Quote:
Originally Posted by LiptonGuy
(in no particular order) 10 cities to rank
Dayton-Springfield
Canton
Toledo
Cleveland
Lima
Columbus
Youngstown
Akron
Marion
Cincinnati
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1. Cleveland. Very East Coast appearing and behaving. Eclectic mix of old world European influences which puts it above Cincinnati (which is German, Black, and Hillbilly).
2. Cincinnati. Very East Coast Appearing but behaves like the South. Gets a bad rap for being conservative but locals know very well that the city itself is very liberal and the art scene is very edgy putting Columbus to shame anyday.
*** I would say Cleveland and Cincinnati could be a tie, but Cleveland trumps Cincinnati because of Lake Erie (Cincinnati's Lake Erie is Kentucky) and it's proximity to Toronto, Chicago and New York. Cleveland also knows that it's north of the Mason-Dixon Line and doesn't try to argue otherwise.
Cleveland and Cincinnati are both VERY different from each other. Different countries. Different planets. The only similarities that I can think of are the mix of blue collar & old money, prestigious private high schools, and intense city pride by the locals of both cities.
3. Columbus. Low / No Character, No identity beyond OSU football. But the economy grows steadily during recessions, and Columbus doesn't carry the old baggage of other Ohio cities. Definitely the most progressive minded big Ohio city. But Columbus doesn't carry the legacy of Cleveland and Cincinnati and because of this it will ALWAYS be number 3 in Ohio.
Drop off by about 20 points here...
4. Dayton. Dayton and Springfield ARE NOT connected to each other. They share the same "govt. statistical data area" and they share NBC/CBS/ABC/FM radio affiliates but that's where the connection ends.
Dayton's very much it's own city with a skyline (building heights half of those in Columbus), good museums (in Ohio, DAI's' permanant collection is only rivaled by Cleveland's art museum), and an edgy art scene. The city suffers from urban blight, and the metro area resembles metro Detroit when you consider the mix of blighted city hoods and moneyed burbs. (with Oakwood being Dayton's Grosse Pointe).
*** I rate Dayton over Akron / Toledo because of it's proximity to Cincinnati, Columbus, and Indy. You can get to all three within 40-60 minutes from pretty much anywhere in Dayton. ***
5. Akron: It's a suburb of Cleveland, but many of the best Cleveland burbs are between Cleveland and Akron. Akron imploded all of their cool downtown buildings in the 60's / 70's and replaced them with Mike Brady Monstrosities. You can sometimes catch footage of this in an Akron documentary on PBS where the implosion festival is set to disco music. Show this to your historic preservation friends and make them cry.
6. Toledo. Trapped in the worst corner of Ohio, with easy proximity to... ...Detroit ! Toledo doesn't have it's own airport, and Toledo people love to brag about their Zoo. Toledo also runs tourism ads in the rest of Ohio begging people to visit Toledo for their zoo.
7. Youngstown: I would prefer to rate Ytown over Akron and Toledo because of it's ongoing heavy hitting mafia activity and the best Italian food in the Midwest. Olive Garden built a restaurant here and the mafia burned it down repeatedly. ...as they should have. Seriously if you're ever near this town sample the Italian food it's awesome. I don't like to glorify the Mafia, but let's face it they make for entertaining news headlines.
8. Springfield: Probably the only Ohio city worse than Youngstown, but instead of good Italian food Springfield is one huge welfare recipient. Downtown Springfield's only operating building is the county jail. When you watch Dayton news and the story is about people burning down each other's trailers while fighting over a winning scratch off ticket, you can bet it's probably in the Springfield area.
I'm not going to rate Canton, Lima or Marion. If I knew anything about these places you have to know I'd just rip on them in this forum.