Why does everyone seem so down on Cleveland? (school, colleges)

[LewLew]

Originally Posted by ritam2001

A big problem is that Cleveland needs to be a little more "upscale". I do realize that its fundamentally a working class city but we need to transition to more white collar jobs so as to attract new residents. Otherwise, nobody will come. And why would they? The image of Cleveland around the nation is "gloomy industrial town".

You are right that Cleveland's image is not correctly publicized. I grew up in Shaker Heights, and all my college friends and then co-workers all across the country thought I must have had cows or corn in my yard. If it's not Midwest farmville, it's industry city. Politics start locally. There have been some BAAAAAAAAD ones there in Cleveland, and a very progressive, "upscale" person is what the area needs. It's actually much more cosmopolitan than most people know. I tend to find the West side more industrially focused, and the East side more trendy and "classy". However, I could be terribly wrong and not been to enough West side areas. The downtown needs to make a comeback, as do many of the areas surrounding it. There is so much to be capitalized on, and the local politicians just don't do it.

[jcoffy]

I think the problem of Cleveland is leadership. We do not have people in place to sell the city as much many mayors did to their own cities like NY, Atlanta Boston, Chicago, etc. by taking an example to the convention center: The mayor had the privilege to take decision or lead it but the County commissioners over power him this is a shame.

[jcoffy]

I think the problem of Cleveland is leadership. We do not have people in place to sell the city as much many mayors did to their own cities like NY, Atlanta Boston, Chicago, etc. by taking an example to the convention center: The mayor had the privilege to take decision or lead it but the County commissioners over power him this is a shame. Actually I live in Pittsburgh but I do not like it I love that city it fit me I feel my spirit in it but absence of strategist put the city in bankrupt. Presently I'm looking for a job in health care if everything turns around positively I guaranty you I will be there.

[jh1347s]

Originally Posted by Donna7

So what have you decided? I don't blame if you're still deciding. Moving 2500+ miles (and your whole life) is not an easy decision.

I can understand what you're going through as there comes a time in everyone's life (I think) that a person wants to "go home". I don't know that "home" is the same 31 years later that it was when you grew up. You mentioned the state of depression that you feel in Cleveland/NE OH; it's been like this for a long time; actually since the mid to late 70's in the area that I grew up in in NE OH. Before I even finished high school in 1981, companies had started to fold. There were times of rebound and high hopes, but Ohio has had some real lackluster "leaders" to say the least, corrupt and crooked to be more specific.

I think that most NE Ohioans have real resiliance for putting up with the cr*p that has occurred in this state for a long, long time. Many have had to leave for no other reason but sheer survival.

Don't take this the wrong way, maybe you can explain it to me, (ONLY IF YOU WISH, if you don't, please don't worry about it), how you didn't develop those "bonds" that you're looking for in CA if you've been there for 31 years. Maybe you moved a lot; I don't know. Whatever you decide, it will be okay. If you move back, and don't like it, there are always other options as long as you have your health and the financial resources to make a change. Take care.

P.S. -Kasey, if there's anything in my post that you don't wish to answer, that is no problem. I feel that you really want to "go back home", but wonder if it will be the same. Honestly, if you are ready to retire, ready to just slow down the pace of your life, and be around those that you grew up with (if they are still here, or at least some of them), then it won't be bad. The weather is going to suck compared to SD, but you already know that. The biggest concern that I would have if I was in my prime and thinking about relocating back to NE OH would be the state of the economy - period. If the economy is not an issue, then it's a different story.

No one can really "go home" again even if they move back to where they used to live, as cities, towns and so on change with time. I grew up in Wickliffe, lived in Cleveland Heights for three miserable years in the early 1970s (it's a long story and OT), returned to Wickliffe in '75, stayed there the next 24 years, then moved to Fairport Harbor nine years ago. I was here in Fairport about a year, then I got to thinking maybe I should move back to Wickliffe, as I still have relatives and one good friend still living there. I mentioned this to a few folks I know here; one of them asked me, point blank, "(If you moved back to Wickliffe,) what will you do if your relatives pass on or leave--move back to Fairport?"

I was floored and speechless. However, that question stopped (for awhile, anyway) my moaning about missing Wickliffe and wanting to relocate there, but it started again a couple of years later. However, that was then and this is now, nine years after I moved here, and I am looking at everything in a different and better light. I considered why I moved here in the first place--it was because I was tired of the suburbs and wanted to live in a small town. I really would not want to live in Wickliffe again, as there is almost nothing there for me anymore except, as I said, my relatives (two distant cousins) and my one friend (whom I haven't seen since before I moved; I don't know if he even lives in Wickliffe any longer, even though he has two children still in school).

Another reason I would not care to live in Wickliffe again is simply the fact that having lived in Fairport the last nine years has spoiled me for suburbs and cities. Nine years of living here has made me the small-town guy I always dreamed of being when I was growing up, and I wouldn't trade that now for the suburbs unless I absolutely had to.

Third, the city of Wickliffe in 2009 is not the same city in which I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. The neighborhood in which I grew up and lived until November '99 has changed dramatically in the nine years since I left; I see that every time I go back there to get my hair cut (I know a barber in Wickliffe personally, so I come back to visit him and get a haircut in his shop every few months or so in the summer, although since there is a barber shop next to the post office and just a couple blocks from my apartment here in Fairport, I don't make that 20-mile trip very often anymore).

My point is that the Wickliffe I knew when as a kid doesn't exist anymore. That is, the city is still there, but most of the friends and acquaintances I had there have moved on to greener pastures in other parts of northeastern Ohio (one, my oldest friend, now lives in Chardon, and another, my second-oldest friend, lives in Concord township near Painesville, to name but two who have split Wickliffe since we all graduated high school in 1975) and the city itself has changed since I lived there. I honestly don't think I'd be happy living there again; if I thought I would be, to be honest I would never have left there in the first place.

It's just as well, I guess, because I'm all settled in here in Fairport, I like my apartment and the neighborhood, and, as a very nice bonus, my two oldest friends whom I just mentioned are now only the proverbial hop, skip and a jump away from me. (How could I have been so lucky?) We keep in touch via e-mail, but I'm close enough to both of them (geographically as well as emotionally) to be able to see them once in a while.

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by LewLew

You are right that Cleveland's image is not correctly publicized. I grew up in Shaker Heights, and all my college friends and then co-workers all across the country thought I must have had cows or corn in my yard. If it's not Midwest farmville, it's industry city. Politics start locally. There have been some BAAAAAAAAD ones there in Cleveland, and a very progressive, "upscale" person is what the area needs. It's actually much more cosmopolitan than most people know. I tend to find the West side more industrially focused, and the East side more trendy and "classy". However, I could be terribly wrong and not been to enough West side areas. The downtown needs to make a comeback, as do many of the areas surrounding it. There is so much to be capitalized on, and the local politicians just don't do it.

This.

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by tribecavsbrowns

This.

Actually a good portion of the west side is very blue collar. The further west you go it's less industrial based until Lorain/Elyria. There are very trendy areas on the westside.

[oasisbabe]

There is nothing wrong with Cleveland...we just need jobs for everyone living here, and of course someone with loads of money to develop the lakefront which is totally ugly and useless. Definitely not a Chicago or a Miami.

[mikemeatball]

These are what I have experienced Yesterday in Costco:
1/. when I went to Costco in maple height, an old lady coming late but stepped ahead of me in the checkout line;
2/. While I was on my way out to the exit, another midage lady cut into my path in a lightening fast speed.

I don't know why people ignore elegance as a woman so frequently and massively in Cleveland. Seems like people are always on the run.

Luckily, I met Fox 8 news channels entertainment anchor who stood right behind me, very nice and humble guy even I mistaken him as the weatherman.

Slow down and be elegant, nothing to lose if you miss 5 or less seconds during a wonderful weekend.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by mikemeatball

These are what I have experienced Yesterday in Costco:
1/. when I went to Costco in maple height, an old lady coming late but stepped ahead of me in the checkout line;
2/. While I was on my way out to the exit, another midage lady cut into my path in a lightening fast speed.

I don't know why people ignore elegance as a woman so frequently and massively in Cleveland. Seems like people are always on the run.

Luckily, I met Fox 8 news channels entertainment anchor who stood right behind me, very nice and humble guy even I mistaken him as the weatherman.

Slow down and be elegant, nothing to lose if you miss 5 or less seconds during a wonderful weekend.

So true. In our travels last year through quite a few States on our way to Ohio, we encountered rudeness and unfriendliness and we won't talk about some of the drivers. It seems to be rampant anymore with people just plain being ignorant; they have forgotten how to say "excuse me or pardon me." And yes, there is plenty of that up here in Alaska. They love to block a supermarket aisle and when you say excuse me for the 2nd time, well it's like, you just push their cart aside and they look at you like your crazy. And that's just "one" example lol. We were taught good manners as kids and I have no patience for those who are rude and of the "me, me, me" sort and it comes in all ages, sizes, etc.

Even in Canada you will encounter that; in a grocery store up there my husband was bumped 5 times by people with their carts and not one said excuse me. They just ran right into him. I can laugh about it now but was incredible. Being a native Clevelander I laugh when people not from Cleveland I have encountered make sarcastic remarks about Cleveland. I always come back with "well I can understand how you feel that way since you gotta be tough to live in Cleveland." That usually shuts them up.

[airics]

Originally Posted by mikemeatball

These are what I have experienced Yesterday in Costco:
1/. when I went to Costco in maple height,

no costco in maple heights... its in mayfield....