Why do alot of local Clevelanders hate Cleveland Ohio (Columbus: limousine, homes)

[kpl1228]

Originally Posted by WRnative

There are a lot of older people in the surrounding suburbs who remember a downtown shopping district that rivaled NYC and any city in the U.S. with 4-5 excellent department stores.

Many have no idea how the downtown area so greatly exceeds anything in the past 50 years with numerous restaurants, entertainment venues, PlayhouseSquare, etc., although the shopping still is very inferior to outlying retail districts. They have no reason to explore downtown and don't do so, often not even going to sports venues.

Agreed. It is truly amazing how many people (aged 50+) that live half an hour from downtown haven't been "downtown" (for all that the term means) in decades. They see stuff on the news and they think downtown Cleveland is now like a scene from Escape From New York. They tell me why they won't come downtown and I just shake my head.

[TPH2]

Originally Posted by kpl1228

Agreed. It is truly amazing how many people (aged 50+) that live half an hour from downtown haven't been "downtown" (for all that the term means) in decades. They see stuff on the news and they think downtown Cleveland is now like a scene from Escape From New York. They tell me why they won't come downtown and I just shake my head.

My grandma lives within the city of Cleveland, and still never goes downtown. I took her down there for dinner recently and she was absolutely blown away. From the comments she was making, it sounds like she hadn't been down there since the mid-80s.

[WRnative]

And Cleveland's great assets versus almost all U.S. metropolitan areas are its great parks and its cultural life.

Get a bike and you can bike from downtown to a national park and back in one day in the longer days of summer, if you're in shape.

If you're on a budget, familiarize yourself with "smart seats" at PlayhouseSquare. Especially for the smaller theaters, such as the Hanna, which has no bad seats, the experience will amaze you. Smart seats go quickly.

PlayhouseSquare :: Smart Seats

Take a tour of Severance Hall.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the best in the nation, has no admission charge.

It's also amazing how many Greater Clevelanders don't avail themselves of the region's parks or cultural assets. There focus almost entirely is on the weather, and they often look enviously at friends who have migrated to Florida.

[ohioaninsc]

CMitchell,

You have to remember, at one point, Cleveland had about a million residents, and was an Industrial Powerhouse...this city made stuff...the decades of offshoring production and closing up hundreds of factories turned the crown jewel of Cleveland from one of the nations wealthiest cities w/ at one time the most millionaires in the world to one of the nationed poorest big cities. Cleveland fell so hard so fast that it really did seem hopeless if you couldn't move out. Many did..

The city is and other Rust Belt Cities like it are coming back...they are diversifying their economies...they are taking advantage of their lower costs of eveything from housing to entertainment to goods which can be shipped to them fairly inexpensively. The biggest reason you see newcomers and young folks so optimistic about the city now is they weren't here when the city fell on such hard times. And if you came since the Great Recession, you weren't even here back when we were told the city was rebounding because of things like the Gateway Stadiums and the Rock Hall. (Important things but they didn't address the real issues of lack of good paying jobs)...

Hate to say it because younger people can learn a lot from older people..and history of place is important, but many older long time residents need to get out and stay away to allow you newer transplants and young professionals to continue to work to reinvigorate the city and truly make the special place we all know it can be.

BTW, yes the gray skies of January and February do get to some people and cause a little more depression among many...so once Spring returns and Summer, some people won't be so down on the city. And it will seem more vibrant.
Also, the loser sports teams do get some people down. It's hard to get upbeat for your teams when you know they have no chance of becoming champions. I'll tell you the energy down here in Columbus got a big boost as Ohio State claimed the National Title. OSU is followed by many Clevelanders and I'm sure they were happy but I can just imagine the boost in civic pride a Browns Superbowl or Indians World Series and Cavs NBA Championship would bring.

[theurbanfiles]

Also, another interesting thing to note. All the people that happen to gripe about sports teams not winning, don't appreciate not having the ability to go see all three teams. I think there's only like 11 markets in the country where the city has MLB, NFL and NBA all downtown. Also, among those 11 markets, I don't think there's a single one where the mix of passion/accessibility (cheap tickets, you're not going to be regularly hitting games in places like Boston/New York/Chicago, and you might sense a degree of apathy/not caring in places like Atlanta/Tampa/Miami/Phoenix) is there like it is in Cleveland. Not to mention, you have arena football, indoor soccer?, minor league hockey, and college sports is immediately accessible in the outlying region. There's something to be said for that. But, unfortunately, I think three things are at play: not appreciating what is already in front of you (grass is greener syndrome), demand for instant gratification, and most of all, in all aspects of life as in sports, failure to enjoy and focus on the journey instead of the destination.

[pwduvall]

If you think locals are unhappy with Cleveland you should wander over the Baltimore forum to sample some real unhappiness. Over in my forum its all "don't set foot in Baltimore if you don't want to die right away" kind of stuff. If the forum is any indication, Clevelanders love their city. When I visited a Cleveland a few years ago, I was blown away by the local pride.

[TheProf]

While I agree, negativity is a human product of all cities to a degree (I was in Chicago's trendy Lincoln Park a few years ago listening to a woman cry about how she couldn't wait to move the hell out of town), it just seems to be worse in Cleveland. And what drives me nuts is that many Clevelanders just sit back and trash the city while not going anywhere or doing anything. I have friends who simply will not go downtown or to University Circle because THEY KNOW the town is DEAD. Younger locals (who haven't really traveled) pine on about how bad the City is for young people and/or singles, while the older folks bore you with how much greatness Cleveland has LOST since back in the day... Then there are others who tie the City's suckiness (my word) to how bad the sports teams area... Ugh!!

... it's why I often like to spend time with newbies to Cleveland 'cause they see the city so much more positively. I simply refuse to let the natives get me down ... well, at least some of them; too many.

[Cleverfield]

I think the OP is just hanging out with the wrong people. Most people I've talked to these days are very proud and excited about the progress being made in CLE. The attitudes you're running into could be a function of the time of year -- a lot of people complain about the winters here, and I won't lie, they can be tough, but we always make it through. Having a great Cavs team to rally around helps this time of year, and that's a topic most Clevelanders will want to talk about, if you're ever trying to break the ice with one of us.

[cleveland mitchell]

I love this place I plan to spend the rest of my life here. Being from the southwest I really love the snow I love the weather here its amazing soon. As I finish my internship Im going to enroll at CSU and go for my bachelor in entrepreneurship. I always wanted to open my own business and here theres alot of abandon store fronts with dead cheap rent. I love fashion I want to open up my own sneaker store. I love the grittiness of cleveland its my kind of town. I'm only 22 and mostly the people who I met who hate it are young people the people in the late 20s early 30s are the ones who love it here. I got hella cleveland pride now I want to help cleveland flower again theres a entrepreneur spirt that I love about this city young people late twenties early thirties are opening up flourishing business. And one thing I noticed Clevelanders prefer spending money on local business then got to the chain stores I love it here its a underdog town with alot of history and pride and I feel like if you hate it here you should leave and people like myself help the regrowth.

[cleveland mitchell]

I mean the people are friendly cheap housing you can own home still in your twenties GREAT FOOD!!!!!!!! and downtown on the weekend the have 1 DOLLER BEER NIGHTS!!!!!!! which in my three weeks of being here I toke a couple girls home they think its cute my name is cleveland and im the third cleveland and I'm from phoenix AZ I mean what more could you want