Regional Rebuilding in . . . Cleveland

Posted by Mike Madison on Thursday, August 10, 2006 | Tags: | 2 Comments
Take a look at this website for "Voices and Choices," a regional collective addressing economic development in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio and comment -- is this a model worth emulating?
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2 Responses to "Regional Rebuilding in . . . Cleveland"

Anonymous said... 8/10/2006 2:09 PM

As a former Pittsburgher now living near Cleveland, I can say that there is nothing to emulate in Cleveland. The schools are over expensive and have failed, the city's housing stock is basically on a level with the Hill District, and I mean the whole city. For a decent house, you do have to go to the suburbs.

The economy is worse than Pittsburgh's. Downtown Cleveland has no department stores, nothing nearly as vibrant as Forbes and Fifth Avenues. The much vaunted Flats is now dead. The clubs and restaurants that were the centerpiece of Flats development are closed and the buildings, like the downtown storefronts, are vacant.

Cleveland is an example of what happens when a city is overtaxed and overplanned.

globalburgh said... 8/10/2006 2:17 PM

Can Voices & Choices build a consensus for action? I'm skeptical that it can. The model employed could help legitimize a worthy campaign, but it won't sow the seeds of positive regional change.

I imagine an individual or a small group with a compelling vision persuading stakeholders to join the cause.

As Tim Zak (Pittsburgh Social Enterprise Accelerator) pointed out in the Spring/Summer issue of Pittsburgh Quarterly, "There is just not enough critical mass of like-minded people."

Perhaps Voices & Choices can help create that critical mass, but I suspect another path would be more likely to succeed.

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