Hate st. louis (Cleveland, Lorain, Lakewood: neighborhoods, school, gated)

[noli105]

Originally from New york. moved to st.louis, now relocating to cleveland from st.louis, mo. I hope cleveland is more diverse than st.louis. I HATE St. louis. Is it a productive setting for African-Americans?

[leavingthe513]

You're going to hate Ohio even more..Stay in St. Louis..

[BelieveInCleve]

Cleveland is a little more diverse than St. Louis. It can be a productive setting for African-Americans. I wouldnt say much more than St. Louis though, but maybe a little. There is a lot of middle-upper class African-Americans in the area that are highly skilled with good jobs. There is wealthy suburbs with large African-American populations also.

In a lot of the African-American communities in the area (most of the Eastside of Cleveland, East Cleveland, etc.) its not really a productive setting. Just to be completely honest. Maybe worry about what you are doing yourself rather than other people in the area. There have been many people come out of these communities to be highly skilled with high-income careers. It really depends on you though.

[jmlicb]

Cleveland is WAY more diverse than St. Louis. Some areas are some what segregated, in terms of demographics, but not at all in acceptance. You can live anywhere in Cleveland and feel accepted. There are a lot of little neighborhoods that are predominantly one race but you never really feel like an outsider, especially because of something like race. I was raised on the east side of Cleveland in a predominantly African American neighborhood and school system. I my self am Arab, Polish, and Cuban. I now live on the west side which has a lot of different races, it is about split 1/3 black 1/3 white 1/3 Puerto rican or some other type of hispanic but mainly puerta ricans. Most of the white people are either foreign or second generation, like from eastern europe or russia, so your not gonna get a whole lot of Pro White W.A.S.P. types over there like I hear you find in STL. I have a lot of successful black friends I grew up with. Our mayors and city leaders and officials are usually predominantly African American, so there are a lot of successful African Americans here. I mean as a city we have a rich history of successful African Americans, Louis B. Stokes, Carl Stokes, Langston Hughes, Stefanie Tubbs Jones, Garret Morgan, that's just off top, and an endless list of successful entertainers and sports stars. There are a lot of black owned businesses in and around the city. What line of work are you in? But hey man, just come visit yourself, I hope you like it.

[noli105]

Thank you for your responses. I enjoyed the honesty. Being originally from New York, the environment that user: jmlicb describe seem similar to the environment I grew up in. Thank you.

[CTownNative]

According to 2000 stats Cleveland is 51% black, about 39% white, and 7.3% hispanic. St. Louis is 51.2% black, about 43% white, and 2% hispanic. City-data doesn't really have anything that indicates much of an asian presence in either city. Also take into acount different ethnicty too, not everyone in those races are the same. Cleveland has a very large Puerta Rican population which makes up most of its hispanic population. The biggest white ethnictys are German and Irish, also pretty large populations of Polish and Italian too as well as many other ethnictys too but there probably not too large in numbers. Many of the suburbs also have large black populations too, and most of the asians in Clevelands metro reside in the suburbs too most notably in places like Solon and Shaker Heights. Also theres a place to the west of Cleveland called Lorain which has a very large Hispanic population, mostly of Puerta Rican decent. Out of all the suburbs the ones that get a good reputation for being diverse are Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights. One really bad thing about Cleveland is that it is really segregated. Theres all white neighborhoods and theres all black neighborhoods. Right now Cleveland has seen many black and white residents move away from the city, although the percentage of blacks in the city is increasing. Most of the inner ring suburbs are also seeing decreases in white population and big increases in black population, most notable for that are places like Euclid, Lakewood, South Euclid which have all seen increases in the percentage of black residents and Euclid has seen this moreso than any of the other suburbs. Overall the demographics of St. Louis and Cleveland are very similar, theres just a larger presence of hispanics in Cleveland.

[BelieveInCleve]

CTownNative,

That post is very true. I would say that Cleveland is more diverse even if you look at the racial demographics alone for the city and the metro area. Cleveland is also even more diverse because of all the different cultures and ethnicitys like German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Slovac, etc. They all still bring different values, cultures, etc. In most places outside of Cleveland, the people of European descent have all the same culture and would just be considered "white" or "American/United States". St. Louis is much more like that than Cleveland.

[CTownNative]

Originally Posted by Cle440

CTownNative,

That post is very true. I would say that Cleveland is more diverse even if you look at the racial demographics alone for the city and the metro area. Cleveland is also even more diverse because of all the different cultures and ethnicitys like German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Slovac, etc. They all still bring different values, cultures, etc. In most places outside of Cleveland, the people of European descent have all the same culture and would just be considered "white" or "American/United States". St. Louis is much more like that than Cleveland.

Yeah its especially true in alot of newer cities that have just really started to see rapid growth in the last two decades, they don't really have ethnic neighborhoods like say a Little Italy. Like where I live now in Colorado the white people don't really talk about ethnicty that much, whereas I remember when I still lived in Cleveland people did that alot more, so you would know if someone had alot of a certain ethnicty in them. I'd say most everyone of every race or ethncity can blend in now wherever though, it doesn't seem to me like people care about race anymore, and the people who are considered racist are greatly outnumbered now. I think thats a good thing, but I also think its good for people to know there background and to continue to celebrate their cultures. I think its cool to learn about other people's cultures too, its something I like to do.

[jmlicb]

Originally Posted by CTownNative

One really bad thing about Cleveland is that it is really segregated.

I wouldn't nessecarily agree with this statement, in comparison to other places in the U.S., like STL, Cleveland is ahead of the curve, in terms of desegregated areas. I wouldn't say it is really segregated. A lot of people who live out in the suburbs and outside of the county think that Cleveland is segregated and think they won't be accepted in certain areas. This is not true at all. Trust me, a lot of people in the city think the same way about the suburbs, but I never really feel threatened or like an outsider anywhere I go in and around this city.

[jlawrence01]

I have lived in St. Louis for eight years and Cleveland for five years. I see a whole lot more similarities between the two cities than I do differences. In both cities, a substantial number of the suburbanites will not come into the cities except for a few events like baseball and football games.

Both cities are largely segregated. There may be some areas that appear to be integrated but it is usually not widely accepted.

If you were not happy in St. Louis, I would not head to Cleveland. I would try Chicago.