71–80 of 81 posts
wow! didn't expect to see this - same reaction I and my gf had moving to Cleveland (here since July!). Surprisingly fun and plenty to do, not to mention the abundance of restaurants. Coming from a bigger city I didn't know what to expect, but this has been a great summer so far!
Winter is coming!
Much of Cleveland is a dump. Close to 100 murders a year is a lot for a city of 400k. Lots of crime, high car insurance, it's just dreary looking and feeling like Milwaukee or Detroit. The white areas of Cleveland are pretty racist - it's a very segregated city, like most other large cities in the rust belt.
The murders mostly occur in places like East Cleveland or near Kinsman. These aren't places that people just visit. Why is Cleveland racist?
Regarding crime, I recently saw a map that showed a horrific level of lead poisoning in the urban Cleveland area children , most likely due to old housing stock.
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Jokes aside, it's odd that OP is lumping Cleveland in with other 'mid-west' cities. As an outsider (I'm from NC) I have always thought of Cleveland as a "rust belt" city first and foremost. I tend to assume Cleveland has more in common with, say, Pittsburgh, Charleston WV, Detroit, etc., than what I think of as a more stereotypical "mid-west" city like Kansas City, St. Louis, or even Chicago. But of those, Chicago is…
> Is the "rust belt" identify meme a strong factor to locals? More or less so than being considered "mid western"? reply I imagine the "rust belt" moniker is something people identify with - or reject as being derogatory, which always struck me as funny - more than the "midwestern" label, which people in Cleveland probably regard more as a mere geographical distinction. That's just a guess, though. I don't think it's…
Cleveland is a blue collar town with its roots in industrial manufacturing and oil.
Chicago has always been a diverse metro area focussed on finance, technology, academia.
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> Is the "rust belt" identify meme a strong factor to locals? More or less so than being considered "mid western"? reply I imagine the "rust belt" moniker is something people identify with - or reject as being derogatory, which always struck me as funny - more than the "midwestern" label, which people in Cleveland probably regard more as a mere geographical distinction. That's just a guess, though. I don't think it's…
I really see nothing in common with Chicago and Cleveland. Especially not down to their 'DNA'. Chicago is a globally recognized metropolitan city...that's their DNA. Cleveland is a blue collar town with its roots in industrial manufacturing and oil. Chicago has always been a diverse metro area focussed on finance, technology, academia.
[0] http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eternal-silence
> I really see nothing in common with Chicago and Cleveland.
I assume you haven't spent much time in both. (edited down a longer comment since, really, who cares...)
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I've worked downtown for a few years and I really don't think your comments are entirely accurate. I don't want to turn this into a back and forth but by no means would I say that it is downtown is dirty (there are some less fortunate spots just outside of the city). I ride the light rail RTA to work every day from ~20 miles out and consistently get to work at about the time. I don't ride the buses so perhaps that is…
I rode the light rail from east side to downtown every day for two years. It's dirty. West side to downtown may be another story.
The fun part was when the electricity began to arc and we could see a bit of fire on the top, but also couldn't leave the train because we might have gotten electrocuted, so our choices were to sit around and wait, potentially burning alive, or make a run for it and potentially get electrocuted.
I think I was too tired to care at that point in the morning (5am?) so I just sat annoyed that I'd miss the bus to work and read up on IBM Websphere. Not sure if that had anything to do with my lingering distaste for IBM Websphere, but I'm sure it didn't help.
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I've worked downtown for a few years and I really don't think your comments are entirely accurate. I don't want to turn this into a back and forth but by no means would I say that it is downtown is dirty (there are some less fortunate spots just outside of the city). I ride the light rail RTA to work every day from ~20 miles out and consistently get to work at about the time. I don't ride the buses so perhaps that is…
Also GE Lighting, The Fed, Philips Healthcare, several startups bought by IBM, Glenn NASA, etc...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I really see nothing in common with Chicago and Cleveland. Especially not down to their 'DNA'. Chicago is a globally recognized metropolitan city...that's their DNA. Cleveland is a blue collar town with its roots in industrial manufacturing and oil. Chicago has always been a diverse metro area focussed on finance, technology, academia.
It's ironic that if you were going to pick nits with my "common DNA" comment that you'd balk at the comparison between Chicago and Cleveland in particular. One thing that struck me when walking through Graceland Cemetery was how many of the earliest settlers [0] of Chicago were from Northeast Ohio, so there is literally DNA in common there. Of course, it's obvious that that sort of thing has continued throughout the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's ironic that if you were going to pick nits with my "common DNA" comment that you'd balk at the comparison between Chicago and Cleveland in particular. One thing that struck me when walking through Graceland Cemetery was how many of the earliest settlers [0] of Chicago were from Northeast Ohio, so there is literally DNA in common there. Of course, it's obvious that that sort of thing has continued throughout the…
I've spent a lot of time in Chicago and a little time in cleveland. I have no clue how anyone can think they're similar cities. I think most Chicagoans would be offended if you said 'oh chicago and cleveland are so similar!'
They're midwestern American cities on the Great Lakes with the same climate and roughly the same geography and ethnic makeup. It's not like you're comparing Florence and Reykjavik, for heaven's sake. I'm fascinated by your reaction to this comparison.
(If you're interested in a less information-free exchange on the topic: my reaction the first time I visited Chicago years ago was roughly "so this is how Cleveland might have ended up if they'd had their shit together 100 years ago." It's not really accurate - there are some economic reasons why Cleveland's decline was predestined - but feel free to explain to me why it's a completely crazy reaction.)
> I think most Chicagoans would be offended if you said 'oh chicago and cleveland are so similar!'
That's not exactly what I said... although, seriously, most of my friends in Chicago aren't quite so easily offended.