Although there are a lot of tangibles that suggest otherwise — LeBron is back! Downtown is under construction! The Republican National Convention! Did we say LeBron! — the region is still struggling to regain economic footing after the global economy imploded with the Great Recession. The extent, however, of that struggle might be alarming to you. The New York Times is reporting on a new study that places Cleveland firmly at the bottom of the heap.
The new number crunch, performed by the Economic Innovation Group, focused on the recovery numbers across the country from 2009 to 2013 , zeroing in even on the zip-code level. The result is the Distressed Communities Index.
For all its wizbang economic projects and momentum, Cleveland was tallied the second highest number on the index. The 216 region scored a 99.9 on the group’s metrics. 76.8 percent of Cleveland’s population resides in distressed zip codes. Only Camden, NJ topped higher on the list with a perfect 100 on the index and 99.8 percent of the population in distressed areas.
It’s a grim rundown. By the report’s metric, Cleveland sits in the number two seat on a list that includes other places like Gary, IN (#3), Youngstown, OH (#4), Flint, MI (#9), and Detroit (#10).
So how are these statistic being measured? Seven metrics contributed to the ranking:
— Percent of the population above 25 without a high school degree;
— Percent of unoccupied housing that’s habitable;
— Slice of the population out of work;
— Percent of the population under the poverty line;
— Median home income;
— Changes in employment figures between 2010 and 2013;
— Change in the number of businesses between 2010 and 2013
The real gut-punch here is how this tracks nationally. Post-recession, the parts of the country that were better off to begin with shot back to economic prosperity, and even jumped to higher levels. The bottom of the group — C-Town included — have been left behind.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 1, 2016.
And the hits just keep on comin’. : (
Duh…I don’t think anyone is claiming that most of the neighborhoods are getting any kind of revitalization. I haven’t seen too many articles about the growth of Kinsman and E.100th.
Why would they use statistics from 2010-2013 to create a ranking that is supposed to reflect where the city sits economically in 2016?
Lebron? Convention? These are short term and isolated events. How does Lebron affect the median wages of the average citizen? How does a convention bring back manufacturing that continues to shut down here and move to China.
Look at the people migration maps of the US. They are going FROM the rust belt TO Texas, Florida, etc. Yes, for years you could see people closing their business here and moving to Dallas.
Why do people keep thinking that mystical, magical fairies are going to bring back a place that has been slowing down for 100 years? The “Rah-Rahs” who overly love their town continue to rule this conversation and make people think the cheering equates to tangible events.
Cleveland is on the brink of death. It is merely a bunch of suburbs with slaves working for the large corporations that moved out there over the past several decades. That’s it.
If you are not telling, no demanding, that your 14 year old study, then immediately move to another area of the country, you in fact hate your kids. Stop lying to them. Don’t keep anotHer generation of your family in pain. GET OUT NOW.
The major thing wrong with Cleveland that prolongs it’s suffering, along with the rest of the Rust Belt, is that all the people here put their energy into the companies they worked for, and those companies took all their profits and decides they needed to go where they could make more without having to share so doggone much of it. So they flee to states with easier taxes, even more depressed economies than ours now, and cheap labor and more cheaply bought politicians. These states just happen to also have better weather, provided you enjoy spending a lot more money on air conditioning…it isn’t just about retirees going where it’s warmer and cheaper, it’s about companies taking their jobs and moving South where they can find cheap labor, if not out of the country completely where they can find EVEN cheaper labor with no unions, no environmental regulation, and no problem at all finding an orgy of profits.
It all comes down to money when people feel like they want more of it. They will say how much the company is like a family and how much they love the community, but it’s all a farce when they retire and sell out.
Finance built this town, and finance is still tearing it down. As long as people are OK buying and selling things made by slave labor and destroying the planet in the process, then we will be stuck in this vicious cycle all over the world. There are most certainly more important things than just assuring that the already rich can stockpile all the “hard-earned” money they aren’t actually working for by themselves. Even wolf alphas take better care of their pack than the people who lead this cycle. People can and should behave better than wild animals.
Look at the the NYT graphic which highlights their Distress Ratio at the county level. Note that Cuyahoga is not distressed. Issue is with City of Cleveland proper. Issue within City of Cleveland is, plain and simple, educational attainment of its residents. Education in most cases requires good teachers and FAMILY SUPPORT. It also requires an understanding of its importance – if basic needs of shelter and food are met by county and state, where are there incentives to become educated and contribute to economy? This is THE root cause of modern racial issues.
Memo to the Cleveland City Hall Hacks: Please don’t wake “Mayor” Frank Jackson from his nap and give him the news……the puppet masters masquerading as business leaders, foundation chairmen and empty suits operating the major local media are preparing talking points he can mumble through to – again – celebrate their mirage.
Sprawl. Sprawl. Sprawl. Sprawl. Sprawl. Sprawl. Sprawl.
Empty lots? Sprawl. Depressed housing for a stagnant population? Sprawl. Paying for maintenance of hundreds of billions of dollars of needless infrastructure instead of services? Sprawl.
This is dumb. Anyone can see that 2016 Cleveland and 2013 Cleveland are VERY different places. This study’s lag time of nearly 3 years means it is as irrelevant as this article, which is, at best, clickbait.
Is sprawl a result or a cause? It’s both. Sprawl started because people who can afford wanted to live away from people who are indifferent to education and advancement. Sprawl continues because sprawl started, and the problems people move away from just become more acute.
Poverty and violence isn’t something that government can cure. Government can put bandages on it – and administer the anesthesia of welfare and housing vouchers – but it takes parents and families to change the cycle.
I see some of the intellectual elite in this thread have figured out the real reason Cleveland is lagging behind. Yes it’s all the fault of those poors! With there bad families and do nothing attitude! Why don’t they just get more money? How can us middle class folk ever get ahead without those dastardly poor people holding us down? Living the high life off of government benefits, why it must be so wonderful to be poor and uneducated. If we just had that tax money back from helping them we’d all be millionaires!
Those innocent 1% and “job creators” have nothing but our best interests in mind. How could they stick around a city with all this poor floating around? We’ve even elected the best and brightest the Republicans could lend us and even they can’t seem to help. Kasich just keeps having to close Planned Parenthood after Planned Parenthood to try and slow those poors down. If they can’t get healthcare maybe they will die off and that’s just more of those sweet government benefits for the rest of us! It’s just like Jesus said, “What’s with all these lazy poor people? Amirite?”
In the end the working class battle with the poor will make all of us stronger and help the city… just as our corporate media leaders have promised. Till then just remember, they want to be poor, it’s easy to get out of poverty and helping out those less fortunate than you is for suckers! Berating and shaming the less fortunate is the best way to help solve these problems… it’s a proven fact.
We just need to get Donald Trump in here, maybe build a wall around the parts of the city we don’t like… it’ll be YYYUUUUGGGEEE!
How many jobs have been added since 2013? Has the population increased? Has the poverty rate dropped?
Cosbain has blinders on. You are right, and wrong. You condemn the rich and vindicate the poor. That’s simply your depiction to align with your proxy. That is ill suited, let alone equitable.
A negligent percentage of the apex and base aside, the encumbrance is affixed to both tiers. The majority of the upper echelon, regardless of intent, will continue to suppress the low income populace. Concurrently the majority members of the rock bottom community, also without respect as to intent, will continue to self depreciate. Your Jesus reference for humor was distasteful, but you made your point. Reminder, God helps those that help themselves.
While your words are poetic neither here nor there, I am without blinders. I was merely taking the opinions I see hinted at in this thread to the logical conclusion. While perhaps heavy handed, the rant above is reflect of much of what I see both in this country and city.
At some point these people have decided that being poor is shameful and makes you less of a person. We act as if being poor is enjoyable and that these people are just enjoying every minute of it. If you’ve ever been poor or spent time around those who are, you’d know it’s no fun. These negative people have decided that you are in total control of your world… which simply is not true. The term for it is “Just World View” and it runs throughout our country. It’s also absolutely untrue.
This same hatred for the poor spills over into minorities or maybe it’s the other way around… matters little either way. It’s this “us and them” mentality that makes it easier to dismiss another human being. It makes it easier to hate someone you don’t know. It’s also an indirect tool for those in power.
Keeping the poor and the middle class fighting will keep people from focusing on the stagnant wages and corporate greed that played a part in the situation we have here in Cleveland today. So while I may seem extreme or annoying, I’m only attempting to draw attention to underlying issues we all must come to terms with.
So rather than waiting on God let’s just help each other. This isn’t rich or poor, it’s about helping your fellow man without condition. It might be off topic but this trend of turning on those in the most need has to stop. I also need to make these posts shorter…
This is clearly about Cleveland and not people who identify as Clevelanders, but reside in the adjacent suburbs and neighboring counties. The report does not surprise me. As a whole, Cleveland proper is not a wealthy or educated place. The downtown renters or urban core condo and homeowners do not represent a significant portion of Cleveland residents to tip the scales in that direction. This report is not meant to take into account downtown revitalization projects, for which there are many, but rather the education and income levels and socioeconomic statuses of Cleveland residents. Also, it does not take into account suburban residents of closely adjacent cities, particularly on the east side (University Heights, Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, etc.)
If you want to make your own qualitative observations to challenge these results, map a drive through Cleveland. Start on the east or west and drive north and south, up and down each gridded block. Observe only the condition of the residences, businesses, and infrastructure. I think you will find it aligns with the data.
I do take issue with the assertion that the data is causally related to the Great Recession of 2008. I lived in Cleveland in 2004-2005 and again in 2012-2015 and do not think conditions, as they relate to the data in this report, are linked to the recession. In my opinion the reasons vary. I think sprawl from businesses and residents alike are a catalyst, but that dates back long before 2008.
We need different leadership downtown from the tippy top to the bottom. In my opinion the “it is the what it is” mentality of 80% of this city’s civil workforce has got to go. They are generally observed and perceived as lazy and a bare minimum standard work ethic. I’ve grown up here and lived here 30 years and I want to make a difference and have by investing my income here by purchasing a home and deciding to stay. If more of us who have decent jobs decided to find the value in what is and what could be in this city and get involved in local politics to have a voice and hold accountability, things will change. But for those who decide to abandon and wait for change to happen, or hope it will….it won’t. The last few city council meetings I have gone to, I was the only one under the age of 50 and of a perceived middle class status. I felt out of place and ashamed that no one of my age group or working class was there other than those pushing some agenda. Get involved
We need different leadership downtown from the tippy top to the bottom. In my opinion the “it is the what it is” mentality of 80% of this city’s civil workforce has got to go. They are generally observed and perceived as lazy and a bare minimum standard work ethic. I’ve grown up here and lived here 30 years and I want to make a difference and have by investing my income here by purchasing a home and deciding to stay. If more of us who have decent jobs decided to find the value in what is and what could be in this city and get involved in local politics to have a voice and hold accountability, things will change. But for those who decide to abandon and wait for change to happen, or hope it will….it won’t. The last few city council meetings I have gone to, I was the only one under the age of 50 and of a perceived middle class status. I felt out of place and ashamed that no one of my age group or working class was there other than those pushing some agenda. Get involved.
Also living in a suburb and complaining about CLE doesn’t help push change either. Tax revenue and involvement from a higher income tax paying workforce is what will push change. When almost 70% of the city’s live-in workforce makes a median income of 28-32k a year it’s hard to make financial decisions as a city to make decisions allocating for progress and improvements. Not to mention lack of solid in-city job opportunities. I think the city is attractive with the exception of our schools and national perception. Those who claim CLE as home but live elsewhere (suburbs) give their tax revenue away from where they claim a city as home. If you live in beachwood, rocky river, Avon, etc. you are not a Clevelander and can not stake a claim in our failure or progress even though yes you may spend money here and there within the city, live-ins do too, as well as pay income and property taxes (which are below average btw). Just my opinion though, what do I know.
More people have been leaving greater Cleveland than Detroit for years! If you ask me it all boils down to cronyism, corruption and nepotism. My house is for sale and I just returned from the beaches of South Texas. It is going to take decades for Cleveland to be great again, or as soon as we get rid of all these drunk “old way” politicians that think stealing from the people is okay.
This is bullshit. Twisted statistics to prove a point. You can make the same statistics make Cleveland look like the fastest growing major city in the nation. Disappointed that a Cleveland publication would put this out there. Like coffee for children, you are stunting Cleveland’s growth with this crap.
Jack, you nailed it on the head brother!! All the rah rah cheerleaders have their collective heads in the sand. Remember, we had a renaissance in the mid 90s right? And where are we now?? Rinse and repeat. The numbers don’t lie. Like you said, get out while you can to TX , FL, AZ, and tell your kids to study hard so they can leave this corrupt, dying town. Otherwise you hate them. Lol.
Cleveland is getting better and worse at the same time. Which one it is depends entirely on your age, skin tone, education, work history, neighborhood, and address. And especially upon what street you happen to be driving or walking down at any given moment. God help you if you have to take a bus.
Chuckles the Clown
This is a study of “Cities” not Regions, or MSA’s.
A hundred upscale residential/retail development projects in Cleveland’s downtown area, and micro-islands of “hip” development can not counter the blight and poverty that permeates the MAJORITY of Cleveland’s neighborhoods and inner-ring suburbs.
Several mini-steps forward, and many giant leaps backward, do not equate to progress.
A study using data that’s not current is a non-story. 2016 Cleveland, Ohio truly has it’s problems but to say that it’s worst the Flint, and Detroit is definitely misleading.
lol… you see… you, too, publisher, just want to do things yourself…
others do not matter. lol
where is the comment I posted?
you too are a fraud.
I wish to unsubscribe please…
i am not seeing that option on the account page.
thank you.
Seems recent Cleveland developments also highlight the wealth inequality issue. Gleaming new buildings, pricey restaurants and sparkling chandeliers in a miserable, poor, crime-ridden city. Wondering how it will all shake out.
The city is simply worn out with false hopes.. bad media coverage and suspect leadership a City reflects the conditions of its leaders… and that speaks volumes for our beloved Cleveland. I will always do business in Ohio and I will always support our city no matter the horrible stats or bad coverage. We are a great City with great people.. period and I will always believe that…
Im thinking of moving to Cleveland from Florida and wanting to buy a house. What are the major jobs in Cleveland? I heard white collar medical tech jobs are on the rise. What about 30K-60K jobs? Do the exist? I devliver pizzas for Dominos and make 24K down here.eIs this a possibility in Cleveland?