How is Cleveland? (Euclid, North Olmsted, Rocky River: rent, insurance, find a job)

[councilor j]

How is everday life in Cleveland? Im from Albuquerque,New Mexico and was curious about this city, I dont really hear to much about it these days, is it dying like some of the other older city's in the upper midwes? Is is loosing population?Are the people friendly, how is traffic, are items and rent or housing expensive? and info would be great.

[MABCle]

Alot of your questions would probably be answered if you went to wikipedia.org and read the article on Cleveland and also the article on downtown Cleveland. Then ask more specific questions here so we can help you better. As far as traffic its probably amongst the best (meaning least congested) major cities in the nation. Housing is very affordable especially for those coming from the coast.

[Pinipeanut]

Hi! Cleveland is slowly going downhill! There are no jobs here! They are talking about casinos, but we need something! The weather here sucks, very rarely see the sun. Lots of snow though. Traffic is not bad except during rush hour, which is everywhere. In cleveland rent and housing is cheap, but you get what you pay for. The suburbs are a lil more pricey but better neighborhoods. I am from the Westpark area of Cleveland, which is very nice, Irish community, but its getting hard to stay there. The prices arent bad, but when you arent making any money its hard to pay. The guys in cleveland are friendly, but most of the girls have attitudes, (I am a girl). It isnt hard making friends, but its hard to make GOOD friends. Hope this helps! Bridget

[MABCle]

Actually Cleveland is slowly going uphill. There are plenty of jobs, but as said zillions of times here before it depends on your field, but banking, law, insurance and especially healthcare are really goog growth industries.

And about the weather this past summer are you sure, I seem to remember it being 80-90 and sunny most of the time with some partly cloudy and rainy days.

[Pinipeanut]

Are you sure you are from Cleveland?? Cause if you read what other people are saying, you are the only one that says there are jobs here! If there are jobs then why is everyone leaving Cleveland to go find jobs? And what day did it reach 90 in the summer?

[MABCle]

People on this site are inherently negative about their cities. Everyone says there are no jobs like what they say is law. Do you have stats that say this. The unemployment rate has been going down so clearly there are jobs for people qualified for them. I'm not going to sit here and say Cleveland's economy is booming, but you people (That say "there's no jobs") like to paint a much gloomier picture probably only based on your personal experience and not any real hard evidence.

Also people leave Cleveland for more reasons than they can't find a job.

Also read all the post about people moving here because they just found a job here and there are about equal with the number of people that say there aren't any. That says something.

According to this link http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=cle

there were

Four days in July above 90
and two days in August above 90. Plus numerous other days between 80 and 90 like I said in my original post!!!!

Don't ever question if I'm really from Cleveland.

I encourage everyone that wants info on Cleveland to also visit the forums on urbanohio.com, there are lots of people giving opinion and discussion on things like the economy the plethora of new projects going up and just about anything you can think of.

[KJP]

Hi Councilor J,

Albuquerque is a very nice town. Been there a couple times.

As for Cleveland, I love its history and the redevelopment that's happening here. There's some terrific architecture and the Metroparks which ring the city are a true gem (it's called the Emerald Necklace -- look at a map of it to see why). About 20 years ago, I took a group of people (one person was from Albuquerque) on a tour of the city. The Albuquerque man was astonished at how lush and pretty the vegetation was and how tall and full our trees get, especially along the lake and in the Metroparks. Those who complain about our weather apparently don't see the beautiful upside.

As for jobs, if you have at least some college, some computer skills, a computer and a communications line, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to find a job in Cleveland. The major source of new jobs in Cleveland is health care -- every Monday, an average of 100 people start jobs at the Cleveland Clinic. A spin-off growth industry is bio-tech, and Cleveland is one of the leading growth cities in the nation in that field. Ditto for industrial design and graphic arts. There is also a young but rapidly growing filmmaking/production presence in this city. IT is also a large, growing field, with many new startups locating or relocating to the Playhouse Square area. A cross-country trunk line of fiber optic cables runs beneath Euclid Avenue, which is why IT firms are locating along Euclid and Playhouse Square.

The rate of development and revitalization emerging downtown and in near-downtown neighborhoods is quite impressive. There's some in-depth discussion and illustrations of this at the forum of another site www.urbanohio.com where each project is dealt with individually. It will take some looking to find them all, as there is a great deal happening.

There are many things about this city that I love, and a few things I don't. But as a reporter and columnist for a local paper, I seek to reinforce the good examples (locally and beyond) for those who are tired of the lazy, negative media in this city and for those who want/need to follow those examples. Sometimes I feel like a lone fish swimming upstream against a lot of bad press. So, if you want to learn more about Cleveland, stop reading the Plain Dealer at Cleveland.com or visiting the site of local television stations.

[Stephlb51477]

Jobs in healthcare in cleveland are booming. I am a recruiter, and i cant find enough good nurses. its all depends on what you do. housing and living expenses are low compared to most big cities, traffic is not bad at all. probably the biggest negative (at least in my opinion) is the weather. coming from new mexico it will probably be a shock. we have gotten a lot of snow since january (although in nov and dec it wasnt bad), but i think the summers seem to be getting cooler and rainier. i dont know what the statistics are but that is what i have noticed.

[ottomobeale]

I left Cleveland because of lack of jobs. Companies would bring in a dozen people to interview. I would get 2nd and 3rd interviews about 40% of the time. I came in first loser (2nd place) about 5 times. For my current job in FL I had NO competition. (which paid more believe it or not and, yes, I know that is statistically opposite average)

Things I miss:
Danny Boys Italian Restaurant in Rocky River and that old WP administration park at Olmsted Falls by the bridge.
The absolutely vast Metroparks
That old WP administration park at Olmsted Falls by the bridge
Taking my son to lunch at Penn Station in North Olmsted
People in general are more open. Florida is turning socially into the Northeast megalopoleis.
Less traffic.
No **** mud boggers on the road like here in Florida.
Reasonable housing costs
Insurance. water and electricity are cheaper
The feeling of some permanency. In FL people come and go (move address) very quickly.

Things I don’t.
Most of Cleveland winters. I can take the snow for a bit but it’s a long dreary march.
Cleveland Hopkins Airport. TIA makes me realize how bad Hopkins really is.
Salt eating my car.
State and city income taxes.
Doing those idiotic city income tax returns which, due to all the offsets, took longer than federal including schedule A.
How non-dynamic the economy is in Cleveland (Outside medical)
Cleveland’s incredibly lazy cops. I am sure some work. I just never met one.
Layoff and closing notices in the news every day
Shrinking populations and the feeling of a slow economic death

[CTownNative]

Personally when I was back in Cleveland I saw no Revitalization and that was only in January.All of the revitalization plans in Cleveland require $money$.They need tax dollars for those projects and Cleveland is the poorest city in the United States so when they try and get the town to pay for them they won't.And like always they will try and get the suburbs to help pay too and they won't cause Cleveland ain't thier problem.