SixthCity

Guess it depends who's defining that. You seem to assume your definition is the correct one.

I think the national housing bubble of 2008 and the localized Portland housing crunch are distinct issues. The 2008 bubble was caused by a lot of things but chief among them was extremely accessible credit to almost everyone. This pushed demand for housing beyond sustainable levels leading to the crash. Housing supply was being added at an incredible clip to keep up and housing construction activity reflected. This was a classic economic bubble, almost down to a textbook example. Portland's rising housing prices however are a product of restricted supply. The supply of housing in Portland and other similar growth metros (San Fran being the worst) just can't keep up with the demand to live in it, mostly due to restrictions on new development. But to my knowledge, credit requirements aren't being relaxed across the board and the rise in prices aren't a true "bubble" like 2008. Instead, its a fixed or extremely slow growing supply with lots of demand, generally.

I'm the best skyline.

Discussion here: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,25222.msg796621/topicseen.html#new

Pretty ridiculous that for a City that has lost so much population, one of the greatest hurdles to new growth is the City government itself, who ostensibly wants to accommodate such growth. These arbitrary hurdles have a real effect on people looking for homes and leads many to view the suburbs as a more attractive choice leading to real market consequences. Of course its middle class people who are harmed most by this stuff because they can't absorb the costs associated with the inefficiencies. Ohio City, Knez Homes team up to offer quicker new construction on Cleveland land-bank lots "It's very difficult for people to build houses in the city of Cleveland," said Ben Trimble, senior director of real estate and planning for Ohio City, Inc. "You find that at the top of the market, people with more means have the ability to build a custom home. They have the money and time. It really jacks up costs for building, though. ... We're trying to find a way to help the middle class. We have available land, so how do we make it available to more people?"... Today, a buyer who wants to build on a land-bank lot – land that, generally, the city sells for $200 – must jump through a series of hoops. There's an application. Proof of financing. Vetting by the local City Council representative and the land bank. Discussions with the area's development corporation and the local block club. Design reviews. Public hearings on zoning variances, since many homes run into challenges with Cleveland's outdated zoning code Bo Knez, owner of Knez Homes, says that process is taking him an average of 230 days – upwards of seven months. And that doesn't include construction, which might take four to five months. By contrast, Knez said, he often can get a permit in a week or two in the suburbs... ..."Our biggest competition here is time," said Knez, who lives and works in Lake County but grew up in Cleveland near East 55th Street and St. Clair Avenue. "We are losing residents to surrounding areas because we can't get product in the ground quick enough. We have projects in Lakewood. We have projects in Shaker Heights. And we have projects in Pepper Pike. And we're seeing the approval processes go a lot quicker. People don't like to wait a year for their home, and that's where we're at with the city of Cleveland." http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/03/ohio_city_knez_homes_team_up_t.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter ----- Crain's take: Cleveland local development corporation, builder launch city for-sale housing drive http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160324/NEWS/160329849/local-development-corporation-builder-launch-city-for-sale-housing

Burn down the zoning code.

Unfortunately, their view on the situation is one of the reasons their wards will probably look similar, if not worse, for the next 30+ years. They really can't get out of their own way.

Greater Cleveland is doing awesome, I forgot. Carry on. Straw man alert!

I see this line of criticism a lot. But as I posed to you above...what does that mean in concrete action? Should the people of Cleveland all pledge an oath of struggle? Never say anything is good because the statistics are bad in the aggregate? Burn themselves on Public Square? You dodged my question above but I actually want to know what you think would be adequate action for politicians and the people of Cleveland to show that they "accept that Cleveland may be struggling on a greater scale than (they) want to admit."

How has Richey Piiparinen and CSU somehow become the bogeyman in all of this?

Ok but what does that mean in concrete terms? Should we have the mayors of greater Cleveland stand on Public Square and read a statement that Cleveland is a place of last resort? Issue a series of press releases that state that Cleveland remains in the economic doldrums? Wear dunce caps? (that may actually be somewhat satisfying)

I think the best industry and political leaders can do is to get out of the way. Political leadership should focus on its core competency of managing infrastructure and basic civil services (police, fire, courts, records systems, etc.) With a stagnant economy, there is always an urge for a centrally planned top-down solution from government and industry but I'm of the opinion that they almost always make things worse. The combination of industry and politics usually includes a nasty habit of the former to use the latter to entrench its interests and burden its competitors, leading to more stagnation or contraction. I think the two should remain separate as much as they can. But really, there just isn't a policy or answer to the issue. The figures you see are manifestations of infinite variables and cross currents working with and against each other on the local, regional, national, and international level. There just isn't a way (that I see) to legislate a different set of outcomes that we find favorable in the abstract.

Yeah but if businesses were creating jobs at better clip, the labor force wouldn't contract. It's not a complex issue on that front. Why aren't business creating more jobs in Greater Cleveland? That's the question. Not sure. But I suspect the answer may be related to the question my girlfriend asks me every night - "Why don't you make more money?" Let me know when you figure it out so I can let her know.

^ Couldn't have said it better.

I'm not really basing this on much but the continued contraction of the labor force is probably due to a flat regional population that continues, as a whole, to age and retire. Not much you can do about that - it's like watching gravity work. Not really a calamity either.

^ The endless tort liability you would open yourself up to would probably serve as a far greater deterrent than the intransigently indifferent City of Cleveland Building Department.

Jack, that rascal. I could see him popping by the inebriation station.

Seems to me, large scale zoning changes like Houston's offer tremendous possible downside for Cleveland councilpeople with little potential upside. This would allow every cranky single family homeowner to descend into sputtering outrage when anything more dense than a garage is built on their street. They could easily point their fingers at the local councilperson who voted for this change and accuse them of gentrification or ceding control over development to out of control developers. Meanwhile, the councilperson loses the opportunity for grandstanding and ribbon cutting events for new townhouse developments because they have removed themselves from the process. Developers could simply proceed without begging permission. It seems obvious that if Cleveland is going to get serious about redeveloping the core (particularly the Eastside), it needs to take measures like the one Strap proposed to strengthen property rights and remove democratic politics from the process. Unfortunately, my present confidence in the City's political leadership is at an absolute low ebb. I'm sometimes amazed anything gets done.

I've heard about this for awhile but didn't know it was this bad. An utter shakedown. Shameful. Edit: This is the type of risk that is priced into developments. Something like this raises the risk profile so high that developers won't even consider trying projects in Dow's ward. The unseen costs of things like this can't be stressed enough.

Sounds like an opportunity to liberalize the zoning code to allow more supply to be built.

Derp.

Gerard Warren - that's a name I haven't heard in awhile.

!!! Cleveland Browns' team president Alec Scheiner is leaving organization http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2016/03/cleveland_browns_team_presiden.html#incart_2box

Not that anything has been decided yet but I don't understand how a large company could remain headquartered in downtown Cleveland through all the bad years (2000-2010) and then bolt for the suburbs now. (looking at you Eaton Corp.) It's like ordering a steak, sitting and waiting, and then walking out as it arrives to the table.

D*mnit!!