- Photo via Instagram
Fortune Magazine recently released its list of cities that will turn heads, for better or for worse, in 2014, and Cleveland, OH was named one of the year’s most promising breakthrough cities.
Fortune writers cited our downtown revival, as well as our growth in three “Williamsburg-esque neighborhoods,” (Tremont, Ohio City, and Gordon Square) as key factors in their decision, and predicted we have approximately a 63% chance of being the next Brooklyn.
Cleveland will soon emerge as a hip, destination city, they say, complete with rocketing real estate prices, freshly foraged food stores, and hipsters Instagramming their craft brewed coffees on every street corner.
Sounds a lot like the same sort of hype we’ve been getting for some time now, (others are going so far as to say we’re the next Silicon Valley), but perhaps 2014 really is our year.
What do you think? Could Cleveland be the next Brooklyn? Do you even want it to be?
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2014.
Do these people ever walk around the neighborhoods not tightly woven around the downtown scene?
Geauga Lake was an entertaining, fun”city” for a while too..
Hipster handjobs for erryone!
I think many Clevelanders need to evaluate WHY they want their city to be “the next Brooklyn.” As a kid, I may have idolized NYC or Chicago, but I never wanted Cleveland to be NYC or Chicago, much like how Chicagoans don’t want to be New Yorkers. I’ve always wanted to Cleveland to be Cleveland. Cities aren’t tall buildings, numerous restaurants or bars; Cities are communities. And Cleveland has the nicest, most resilient people who make up a community (read: city) that is more honorable, fair, and unique than any Borough in NYC or neighborhood in Chicago. So, you can keep your Brooklyn, I’ll take my Cleveland.
Interestingly, Tremont, Ohio City and Gordon Square are all on the West Side of Cleveland. As a life-long Westsider, I say hooray! We are finally discovered!
I think cleveland is up and coming. I love the city I live in and am happy with all the progress it’s made!
How about just being the Best Cleveland we can be. Screw comparisons. . .
Why would we (Cleveland) want to be like Brooklyn? isn’t Brooklyn just like what we call suburb here? It is a part of NYC just like Cleveland Hts, Brooklyn, Parma, Lakewood, etc are all really considered part of the Cleveland area. When out of state, don’t most of us relate to Cleveland, when asked where we are from?
Fuck a Brooklyn. Cleveland can be the next Cleveland.
Brooklyn was really the first Cleveland.
It grew, then grew enormously, thrived, was absorbed into New York (big mistake!), got even bigger ( up to 3 million!), declined for decades, and began its revival when Manhattan became ridiculously pricey.
Comparing the two cities is silly. Both places are the same size –77 sq. mi. for us vs. 70.6 for them–but Brooklyn has seven times the population (2.8 million vs. 0.4 million). One is # 4 in size (or would be as a separate city), the other is 44th…or maybe less, as the numbers keep going down, not up. One is almost 40,000 people per square mile, the other is just over 5,000. And that is what makes all the difference…for better and for worse.
So you’re comparing a peach to a cantaloupe…both are round, but that’s about where the similarities end. And if being the next Brooklyn also means gentrification, yuppification, unaffordable housing, foodies, trendoids, increasing vehicular traffic, decreasing spaces for visitors and residents’ cars, valet parking, hipsters, entremanures, valet parking, neighborhood eateries and beer joints becoming craft beer bars and bistros…no thanks.
Personally, I can’t see it happening citywide…not in our lifetime. Yeah, there will be more and more Little Brooklyns…urbane islands in a sea of urban desert.
But we’re far closer to Detroit than New York…and not just geographically.
Just more magazine mouth music.
Chuckles the Clown
Are u people braindead..the article references brooklyn for the the revival that borough made from a depressed, crime ridden area of urban decay into a thriving place of destination for foodies,artists and young professionals. That’s it..and what idiotic clevelander wouldn’t want that for their city is a fool
Brooklyn has/had one thing that no other place like it has in the country. 19th century city planning/architecture, cheap rents, and a subway ride away from the most concentrated wealth in the country that churns out new jobs and buys art. Cleveland has 2 out of 3 but so does Buffalo, Kansas City, etc.
As long as Cleveland is on the rise, I’m all for it. You have to adapt and change with the times to survive and grow.
Cleveland and Brooklyn are already very similar to me but Cleveland will never be Brooklyn. Northeast Ohio is a great place to live and adventure around, but Cleveland is kind of bland to me.
The issue with Cleveland is the actual CITY doesn’t have much to offer. It’s like, there are museums, sporting arenas and musicals all in one place. But I don’t see much “city life.” I’ll be walking around Cleveland even after a huge event and it seems dead. There needs to be more of a draw. There are some good restaurants, cafes and shops in downtown CLE but it’s not enough. I’m really hoping they make it more of a city instead of place we go to see the Indians or to see a band we like in town. All my favorite spots are so spread out regardless.
People in Cleveland live in Ohio City, Coventry, Tremont, and so on because there’s an actual COMMUNITY of people there, not so they can be close to the city. Most people in Brooklyn work and play in the Manhattan. They live in Brooklyn because it’s affordable. Sure, Brooklyn has a lot of cute poetry cafes and such, but you can access that living in any borough.
Cleveland is up and coming for a lot of independent companies. Sure, there’s cute and hip Coventry and hipster Ohio City but that doesn’t mean it’s the next Brooklyn.
And as someone who used to live in NYC, Brooklyn isn’t anywhere to aspire to be. It’s grown a lot over the years but.. Brooklyn has crime, sketchy areas, and gentrification. Cleveland isn’t always the safest place to be either. But in the article you made it seem like Brooklyn is this really hip, new place. It’s not. It can be dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Basically, it’s idiotic for people to move to Brooklyn for an “artistic or cultural” experience. Go to Harlem or Queens. Live in the city if you can afford it. But Brooklyn is really just a place to live for the most part. I’ve known so many people that have experienced crime by living there. Cleveland is not the ‘next Brooklyn.’