What Stereotypes Do You Hear About Cleveland? (Columbus, Cincinnati: school, standard of living)

[GrandviewGloria]

My Cleveland stereotypes, I've absorbed along the way, more than 'heard'. But here goes:

Mob dominated

Rust Belt

Lots of swingers: part of what DH calls 'The Horny Belt' (Maybe the industrial base caused this?)

Lots of really hunky East European/Central European men

Interesting comfort foods of East European/Southern Italian origins

[THOMA GOL]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

Lots of swingers: part of what DH calls 'The Horny Belt' (Maybe the industrial base caused this?)

WHOA!! I'm still new to the area, but what is this about? I understand the erotic activity during long winter months and all, but is this area really known for promiscuity? Are women aggressive also?

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Why are you all still hung up on the river fire?

We're not. Other people are. That's really what the discussion was about. And we pretty much said what you did: don't feel bad or embarrassed about it. Love it. Embrace it. Educate people when asked about it or made fun of for it.
If that point did NOT come across... well there it is now.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

My Cleveland stereotypes, I've absorbed along the way, more than 'heard'. But here goes:

Mob dominated

Rust Belt

Lots of swingers: part of what DH calls 'The Horny Belt' (Maybe the industrial base caused this?)

Lots of really hunky East European/Central European men

Interesting comfort foods of East European/Southern Italian origins

Now those are interesting stereotypes!

[WRosado]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Sort of also agree.
My edits:


- Cold, and Grey, always grey (I think we have more then proven this stereotype exists... especially among our own people)
- Good "bang for the buck" in terms of housing
- A hidden gem that is actually nice - suburbs, quaintness, lakefront DISAGREE. While this is true I don't think many people outside the CLE think this.
- Brawny, blue collar, and "river on fire"
- Good medical hub - Case Western\The Cleveland Clinic\University Hospital\Rainbow Babies (technically UH but most outsiders don't know that)

The burning river thing kind of pisses me off. How many of you know that there were MANY cities that had rivers catch on fire? Everyone thinks it ONLY happened here.
Chicago has had MANY river fires and much larger ones, too. But we should be proud of ours, damnit. Stop being ashamed. Ours was the one publicized on the cover of Time and is a HUGE part of why the Clean Water act was passed in this country. So the next time an outsider brings it up: be proud! hahaha

I think a lot of people in Pittsburgh try to fight their images as well. Back in the 70s it was the "Smokey City". I heard stories of the street lights turning on in the middle of the day.

I wonder why so many boats, cruises, kayakers, etc are all on the river so much? Or why new park space and condos are going up along the river's edge? Guess they didn't get the memo that river catches on fire.

People like MacAdams and Strel are early adopters of the idea that cities’ rivers and canals, cleaner than they’ve been in a century, are ripe for recreational use. Just a few short years ago, the notion would have repelled most people. But we’ve clearly reached a tipping point. Kayakers have become a sporadic sight on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, the industrial-sludge channel that famously caught fire in 1969. Clammers have returned to dig in the sands around Boston’s once-notoriously polluted harbor. Last month, the New York Times reported that, after years of dancing around them because they’re so difficult to clean, the Environmental Protection Agency is finally going all-in on revitalizing urban waterways. “The public wants this stuff picked up and hauled away,” a consultant on one of the EPA’s waterway Superfund projects told the paper

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/15/lets_swim_to_work/

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/inde...way_to_se.html

These seem cool:

http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/inde...yahoga_ri.html

[WRosado]

Originally Posted by andrew61

That's certainly one stereotype I hear all the time about Cleveland: that it is "affordable".

I just found something that might shed new light on that particular notion.

I think we sometimes forget that in order to assess "affordability", one has to take into account not only cost of living, but typical income levels as well.

For example, if the cost of living in City A is twice as high as in City B, but you can make three times the money in City A over City B, then City A is more affordable in real terms, because the dollars you do make stretch further.

Now take a look at the following list. The higher up on the list a city is, the further a typical paycheck stretches there. Look at the cities that outrank Cleveland on the list. You're bound to find a few surprises there.

The Cities Where A Paycheck Stretches The Furthest

No body has said anything about Chicago for days, yet here you still are bashing Cleveland?! I don't understand it. Why do you bash and constantly degrade a city you hate? Go stay in that cesspool Chicago and call it a day. I don't think I could ever be so bored to go to another city subforum just to negatively talk down on the place.

[WRosado]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Why are you all still hung up on the river fire? By that, I mean trying to downplay it. These days you mightas well embrace it as a part of Cleveland's history and laugh at yourselves, like GLBC has done. Otherwise, you're left open for outsiders to use it against you forever....



That about covers it for me, if you add gritty left-wing politicians (Metzenbaum, Kucinich, Sherrod Brown). Gotta take the good with the bad...ask an Oaklander.

Umm I am pretty sure no one here is denying it. Did I miss something? In fact, just a few weeks ago we were joking about our "Burning River" ale from Great Lakes in another thread before this one was created. It is one thing to talk about it, it is another to downplay the entire situation. I have seen plenty of people on this forum from other cities deny their problems. Clevelanders are pretty upfront about their's and have no problem talking about them. Can't say the same for a majority of the cities in this country.

[WRosado]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Same with Philadelphia. I may be making 20 percent more in salary, but I'm spending twice as much on housing and property taxes.

My city of choice for relocation. I guess I will have to get your opinions later. I love Philly.

[WRosado]

Originally Posted by Natural510

My first guess is probably "skyline" and second is University. Pitt and UC are more well-regarded than anything in Cleveland, which is what many of those publications take into account (education & finance) over artistic institutions (where Cleveland is superior). But overall, it's skyline. Take a look over on the City vs City forum to see how enamoured people are with skylines when comparing cities...something about skyscrapers housed by banks and insurance companies built on top of hills makes obsessive urbanites wet their pants.

Case Western is not some pushover school. It can certainly compete with schools in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and in a lot of cases, excel.

Do people just think they know Cleveland's little attributes and say how Cleveland fails to do this or that compared to other cities? It amazes me how many people come into the Cleveland forum and think they know Cleveland, but they are so far off.

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by GrandviewGloria

Lots of swingers: part of what DH calls 'The Horny Belt' (Maybe the industrial base caused this?)

Of all the stereotypes I've heard about Cleveland, that is certainly one I've never run across.

On the contrary: One of my biggest beefs about Cleveland is that it's excruciatingly staid and socially conservative and family oriented and there's not enough of a singles scene. Compared to most other major cities, at least.