Discussions have been coursing through Ohio City: discussions about development, demographics and growth. While many of the folks we’ve talked to have been enthusiastic about new projects on the Near West Side, a few residents remain skeptical about changes to a place they cultivated decades ago. Alex Nosse, a second generation Ohio City dweller and co-owner of Joy Machines bike shop on West 25th, sat down with us to chat when we wrote our first news story about Ohio City. We thought, as official discussions continue this week, it’d be worthwhile to publish an extended cut from that interview. Oddly enough, our conversation started with a book, one that Alex read in college, called Urban Fortunes by sociologist Harvey Molotch.
Sam Allard: M-o-l-…?
Alex Nosse: o-t-c-h. And look, I don’t wanna come off as some book-learned snob, but it’s just… the whole book is about cities and how they function, and basically how all the powerful and important players in the city are really concerned with one thing — Growth with a capital G, — which isn’t scrutinized very much. It’s what the modern American city is all about.
Including Ohio City?
I think the Near West Side for generations has been a place where the growth-machine model hasn’t taken hold and really hasn’t been embraced by a lot of the important decision makers and residents of the neighborhood. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the balance is tipping toward a more traditional, capitalist-growth model. As young people — yuppies, we like to call them — flood into this neighborhood, those are exactly the type of people who’ve grown up with this idea of growth, and the idea that a new store or a new bar or a new residential building can’t be anything but good for the neighborhood.
And you’re saying it maybe isn’t?
I’m saying there are a lot of people who have lived in this neighborhood for decades who have very strong values that sometimes could, and do, supersede other economic benefits that you might find from bringing in more people and more dollars. It’s definitely not a utopia but it’s a little bit more of a progressive place with a lot of progressive-minded people who thought a little bit differently about what neighborhoods should be and who really reveled in the fact that it was a community, and didn’t just use that word as a buzzword.
My worry is that the young, affluent crowd moving here might be more inclined to view the neighborhood as a social district.
It’s a playground! It’s an adult playground, and it’s becoming that more and more every day. That’s not a neighborhood. It’s not the same thing.
Ohio City Inc. might argue that they’re trying to preserve the neighborhood’s historic character and community sensibility in the interior, but that developing main thoroughfares like West 25th and Lorain and Detroit is actually beneficial, because it prevents people from buying old homes and then carving them up to rent out.
I can agree with that in principle, but the No. 1 buzzword about Ohio City has always been diversity. It has been and still is a pretty diverse place, but we’re really risking losing a lot of that, and I mean actual diversity, not just….There are a lot of people — and I know some of them — who use that word with absolutely zero meaning attached to it. There are more businesses now so it’s more diverse! Or by bringing 200 more people into the neighborhood, it will become more diverse. No. it’s gonna be a bunch of white, middle-class people. It’s going to become less diverse. If these big developments want the blessing of people like me, they need to make a real, real effort to promote and preserve diversity.
Like with low-income housing?
Mixed-income. None of the big projects in the pipeline right now are mixed-income. None of them.
I feel like there are some attempts to brand the neighborhood in some way by trying to superimpose an aesthetic or…
I feel like Cleveland is a city that struggles with development. Because of brain drain possibly, and other factors, there isn’t a lot of organic development that happens in a focused and awesome way. It always tends to feel pre-packaged, which is depressing for me. I feel like I’m in a business district that’s quite busy, but has sort of a dull flavor to it largely. If this neighborhood were in a city that I were visiting, I would think, “Oh this is pretty nice,” but I would not be blown away.
So what does the future hold?
I don’t see it getting better. I see it getting more sterile. I’ve been to a lot of cities in this country and some are amazing and some are just good. Places that are just kinda good look a lot like this. There are a lot of bars. I’m surprised we don’t have some sort of sleek sushi bar. It actually reminds me of when I was in San Diego last year. That’s a city with a lot of growth and a lot of okay neighborhoods, but only one or two that are legitimately awesome. The businesses are just okay. The people are just okay. I just think the exciting mix that Ohio City could have has not been fully achieved. And I don’t know that we’re moving in a good direction.
Because you’re from here, do you feel differently than a lot of the other business owners in the area?
I feel very different, because I think of myself really as a resident first, in the way that I think politically and my general perceptions and attitudes…. I feel like if this is a neighborhood that I’m proud of and excited to be from and live in, the business side of things will take care of itself.
Do you ever get annoyed by someone’s idea that you might be some random person from out of town?
Happens all the time! “So why’d you pick this neighborhood to open a business?” I just explain to them that I didn’t. My parents picked it. And I hate to sound like some snob, like I was here first so my opinion is more valid. But guess what, it’s just true. I do know the history of the neighborhood more than almost anybody who walks into my shop, and I do think I have more respect for the history and values of the older residents than most of the new people do.
Well, if the new people are renting and then want to stay, buying a home around here may be even harder.
Yeah, I think the prices have the potential to really skyrocket. But maybe that won’t happen. Maybe they’ll just buy houses in Rocky River like everyone else has always done.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2013.
I don’t know if Mr. Nosse is right or wrong in his views, but the article/interview would have been more constructive if Mr. Nosse provided and Mr. Allard pushed for more concrete examples of what separates a great city from a okay city, other than to say (and I’m paraphrasing because I have poor reading comprehension) because a place has a lot of eateries/bars and an increasing amount of white people it is not a great city. The number of locally-owned and small business appears to be a good direction. Additionally, the mixed income housing idea is intriguing from a whatever “diversity” is perspective, but usually only one group finds it appealing…lower income households.
I get what he’s saying about “sterile” development – and I don’t know if I see it in Ohio City. You want sterile? Go to the arena district in Columbus. Perfectly nice places to hang out, but it lacks any character and feels like the pre-planned entertainment district that it is. Hate to say it, but the new Flats East Bank development seems to follow that planned sterile model, but that area was such a dump that they pretty much had to bulldoze everything and start over.
In any case, Ohio City has a much more organic feel to it. It has a historic background that’s being preserved. Yes, it’s sort of an adult playground right now, but maybe that will subside once we spread more development away from W. 25th. Folks are understandably skeptical about the plans for the SE corner of Lorain & 25th. But aren’t apartments and storefronts the lesser of two evils compared to a dark, dingy strip mall and sketchy walk to the rapid station? Ohio City is developing because of the energy that’s been there for a while, not because some developers came in and wanted to create a new entertainment district out of thin air that will be popular for a decade before declining and the Next Big Thing springing up somewhere else.
Then again, maybe Town Hall will just end up destroying the whole neighborhood.
They have tried repeatedly to revitalize Ohio City since the 1970’s. Unless they run off the drug dealers and hookers. That area will remain as it has for a long time.
In many ways I agree.
I do want to push back on the idea that people coming in to live is a bad thing. I recently bought a house in Detroit Shoreway and moved in with my wife. I wanted to live in that neighborhood because I like it, and I’m making an investment there. Isn’t that a good thing?
I don’t want it to be sterile, but some would criticize me as a gentrifier I think. (income not withstanding, hah!)
You can’t criticize young white people for living in the suburbs and being part of urban sprawl, then also criticize them when they move into the city.
Still don’t quite understand why everyone’s afraid of Big Bad Town Hall. I was there on a Friday night, and yes, it was packed, but I’ve also been there for lunch and it’s just as enjoyable as grabbing a bite at GLBC in the middle of an afternoon.
Wow, what a snob. The City Planning Commission of Cleveland showed the demographic breakdown in Ohio City in 2010 (among the three highest groups) to be 41 percent white, 32 percent black and 22 percent Hispanic. The ages and income levels are just as wide-ranging. There is an incredible mix of small businesses, owned by local business owners. Not to mention the West Side Market, where you can hear a number of different languages whenever you walk through. And that’s sterile? Alex, you sound like a hipster snob. I agree completely with Camilo’s comment above–you can’t criticize young white people for living in the suburbs and then also criticize them for living in the city.
“Drug dealers and hookers” have not been seen in Ohio City north of Lorain in quit some time my friend. Unless you are talking about the 2-8 projects; but no one from Ohio City considers that the OC.
Thoughtful article. Alex isn’t a snob. He is a critical thinker and asking questions that need to be asked. Right on. This interview resonates with a lot if residents in the neighborhood.
Growing up in a place doesn’t make your opinion more valid. Having a family history in one place doesn’t automatically mean you can’t be poorly reasoned.
It seems hypocritical to decry a lack of mixed income housing when you run a shop selling $800 bicycles.
Put a bird on it.
alex sounds like someone that doesn’t want to see the neighborhood change from what it was. look, if the neighborhood was doing super awesome or something, then it would be bad to change it. but it wasn’t. all the people that had lived there basically watched their neighborhood go into decline and become an undesirable area to live, so many people started moving away. now, new businesses come in, young people move in, and the neighborhood is on a huge upswing. but this is a bad thing? without all the development on the w25th and lorain area, it would have continued its decline and become the next maple heights, with everyone rushing to move out of the city before you got trapped in it
I’ve owned 2 properties in Ohio City for almost 2 decades and I love what is being done and what will be done. This is your average hipster that likely talks about his vinyl collection to the small group of customers who wish they had not visited his lackluster overpriced store. Most of the design and conceptual framework being discussed has been laid out by the same group who assisted with the E.4th planning—which to my knowledge is doing quite well. No one is suggesting building rows of ranch homes with cedar shingles you knob. The overarching scheme from what I have been told from business owners in the area is to connect Tremont, Ohio City and the Detroit Shoreway…what a bummer. Sterile?!?! Too many hours on a bike seat possibly.
Really sickened by the personal attacks on Mr.Nosse in this comment thread. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with someone – by all means, encourage dialogue and debate. However, to call someone a “Hipster Snob”, a “knob”, or to suggest they’ve spent “too many hours on a bike seat” (what ever the ever loving f*** THAT is supposed to mean) is childish and speaks poorly of one’s OWN character. But that’s just my opinion. By all means disagree.
Alex needs “white, middle-class people” if he wants his hipster bike shop to stay in business.