Shaking Off The Rust: Cleveland Workforce Gets Younger And Smarter

[Dr Nevergold]

I left out a whole lot of cities like Boston or Houston. The Census has a lot of data directly on their site.

Really, I am just pointing out how anemic and small all cities were back in the day vs what we consider large metropolitan areas today. America was a frontier nation right into the World Wars where Europe destroyed itself and opened up the opportunity for the US to be the premier power.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

i dont know if word is quite out about pittsburgh, i suspect it is in some urbanist circles but cleveland is just about there, if not there already.

ehhh.... word has been out in the eastern US about PGH for a quite a while now. Rents near the quickly-growing Google/Ace Hotel blob are clocking in at $2200 for a new studio already.

This is all really great to see for Cleveland though. Easily my favorite of the Ohio cities. It has attitude and a soul – something I find lacking in the others. Not to mention the food scene is serious business. Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh seem to be following similar playbooks for their resurgence.

[Evergrey]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-...ry.html#page=1

Cleveland has been on the rebound even before LeBron James news


The ABC Tavern in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood extended its happy hour all night on July 11 to celebrate LeBron James’ return. USA Today recently named Ohio City one of the top 10 places in the world to barhop. (Angelo Merendino / Getty Images)

T years before LeBron James decided to make "bringing one trophy back to northeast Ohio" his new priority, Roz Quarto decided to pick up and move to Cleveland for no other reason than it seemed like a nice place. Friends in her hometown of New York City all reacted as if in unison.

"They said, 'Cleveland, as in, Ohio?'" Quarto, 48, said while sitting on a bustling patio surrounded by blooming flower boxes in this city's Ohio City neighborhood.

Now, she and her partner own a big yellow house not far from this neighborhood, which was recently named by USA Today as one of the top 10 places in the world to barhop, alongside New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro and Dublin, Ireland. And when friends from New York come to visit, Quarto says, they get it and are happy to help the couple tick off another thing on their Cleveland bucket list. (The list includes visiting the Botanical Garden and going to a high school football game.)

Her partner's boss, who lives in Alaska, even purchased a second home in Cleveland.

The news trifecta of James moving back to his hometown Cavaliers, hotshot college quarterback Johnny Manziel signing with the NFL's beleaguered Cleveland Browns, and the Republican Party picking the Cleve for its 2016 national convention may have put the city in the spotlight in recent days, but locals say all of it is simply more proof there's a Cleveland resurgence underway.

"The GOP and LeBron are going to grease the skids on a process that's already started," said Richey Piiparinen, a senior research associate at the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University. "People are realizing it's not your grandpa's Rust Belt anymore."

Changes are already evident in the city, where new construction is booming. Hammers and drills sound at all hours on the Flats East Bank, a onetime hip area that fell into disarray a decade ago and is experiencing a renaissance. Downtown, a new convention center just opened, and developers are rushing to build hotels and luxury condos to keep up with demand. Ohio's first casino opened downtown in 2012. And restaurateurs are following in the steps of Cleveland native and James Beard Award winner Michael Symon, opening bistros where you can get entrees such as frog legs and rabbit pie with Parmesan and prosciutto crust.

To be sure, Cleveland still has its problems. Poverty is rampant, with half of the city's children living in poverty in 2012, a rate second only to that of Detroit, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. The years of out-migration have led to neighborhoods of vacant homes, something that became all too evident last year when three women escaped from a basement where they'd been held captive for years by Ariel Castro.

...

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

ehhh.... word has been out in the eastern US about PGH for a quite a while now. Rents near the quickly-growing Google/Ace Hotel blob are clocking in at $2200 for a new studio already.

This is all really great to see for Cleveland though. Easily my favorite of the Ohio cities. It has attitude and a soul – something I find lacking in the others. Not to mention the food scene is serious business. Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh seem to be following similar playbooks for their resurgence.

$2200 for downtown ptsbgh studio...? really?

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Dr Nevergold

Poor Galveston...went from being the largest city in Texas and a major economic hub/ port to a cheesy tourist stop for Houstonians had it not been for that hurricane.

[mhays]

$2,000/mo for how many square feet? If it's 1,000 sf that's a good sign of Pittsburgh's resurgence. If it's 350 sf then it's Man/SF.

[fflint]

That LA Times article is pretty good. Cleveland is gaining more national buzz with each passing year.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by fflint

That LA Times article is pretty good. Cleveland is gaining more national buzz with each passing year.

I think someone about 22 or 23 raised north of the Ohio and East of the Mississippi who is fairly sharp and reasonably aware has a good idea what rents in various cities cost. I suspect, too, that most such men and women already are aware that based upon their education, that their chances of getting a job in a "Silicon Valley," or a "NYC" are virtually nil. So, like all young people have done for millennia, these young adults explore nooks and crannies for new habitat.

If one is young and healthy a city like Cleveland can provide economical housing, cheap office space, the company of educated peers, and the freedom to live rather well on $40k.

Do the "sharing" thing that most of us have done years back, and, a shared apartment with couple of room mates might be doable on $300 or $500 per month for nice place, close to a downtown with a surprising amount of history and cultural activities.

Besides, the snow and Lake Erie make people tough, AND friendly.

[jcchii]

Honk if you're rooting for Cleveland

[dc_denizen]

Cleveland needs more Qatari money...it's done wonders for London.