's core market, the availability of beautiful houses on an acre of land (like Pepper Pike, etc), and being able to put my kids in a strong public school like Bryden rather than private.

But I'm very worried about my whether I'll fit in, because I currently live in Berkeley, CA and I like the cultural diversity. I've also lived in NYC and London. Berkeley's White population is only 56% yet the number of people with a college education and post grad degrees is also very high. I like the fact that half of my kids' first grade class are Asian/Indian, Chinese, Greek/African-American, and a few kids from Russia!! Although I'm not that religious, I was also raised Jewish in a very Christian town and I don't want to experience the lack of understanding of the Jewish culture again. My first filtering criteria was the fact that the 80k Jews in Cleveland constitute 5.7% of the population versus the tiny Jewish community in Columbus (22k out of over 700k!). I'm encouraged that Pepper Pike has one of the highest %'s of college and post grade adults in the US, actually higher than Berkeley.

I also found that the largest Chinese population in OH is in Cleveland, the second largest Italian population in Ohio, and the city seems to be going out of its way to make it more "hip" in order to attract more people. Seriously, there was an article entitled, "Is Cleveland not hip enough?" or something like this.

Cleveland seems to be a wonderful small city and it's very pretty as well. I was so impressed that the museum made it to the Top 25 in the country and that the famous symphony is there. Comparitively (against Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh) it appears that Cleveland offers the maximum amount of diversity and culture.

Finally I am an Obama fan and okay that Hilary won Ohio.

Am I barking up the right tree here? It's not suburban living that scares me, but I wouldn't do well at all with a shallow, Stepford Wife, narrow-minded, vanilla community. Would I have to frequent Cleveland the city in order to feel stimulated or could I find that in the Burbs as well.

This research data shows that if I need to be in the Rust Belt that Cleveland is the winner, but there's always that unofficial, gut-feel stuff that you cannot get from city-data.com. If anyone has any insights please either reassure or dissuade me from this very big decision!! Thanks you very much!

Amy

[citydudeallover]

One word dude , I'll talk to my sister and see what she says (?) My half sis, luv her!
My dad remarried to a jewish lady that I call MOM , they grew up in the "burbs"
She went to the public school, that city is a three city district,Beachwood, Lyndhurst ,Euclid,Well Pepper Pike ,(We should be so lucky !)great jewish community here from me being around it< You also might try Cleveland Hts, but there you might
want private schools , bedroom community , very diverersied ?

[citydudeallover]

(the spelling ) much diversity

[citydudeallover]

Ok , reread ur post , one more thing, the art museum just finished it's remodelling
(Ok Not going to try and spell refurbised ? ),spend a few days in the summer Like Now
Call the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland ,Sorry I don't have the number .

[Chef Boyardee]

Oh, I think you'll be comfortable here.

[BelieveInCleve]

Cleveland is a pretty great place. It is diverse compared to most other Midwestern cities. However, most of the neighborhoods are not that diverse. You have to look a little to find a mixed neighborhood as most neighborhoods are still mostly one race. In the Cleveland area there is a very large African American Population, a good sized Hispanic Population, a large Italian Population, good sized asian population, and others.

Its probably not as diverse as you are used to but its still great for a Midwest city. You should be happy here but you have to look around for the kind of community you want to live, which I am sure you will find.

[Chef Boyardee]

I think she'd probably be a whole lot happier in Cleveland Heights than Pepper Pike.

[saba2r]

It's diverse but there is a lot of weirdness about it. You can find all types of people from everywhere in the world. And, of course, the "usual" American diversity of blacks and whites. Large Jewish community here. Large Muslim community here. I hate to say it, but some of the ethnic white populations tend to be prejudiced, especially Italians and Irish. I have a mixed race family and I've encountered more eyebrows raised here than back home in my small farm town. I found that totally bizarre. Also weird is that many upscale people of other races tend to be prejudiced against others as well. I've met many Asians and Latinos who identify with the white community and are incredibly stuck up. This is also not a gay-friendly area. Again, worse than the farm town, which is MAJORLY weird to me. Personally, I've had it with big city types who think small town types are all ignorant hillbillies. Ain't so and I see the proof. I think we need more families like yours moving to Cleveland.

[ahilmersen]

In response to saba2r:

I have admit to being a little weirded out by some folks here in Berkeley! Even at my kids' current private school (which I am pulling out of due the expense) there are hard-core hippies showing up in beat-up old cars, majorly matted dreadlocks and dirty bare feet. Even for me that is a little much to take. One of the hippe parents who parked their car in front of the private school to drop off their child left their window open and their German Shepherd jumped out after another dog and started barking and becoming aggressive on the sidewalk. The dog really scared everyone on the street including a mother of a 6 month old baby in a stroller who's little naked feet were jutting out of the stroller. I kept thinking that dog was going to chomp down on the baby's toes. My kids had to wait in the car until the 10-minute ordeal died down and the dad came to contain his dog, and my kids were late for school b/c of this. The irreverant, "free-to-me", entitlement society where people are trying to be individuals and scoff at any judgement, can be reckless and destructive as well.

[costello_musicman]

^^Or move to the Jewish suburbs! (Beachwood, and surrounding)

Lakewood is probably as diverse as you can get. A HUGE number of immigrants. However it is also the most dense area in all of NEO, so land plots are also, extremely small.