There are two truths that should not be debatable but nonetheless remain controversial here. First, that Cleveland is not a great city. Second, that it is not only acceptable, or even tolerable, but healthy and necessary to point out the reasons that the first truth is, well, true.
Among the many variations of civic-pride garments floating around from Cleveland’s some five- or eight-dozen T-shirt purveyors is one that reads: Cleveland is the City. A more accurate version would read: Cleveland is a City, but even then it wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Maybe: Cleveland is a Very Troubled City.
Many residents would not only prefer not to consider that fact but would offer heated, biased and uniformed defenses. What of the Cleveland Orchestra? What of the glorious foundations? Uh, you ever hear of that Baker Mayfield guy? This city is downright affordable! Dude, have you even tried Barrio’s tacos? Who cares how much Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman makes? Have you been to the parks? Give the man a million bucks!
Blind and blithe defenders of The Land (ugh) believe, with no actual supporting evidence, that everything is great. And what could, on a surface level, be merely annoying — Scene, for instance, has regularly received a deluge of comments, emails and phone calls complaining that we actually hate Cleveland, that we’re so negative, which is a trend that will likely accelerate upon the publication of this Worst of Cleveland issue — can also be read as a dangerous and direct thread to many of the various and multitudinous malfeasances and failures that plague the city.
Civic pride is great, but in the same way civic discontent can either stir action or batter one down into a resigned existence, pride of the unexamined brand can be a recipe for civic malaise. Focusing on and/or touting superficial success, or success for some but not all, is to ignore everything but a tiny sliver of what’s happening in Cleveland — this, to the continued detriment of huge swaths of Cleveland. It’s how we get a fourth term of Frank “Inaction” Jackson. It’s how Armond Budish can skate unopposed into a second term.
One shouldn’t need to be reminded of the issues at play here — lead, staggering child poverty, shit public transit, discriminatory nuisance ordinances, generational and continued redlining in housing and internet access, Cleveland’s ignominious perch as one of the nation’s most segregated cities — but it has been made readily apparent that those reminders need to be delivered often and with force.
Doing so doesn’t mean we or anyone else hates Cleveland. Quite the opposite. And conflating criticism with hatred isn’t just dumb; it’s how you establish and become accustomed to mediocrity. Criticism improves. Criticism raises expectations. Criticism informs execution. Criticism is how you move from being a city to the city.
Cleveland’s got a long way to go. — Vince Grzegorek
This article appears in Apr 24-30, 2019.
Honestly, while the premise of each of these articles may hold true, this series articulates how the Scene is “The worst of Cleveland”. This is just lazy writing. Rant level stuff that belongs on Facebook or a personal blog. Instead of actual journalism, like… actually going in-depth on problems, who’s causing them and how to solve them, we get this garbage.
There’s been a few good pieces this past year, but what Cleveland desperately needs is better, more professional, more community engaged, local media. The Scene ain’t it.
It’s funny how in this section it talks about how defenders of the land are the worst because it’s a truth that “Cleveland isn’t a good city”, but in the same “Worst of” feature, they bash projects that are intended to make it a better city. Projects like the Q revitalization, the tax abatements to get people to move into the county, the healthline, etc. While I know a lot of our politicians are truly awful, it seems as if they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Scene is just as bad as a majority of the people who comment on here, I really think they don’t want the city to thrive because, if it did, they’d have nothing to talk about.
This needed to be said and published. As someone who has lived in four major cities in my adult life and now settled in Cleveland, I believe Cleveland has a long way to go in order to catch up to its peer cities, even though it has improved in recent years. The lack of acknowledgement of the current state of the city as compared to its peers and the lack of perspective amongst those that have lived here for extended periods of time, I believe are two of the major elements holding the city back from its potential.
I lived in Chicago for a number of years and will agree that it is WAY ahead of Cleveland in almost every aspect. I don’t think people are delusional to that fact that we aren’t NYC or Chicago (or even Columbus for that matter). The issue is that when things are done to try to improve the city, the people here that have lived here their whole lives are SOOOO against it. Bird Scooters, new stadiums, apartment complexes, etc, etc ,etc….there is always negativity towards it. Just yesterday I read an article about a new apartment/luxury hotel going in near the airport, and every single comment was negative. “It’s gonna be too loud”, “Loss of revenue to the city”, “Frank Jackson sucks”, blah blah blah.
Like I said, people complain when nothing is done, but complain just as much when anything is done, it’s a never ending cycle.
Barf. Get out of here. You are bothered by Cleveland pride. LOL. Seriously? But, you are also bothered by the Cleveland Guardian’s of Traffic- enough to take time and resources to write an article over that, so I shouldn’t even be surprised. People loving Cleveland/wearing a tee shirt that illustrates that love, does not also simultaneously represent a belief that people don’t recognize there is room for improvement within our city. I would like to know what your model city is, last time I checked a Utopian society does not exist. People from other cities actually make fun of the fact that Cleveland has a news source that continually rips on its own. There are a lot of different ways to catalyze the change you so vehemently demand. A spicy, yet tasteless article over a tee shirt, is not one of them. PLEASEEEEE BE BETTTERRRRRRRRRRR.
Yeah, no. This just seems like sour grapes to me.
Here’s the thing. When we were kids, everyone knew Cleveland sucked. The Mistake on the Lake. But it’s come a long way in the last 30 years, and that’s what ‘defenders’ are promoting. That’s not to say we don’t still have problems to tackle, but acknowledging our successes and debunking out of date stereotypes is not denial.
Cleveland is way better than Cincinnati, where I was born and raised and lived for 30 years. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to move here with my wife. She’s now my ex-wife, and she doesn’t live in Cleveland anymore, but I’m sure she’s jealous wherever she is!
Cleveland is way better than Cincinnati, where I was born and raised and lived for 30 years. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to move here with my wife. She’s now my ex-wife, and she doesn’t live in Cleveland anymore, but I’m sure she’s jealous wherever she is!
Wow! So I can’t like where I live AND recognize its problems? In my experience the pessimists have nothing to offer. They will tell you that the RTA sucks but can’t say what improvements would make them take the bus. They will complain about how the city is a mess but won’t so much as have dinner in one of the neighborhoods to help it out. Meanwhile, many of the positive types are moving into the city, buying houses, maybe raising kids, spending money there, and having the ability to vote in better candidates.
I grew up here, spent many years in flashier, big name cities, and moved back. Both ends of the spectrum annoy me in Cleveland, empty boosterism and reflexive negativity. Clear-eyed, solutions-focused criticism is healthy.
@ Zostrows: Loss of revenue to the city and some of the other complaints aren’t something you brush off with “blah blah blah.” The city keeps giving tax breaks to subsidize higher end residential construction and areas that don’t need a boost. When people are just being whiny, that’s counterproductive, but that doesn’t mean every proposed change is a good one.
yes, Cleveland has warts….lots of them…I’m old and I’ve lived in several larger and smaller cities…everyone one of them have many bright spots…..and all them have significant problems that their residents are happy to share with you (poverty, schools, violence, corruption).. When I first moved here every resident it seemed felt like this article…only recent immigrants seemed to see the strengths of the CLE and NEO….now more more people take pride to live here….is the goal to shame them back to their self loathing? Don’t like it fix it…..