Enjoy the benefits of living in Northeast Ohio, but don’t ignore signs of decline: Opinion

This article is an essay responding to Grant Segall’s story “‘What are you doing here?’ Cleveland transplants say why they stay in Cleveland”

The Land recently published an article in which recent transplants explain what they like about Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, and how some natives are surprised to learn that newcomers actually like living here. 

The article got me reflecting on my own ambivalent feelings about living here. I’m not a native but have lived in the region long enough — nearly 50 years — that I almost feel like one. I moved here to work as a reporter for a suburban newspaper. I expected that the job, and the locale, would be no more than stops on the road to a position at a national newspaper or magazine in a glamorous coastal city. 

But as often happens, life took some unexpected twists. I met a wonderful woman who had strong family ties here. We married, bought a house and had kids. That’s when I began to appreciate the attractions of life here such as affordable housing, the ease of getting around, the region’s diverse and high-quality arts offerings and the friendly, unpretentious nature of its people. 

Yet though I fully appreciate Northeast Ohio’s virtues, I have never been an ardent booster. This may be because my first exposure to it was in the late 1970s. Cleveland’s reputation was at its absolute nadir, and I absorbed some of that “mistake on the lake” attitude — a feeling reinforced by the ongoing exodus (until quite recently) of people and jobs. At times I even wondered if there was something wrong with me for liking a place where residents were fleeing and that outsiders mocked. 

But the bigger reason for my ambivalence was, and remains, the belief that many of the same qualities that make the region a nice place to live are also signs of long-term decline. Why, for example, don’t we experience other regions’ choking traffic jams? Maybe it’s because Greater Cleveland’s transportation infrastructure was built to accommodate many more people than live here now. 

What about another of the region’s big attractions, affordable housing? Housing costs are determined by many factors, but the balance of supply and demand is one of the most important. And a stagnant population combined with ongoing sprawl leads to a situation where the supply of housing exceeds the demand in Cleveland and many of its inner-ring suburbs causing prices to remain relatively low. Moreover, the region has relatively few jobs in highly paid sectors like finance and technology. This means the housing market can’t support the astronomical prices common in many coastal and Sunbelt cities.

Why not just enjoy the benefits of living in Greater Cleveland and not worry that its population and economic growth lag many other metro areas? Unfortunately, that outlook too easily turns into complacency, an attitude that has long afflicted the region’s political, civic and corporate leadership. It’s why, in my opinion, we see few bold, innovative approaches to tackling festering problems such as persistent poverty, high rates of infant mortality and lagging educational achievement. 

It’s also important to remember that slow population growth means less representation in Columbus and Washington. (When I first came here Cuyahoga County had four Congressional representatives. Today nearly all the county is represented by just one person.) Less representation means less access to state and federal money for things like housing renovation and economic development, as well as a diminished say in shaping the state and federal policies that affect our region. 

So by all means, let’s enjoy the many pleasant aspects of living in and around Cleveland. But let’s remember that valuing a place also means acknowledging its problems — and doing what we can to overcome them.