East Cleveland fights urban blight (Youngstown, Euclid: crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[Flee to the Cleve]

Interesting article:

East Cleveland: City launches fight on blight to spur development

The city launched a big demolition campaign, targeting rundown, abandoned houses.
It has $1.2 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization funds that are being used to tear down about 150 of the city's most blighted and dangerous abandoned homes.
The city launched a big demolition campaign, targeting rundown, abandoned houses.
It has $1.2 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization funds that are being used to tear down about 150 of the city's most blighted and dangerous abandoned homes.

First-year Mayor Gary Norton's development strategy starts with demolishing ramshackle properties near Euclid Avenue and the Health Line that connect downtown and University Circle.
He claims developers are showing interest in what will be newly vacant land for possible business and residential projects.

This is good news that East Cleveland is attempting to do something to make the city better. At least it is a start.

Anyone know of any developers showing interest in East Cleveland?

The city's decline was a long gradual process. A possible recovery will be too.

Very true. If ever. Your thoughts?

[Buckeyes440]

Well, at least they picked a good starting point (ie: not in the middle of the ghetto ****hole, but along the side bordering one of the booming Cleveland areas). I'm not sure how successful this "fix EC" endeavor will be, as the problems span over such a large area. Will the "up and coming" areas fall victim to the thug trash that is lurking just a few streets over? I certainly hope not, but this is definitely an uphill battle.

I'm not sure about the businesses being interested either. Not yet at least. IMO businesses will be trying to get as close to university circle as possible and eventually that "appealing area" will grow outward towards East Cleveland. I think this is just more of an attempt to deter crime.

[Steve36]

LOL 150 ramshackle shacks down 1500+ to go. For $1.2 million something like this would have been a better investment:

[JR_C]

I've only seen photo tours of EC at UrbanOhio. While there is a lot of decay, much of the architecture was originally very nice. I hope they don't just tear it all down hoping that developers will come in and build new stuff.

[Euclidbuck]

the place is a hell hole...and its not the place per se, but the people who inhabit it. As long as they are there, it will remain a hell hole.


70 percent of the east side is just pure ghetto trash with no concept of anything besides being pure ghetto trash. They don't care about their neighborhoods in the sense of community. It's all about whose block is harder and whose crew is pushin' more weight.

As long as there there, its screwed.

Its not like this is an area of hard working immigrants. Its welfare drug dealers, drug addicts, drunks, etc. etc. etc.

[BelieveInCleve]

This is good news, but I wouldn't get my hopes up because I don't see how this will help that much. Over 1/3 of ECs housing is vacant, that's 4,400 vacant housing units. Cleveland city is also doind a similar thing in demolishing over 1,000 vacant homes.

Most of EC is made up of blocks with larger old houses turned into multi-units, with several abandoned houses on every street, but there are actually entire blocks and streets that are abandoned.
Check out these:

YouTube - East Cleveland

YouTube - A Journey Through East Cleveland

YouTube - THE OPPRESSION IN EAST CLEVELAND

I've been to most those areas and there is definitely an unsafe feeling in most of EC. The schools are also the 2nd worst in Ohio after Youngstown. What I see this large scale demolition doing is making it a little safer with less houses for crime to be attracted to, but this will make EC look even more like East St. Louis or Detroit in a lot of areas. I don't see too many people being attracted to EC just because it's close to University Circle.

[Flee to the Cleve]

What surprised me the most was the article stating that there were developers interested in developing. There needs to be a lot more than just tearing down some houses for East Cleveland to gain new (worthwhile) development.

[tribecavsbrowns]

If any city's decline was NOT a "long, gradual process," it was East Cleveland's. I'll leave it at that.

[Na zdrowie]

No surprise here. The edge of East Cleveland is a couple minutes walk from University Circle and the Health Line extends into the city and connects with the rapid as well. With all of the development underway in UC/Clinic and much more to come (and keep in mind we are coming out of a major recession, or still in it depending on how you look at it, and they're still building in UC), it's only a matter of time. I'm not saying all of EC will turn overnight, but that edge in the short term is a no-brainer. Watch the southern edge of Glenville too and the borders of Hough and Fairfax. The ones who are making the smart moves now will be the ones LOLing.

[andrew61]

I have often thought that East Cleveland would be an ideal candidate for revitalization, given its proximity to University Circle and easy rail access to downtown... not to mention some great old residential architecture (even if much of it is currently in a state of decay). The tightly-packed, densely-built streets, with the Rapid Transit being elevated at that point, always reminded me of Chicago in some aspects. With some investment and elbow grease, that could be a great urban neighborhood again.