The Biggest Issue with Cleveland is…
low self esteem. This been caused primarily by condition known as a self fulfilling prophecy. As any teacher or educator knows, if you think and say something is awful or unworthy long enough, over time people come to believe it. Unfortunately too many in Northeast Ohio have heard for too long that this area has so many deficiencies, that no2 many believe it to be true and tell others outside the region the same.
A recent conversation demonstrates how a self fulfilling prophecy works. A good friend of mine works for a medium sized owner of retail centers. He was complaining how the activity at one east side shopping was not as good as they wanted. Needless to say, the next time I needed something, I was hesitant to shop at their center. I went to one down the street, where I had heard things were booming. How much better it would have been for his plaza, if he had stated sales at the stores were doing well and they were actively searching to fill the empty stores. I would have much more inclined to shop at his plaza.
Now apply this to the city and region. How many times have we heard bad, derogatory or sarcastic news and information about our region. This came mostly from our lone daily periodical. There is an outdated adage in news industry, ’bad news sells’ and former editors of this media lived by this shortsighted thinking. Unfortunately why they may have increased their circulation temporarily, they and the region in the long run lost and continue to lose. It is no surprise that this periodical is struggling to attract young readers.
The new editors seem wiser concerning the long term growth of news paper, but its too early to accuracy judge their style. Recent studies have shown the best way for local news outlets to survive is to be more local; not a surprising revelation. A recent example illustrates they are not doing as well as they could be at being more local. In the spring a team from a local suburb took 1st place in a National Science competition. They were #1 in the country!!! What a statement about the schools and parent involvement in our area. Unfortunately there was little mention of it. If this had been a sports team, think of the coverage. But even if there wasn’t wide regional interest, think of not only how many papers this would have sold to friends and family. Additionally how much pride local Clevelanders would have taken in this home town team. We can only hope our lone paper can become more local and more positive.
The local paper is not the only reason the region views itself so poorly. At fault are also too many community leaders who are equally as negative. Because my family and I live here, I am hesitant to name specific individuals, but I’m certain each of us know at least one civic or business leader who is says nothing but negative statements about this area. Why it’s difficult to change people opinions, it’s probably more effective to simply not give these negative individuals your ear. By not listening, you’re not encouraging their bad behavior. Additionally if you want to have some fun, regardless of their status, you can always simply smile and walk away. The smile will let them know, you understand these individuals are misguided and misinformed.
This is so pervasive that many of us don't realize when it shows up blatantly in our every days lives. For example, examine the local brewery which has named a beverage after one of the city’s more notorious event. My family owed a brewery in this town and they would have never named one of their beverages in such a way. It makes Clevelanders believe the Cuyahoga River is the only river in the world which caught fire. Rivers in Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and scores of other cities have caught fire. Why not rename this beer, Burning RIVERS, so it’s understood ours is not the only region whose river caught fire. Unfortunately the Cuyahoga River was turned into a politicians publicity stint. It helped bring a national change, but why were we the only city to publicize it. Maybe 40 years later its time to publicize all the American rivers or lakes which have burned. Cleveland is not alone in this dark chapter in American history.
Unfortunately this happens almost everyday in the Cleveland area and here a just a few examples of this daily misinformation.
A friend of mine was interviewing for a profession’s position at a division of Case Western Reserve University and during the interview the interviewer asked, “would you be willing to move to Cleveland?” What this interviewer did not know is my friend had grown up here and loved this area. As I have lived in different areas of this country and individuals have always talked highly of their areas. How could a world class institution such as Case Western Reserve speak so poorly about this fantastic area? They may need retraining of their hiring managers.
This story was given to me by one of the true bright spots in the area, Positively Cleveland and their media contact Samantha Fryberger. It appeared in The Miami Heard in the spring 2008. Assistant travel editor Marjie Lambert wrote that she had an idyllic day in Cleveland, visiting the Rock Hall and drifting lazily on a Lake Erie sunset cruise. Then the boat's DJ started to explain how the city wasn't as bad as its passengers might think. This caused Lambert to note, "I wondered how much longer Clevelanders - with their pretty lake and cleaned-up river, classic baseball stadium and terrific rock 'n' roll museum - would feel compelled to go on the defensive in the company of tourists who, after all, had voluntarily chosen to visit their hometown."
Most people who complain about Cleveland have not lived anywhere else and don’t know what and how treasures are contained here.
Please remember the Economist magazine; a respected international publication ranked Cleveland the most livable city in the United States. If this was any city in the south they would have t-shirts, banners, parades about this ranking. We need to begin to understand the way outsiders understand, the beauty and quality of our region.
Below is a short (emphasis on short) list of benefits that this area contains.
3 Major Sports Teams: Indians, Cavs, Browns. How many cities have 3 major sports teams. There are a total of 61 cities or regions with at least one profession sports program. However there are only 17 which have at least 3. We are only 1 of 17 that has this much sports coverage. Not a bad place to be and think of all those regions that don’t even have one.
Here are some of the often overlooked national if not international gems of our region.
Park system – this is one of the largest and most beautiful in the country, however because its not in Cleveland proper, it many times is overlooked.
Water – we reside on one of the planets great wonders; a GREAT lake. Recent studies have shown that the country of India may run out of water by 2050, especially with the global warming occurring. Many writes have call water the 21st century oil. Remember if anyone ever calls Cleveland the mistake on the lake, simply reply, “At least we have a lake…”.
Affordable housing and living – this is one of the most economical affordable areas in the world and recently new immigrants have been moving here just for this reason. This country has been built by immigrants and we should welcome all that come our way.
Commute time – most people’s commutes are short and easy. This is not the case in so many areas across the country.
Rich History – John D Rockefeller vacationed here even after he ‘moved’ to New York. The reasons he vacationed here still exist; the art museum, the orchestra, the lake, the good hospitals, the good schools and so many other lasting treasures.
The greatest legacy from our Western Reserve ancestors was the region’s emphasis on education. The area has what I like to call a great “Intellectual Infrastructure”. The region is replete with high quality primary, secondary, private, public, undergraduate, graduate, post graduate and beyond. Any well educated person understands learning never ends and this area abounds with continuous learning opportunities. This is one reason so many wealthy individuals continue to live in this area.
If we want this region to prosper we need to take a more positive outlook of ourselves. There are two reasons, one has to do with tourism and the other has to do with simple and positive job growth.
People might shrug off tourism, however recent economic studies have shown that tourism is the largest industry in the world. The state of Florida does not have a state income tax due to the economic impact of tourism. The states of California, Texas, South Carolina all have healthy tourism industries. In the winter it might be hard to attract people outside of the University Circle area, however during the summer, we certainly have some of the finest weather around. It’s for this reason we need to save the Air Show from leaving. Its one of the few in the country and it brings Cleveland millions of tourism dollars.
The other reason is pure and simple economic and job growth. When this writer lived in North Carolina he heard the following story many times. Whether or not it is true, I can’t be sure however it bears repeating. The story concerns a woman working at a convenient store when someone riding a motorcycle came in. He asked her how she liked the town and she talked excitedly and enthusiastically about how much she loved the town. The stranger was a business owner who moved a company division there and all the jobs with it. Whether or not this is true doesn’t matter, what matters is this story is told over and over again in the growing regions of this country and not told in the older most established and more culturally rich and sophisticated regions of this country.
Also at issue is how the national media is continually putting Cleveland in an incorrect and poor spotlight. How many times have surveys written something derogatory about Cleveland; many of these are not only incorrect but they’re also libelous. Unfortunately this is a late 20th and early 21st century issue and there seems to be no organization in charge of correcting these mistakes. Unfortunately, Cleveland City Hall doesn’t do it, nor do the County Commissioners but I have often wondered why the large foundations who are charged with helping and improving the Cleveland area, don’t look at this recent issue. They have some great minds on their staff and boards and if they wanted to put an end to this they certainly could do so. Very little in the short term could more positively impact this area than correcting erroneous statements about our area.
When discussing Cleveland’s need for an improved self image with a well respected business and civic leader, he simply stated one of the city’s sports teams needs to in a championship. This will certainly help; think of how happy the region is after a Browns win, or a Cavs or Indians playoff win. This will help but as I can’t assist those teams winning games or championships, I'll continue to do what I can do to help this region; write. In many ways, this conversation was the genesis of this article.
No one article will change people’s feeling, but it’s a strong hope that this article will start people thinking about this topic and hopefully get some thinkers and resources on this important issue. I know that if Clevelanders won’t stand up for our region, no one else will. The first thing to do in making this place a better place to live, work and raise families is to realize how fortunate we are to have all of the resources (natural and man made) that are located here. We’re not have a GREAT Lake, but we’re in a GREAT Region.
