Quote:
Originally Posted by ClevelandBill
Everybody claims the same reasons for leaving, whether its Ohio or California or Florida or New York. So, I think its pretty obvious that people move for non-objective reasons . . . because their individual life sucks at this time in this or that place . . . and it is an American tradition when things look bleak to pack it up and go elsewhere.
I'm staying because:
We have four serious seasons that are more genuine and less extreme than anywhere else. (I am a Northeast Ohioan, so this is specific to our area of Ohio). We get REAL snow in Winter and white Christmases. We get REAL hot Summers to spend on our beautiful beaches (which because Lake Erie is a lake, not the ocean, has a temperature in summer conducive to swimming). We get the joyous rebirth of Spring in our relatively more forested metro area. And we have, perhaps, the best Fall in the country. (just try a fresh Ohio Apple (or pie or cider) or our legendary sweet corn).
In Northeast Ohio, unlike perhaps anywhere else in the country, we have a National Park smack dab in between two major cities (Cleveland and Akron). In addition to this incredible recreation/natural resource we also have Lake Erie, which provides all the benefits (except fresh lobsters) of coastal living. Need I mention the Lake Erie Islands and the tourist areas west (and east) of Cleveland?
Ohio's people are incredible. By all measures, we're average Americans. But in one of the most populous states, that we are average means we resemble the complete distribution of talents and treasures. Our three largest cities are large by anybody's standards: Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Our next cities would be first, second, or third in all but a handful of states: Akron, Dayton, Toledo.
The corporate presence throughout Ohio is legendary--the old money that was made here IS the old money that was made ANYWHERE in our country. (Rockefeller was a Clevelander). We still are making money--even if it does look like we will never make it again in the old ways (iron & steel).
We have about as many colleges and universities as any state in the union. Our best, Case Western Reserve University, Oberlin College, Miami University, and Kenyon are nationally known. Our largest, The Ohio State University is incredible . . . and we have gazillions of other GREAT schools statewide.
We've got the arts. In Cleveland alone, we have what is, perhaps, the best or second best orchestra in the world. Our art museum could be plopped down in New York City and even they would ooh and ahh. Other cities have venerable institutions: Cinci's orchestra, Columbus's Wexner Center, etc. Cleveland's Playhouse Square is the largest single-location performing arts district outside New York.
Can we talk animals? The Toledo Zoo is world class. As is Columbus's.
And hospitals: Cincinnati Children's, Univ of Cinci Hospitals, Ohio State University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, University Hospitals of Cleveland, and the great Cleveland Clinic are all here.
Finally, I guess, more about the people. We resemble America a bit more than almost any other state. If you exchanged Ohio's vote for President with that of the nation as a whole, you'd get the same result every time. We're rich and poor, black and white (and Asian and Hispanic and immigrant and etc), we're fat, lazy, and stupid sometimes and healthy, productive, and intelligent others. We're accused of some kind of racism (mine is usually against New Yorkers and Southerners, though I secretly love Long Island and the South). Yet, we WERE the Underground Railroad in both body and spirit. And Cleveland relative to the rest of the country is an Eastern liberal big city. Our immigration history is different all over: southern Ohio folks came via southern routes from Maryland and Virginia, etc. Northeast Ohioans are direct descendants of their Connecticut forefathers. Western Ohio farmers are, by and large, later German immigrants. And then the 20th century filled ALL our cities with Poles, Italians, Irish, etc etc etc. Find more diversity anywhere. Okay, you named New York, LA, and Frisco. Whoopee ****. Here, we don't keep these immigrants down, however.
Finally, I live in a house that would be $1.5 million bucks between San Jose and San Francisco. It would be $500 to $600 on Long Island. An easy $400 in Atlanta or Chicago or Houston. The real-life actual purchase price of my home was $225. For this reason alone, folks should be packing up and moving here. Especially when the Global Warming floods Manhattan and a few other low-lying places.
Of course, I'm glad they don't come here. And I'm glad folks who need to leave are leaving (they're not much more than dead wood to us in their present state, anyway). That leaves more of the Great State of Ohio for ME. And I do truly mean that. I could enjoy the economic growth we'll be experiencing as the ice-caps melt, but I really enjoy this place just the way it is.
So, on your way out, don't let the door hit ya!
But, seriously, after you find out the grass is NOT greener wherever you end up, please come back re-energized to put something into Ohio and get something better back out.
Sincerely,
ClevelandBill
Bay Village, Ohio  |
I was really glad to see this positive view of a state where I don't live now, but where I did live once, which I will always remember warmly (and--who knows--maybe I'll find my way there again some day). I lived in three states before the age of nine, when my family moved to the Boston area, where I grew up. I went to college in Ohio, and continued living there for several years afterward, and really felt a deep affinity and affection for Ohio. During those years I felt tugged in two directions, because I loved the day-to-day life in Ohio--friendly, down-to-earth people and real all-American hometown kinds of communities--while my family and old friends were back in MA. I found my way back east when a recession, which hit the old industrial states the hardest of any region of the country, put me out of work for two years, forcing me to move back east and seek work in an area less severely affected by that particular recession. Life moves on, and I've never been back to Ohio, but I've always missed the Buckeye State.
I could tell you plenty of features I liked about Ohio, but here are three: 1) The towns. In the Northeast, many towns outside the large urban areas are gray and decrepit, economically depressed and seeing most of their young people move away. True, there are towns like this in Ohio, but I found many more nice, prosperous, non-suburban, good old-fashioned hometown kinds of places in Ohio than I've ever seen back east. 2) the people. Maybe it's that blending of everything American that ClevelandBill talks about, but I found the people in Ohio in general to be a solid, decent, salt-of-the-earth bunch. A nice balance between Southern gregariousness and Northeastern deeply-rooted loyalties, Ohioans also seemed to strike a good medium between hanging onto the tried and true, and welcoming innovation. It was nice to live in a place where people generally would not try to hold back someone who strove for some high level of achievement, or wanted to risk trying something new and different, but where this could happen without the urban Northeastern pressure to rule the world, or risk being regarded as a failure if you ever fell short of such a lofty goal. In Ohio, if you wanted to go for the gold, more power to you and all the best. If not, that was okay too. You still mattered as long as you were a decent person. And, if you went for the gold and instead of making it you ended up sprawled out flat on your face, well, there would be friends there to pick you up. Ohio's people seemed to me to have nicely balanced attitudes in many ways, and that was good. 3) the landscape. Yes, the landscape. I do love the variety of spectacular outdoor scenery in the Northeast, and, being an outdoorsy sort, very much enjoy the varied opportunities for outdoor recreation that this affords, but I found a subtle beauty about the Midwestern landscape which might all too often be missed by snooty Northeasterners who disdainfully--and blindly--dismiss the Midwest as "flyover country." Think of low rolling hills covered in fall colors, or the view in springtime, through early-morning mist, across a newly cultivated field, to a line of freshly budding trees in the background, and those of you familiar with Ohio will understand what I mean when I say that the state's scenery may not be spectacular, but in many places it is beautiful.
All of this said, I do want to ask ClevelandBill about Lake Erie. I lived in central Ohio, and never visited the big lake, so I was not personally familiar with its waters, but I always used to hear that Lake Erie was horribly polluted. Can you really swim in Lake Erie? [Summers to spend on our beautiful beaches (which because Lake Erie is a lake, not the ocean, has a temperature in summer conducive to swimming). quote, ClevelandBill]. It's been quite a few years since my time in Ohio, and maybe the water has been cleaned up since then, or maybe I just heard wrong in the first place, but if Erie really is clean enough for water recreation to be enjoyable, well, that's one more plus for a wonderful state.
I've read this forum, and I know Ohio is having some problems now. The economy will get better, though. Hang in there, Ohioans, because, despite the current rough period, you really do live in a great state.
Geez, now I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes. Take care, all.
Last edited by ogre; 09-05-2007 at 11:16 PM.
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09-02-2007, 02:18 AM
might be moving there
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