I just got in a semi-argument with someone about Cleveland; she’d seen this article and wanted to talk about Cleveland. First, she started talking about how bad things are here, and how she told Frank Jackson that no mayor had ever improved the city. Then, she started talking about how nothing happens in Cleveland. THEN she started comparing Cleveland to Chicago, and talking about how everyone here is depressed and poor.
I tried to reason with her. Nothing happens? Music? Sports? Plays? Museums? Restaurants? Art walks, cross country skiing, sailing regattas, hang gliding, hiking, bars, clubs, etc.? “OK, but besides that…”
Depressed? My experience is that people find what they’re looking for, and there are plenty of happy people here. “OK, but besides them…”
Poor? The same study that found Cleveland to be one of the poorest cities in America (with Philadelphia and Miami) found that Northeast Ohioans had a higher income than the national average. “I didn’t know about that…”
Then she said downtown is dead and nobody goes there, that it’s a total wasteland. What about West Sixth? East Fourth? Playhouse Square? Again, “OK, but besides those places…”
It’s like arguing with a person who says they don’t have any legs. Well, what about the two they are standing on? “OK, but besides those…”
