you guys prob know all about this cool and concise animated video of all current cleveland construction projects, regardless, here it is:

 

'a world of opportunity in cleveland'

greater cleveland paternership

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1185143718

 

anyone know who the announcer is? he sounded familiar. aside from the subject matter, i really enjoyed hearing the very clevelandy accent. i sure dont get to hear the voice of my people that much -- other than when my spouse teases me about it!  :wink:

 

 

It's Jimmy Malone, a DJ on WMJI.

EDIT: I apologize, I see this is already posted on the "Cleveland Hotel and Convention Business Thread" thread.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Playoffs mean money, money

The rooms, the meals, the money: the payoffs

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Sarah Hollander

Plain Dealer Reporter

Play ball! And ring up the next sale.

 

...

 

Each home game should generate at least $5.4 million, according to an estimate from the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland.

 

The number includes estimated spending by the more than 44,000 ticketholders on restaurants, hotels, parking, tickets, souvenirs and the like. ($250 a day for visitors and $108.50 for locals.)

 

...

 

As for locals, the Indians' brush with success can only boost self-esteem.

 

The Indians expect 525 members of the media to attend the games, from as far away as Japan.

 

Television coverage of the games in particular could pique the curiosity of viewers treated to glamour shots of Cleveland's skyline and attractions.

 

"It helps to reinforce the shiny, glistening image of the city we want," Roche said. "And you can't buy that kind of attention."

 

www.cleveland.com

Yeah - the playoff run by the Cavs and now the Indians are great tools for free city publicity.  I thought the shots of the stadium / downtown from the blimp last night were great.  Plus when the teams are successful, downtown is hopping and you get all these shots nationwide of downtown looking vibrant with lots of activity, giving Cleveland a great positive image.

CIA draws place among top schools

By SHANNON MORTLAND

4:30 am, October 8, 2007

 

The Cleveland Institute of Art has been named one of the world’s top 60 design schools, according to a survey by Business Week magazine, which released the names of the schools in alphabetical order.

 

...

 

The list will appear in the Oct. 15 issue, which hits newsstands today.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20071008/FREE/71005050

Positively Cleveland

Hahaha .. I read about that today. Honestly. Why are they constantly fucking things up?

I suppose they're somewhat related, but if we could keep the CVB posts  in the existing thread that'd be great. Thanks! :-)

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=11531.30

Sorry. There are so many threads, it's hard to find the specific ones.

Hi,

I need some advice.  I live in Beachwood, and I've only lived in the Cleveland area for 5 years--not too familiar with downtown.  I'm writing 2 articles for a new Cleveland magazine.  One is about luxury living downtown--I've tried to reach Scott Wolstein and the Maron brothers, without luck so far (haven't tried too hard).  Wondering if anyone can recommend a person who would be a good source for such an article--someone accessible!  Someone who could speak knowledgeably about living downtown, and who is pro-Cleveland all the way.  The other story is a shorter one, where I'm to talk with one or more concierges about downtown life--maybe little anecdotes about lives of the well-to-do.  Many thanks for anyone who can take the time to reply.

 

Tom

^I think that you've come to the right place.

I can imagine that MayDay would be a great starting point....

via www.brewedfreshdaily.com

 

the US Airways Magazine has a nice profile of Cleveland, with some great shots of downtown hotspots.  Goto BFD to read the posting.

 

http://www.usairwaysmag.com/2007_10/profiles.php

I can imagine that MayDay would be a great starting point....

 

Sorry, I may be pro-Cleveland all the way but I've never lived in downtown proper. Plus, given my income bracket, "luxury living" isn't on the agenda*  :oops:

 

*If that's not a problem, then I'd be happy to help.

I can imagine that MayDay would be a great starting point....

 

Sorry, I may be pro-Cleveland all the way but I've never lived in downtown proper. Plus, given my income bracket, "luxury living" isn't on the agenda*  :oops:

 

*If that's not a problem, then I'd be happy to help.

 

no, i meant as a starting point to find who he should be contacting, or what buildings, or something, i dunno. mayday knows everything!

I'd help you out, tom2323, but you're a competitor. So my secrets stay with me!!

Hi,

I need some advice.  I live in Beachwood, and I've only lived in the Cleveland area for 5 years--not too familiar with downtown.  I'm writing 2 articles for a new Cleveland magazine.  One is about luxury living downtown--I've tried to reach Scott Wolstein and the Maron brothers, without luck so far (haven't tried too hard).  Wondering if anyone can recommend a person who would be a good source for such an article--someone accessible!  Someone who could speak knowledgeably about living downtown, and who is pro-Cleveland all the way.  The other story is a shorter one, where I'm to talk with one or more concierges about downtown life--maybe little anecdotes about lives of the well-to-do.  Many thanks for anyone who can take the time to reply.

 

Tom

 

Wouldn't moving downtown yourself, if possible, be a way to first hand experience luxury living?

 

There is so much information on this board you could easy find contact information.

You might try talking to one of the guys at Progressive Urban Real Estate.  http://www.progressiveurban.com/homepage_hires.htm

 

Try to talk to Keith Brown or David Sharkey.

 

Your might also try the Living in Cleveland Center, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Historic Warehouse District Development Corp, or Historic Gateway Development Corp.  Google them for a web address.

 

I'd help you out, tom2323, but you're a competitor. So my secrets stay with me!!

 

Competitor in what way?

 

You might try talking to one of the guys at Progressive Urban Real Estate.  http://www.progressiveurban.com/homepage_hires.htm

 

Try to talk to Keith Brown or David Sharkey.

 

Your might also try the Living in Cleveland Center, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Historic Warehouse District Development Corp, or Historic Gateway Development Corp.  Google them for a web address.

 

Thank you very much.

 

 

 

 

I'd help you out, tom2323, but you're a competitor. So my secrets stay with me!!

 

Competitor in what way?

 

I write for another publication in town.

^It sure is SUNny out today :)

i saw that US Airways article and the photos they took made the city looks as vibrant as any other city in this country!  Oprah's little article was nice but the USAirways took it to the next level!  Thank you! 

Yeah, that USAirways article was VERY nice. On a blog, someone said it was an advertorial, but it didn't look like advertorial to me. Normally advertorials don't get play like that on a publication's Web site, even an airline magazines. I don't think at least.

 

I'd help you out, tom2323, but you're a competitor. So my secrets stay with me!!

 

Competitor in what way?

 

I write for another publication in town.

 

It's silly to be so territorial and secretive, unless you happen to be coincidentally working on a similar project now or in the near future. Do you imagine that you have so much to lose? Besides, I'm going to produce the article whether you help me or not--doesn't it make sense for writers to support each other?  But in the bigger picture, why post that message at all?  How can that be anything but mildly annoying to me?  What was the point? 

^I could be wrong, but I think he was using something called humor.

 

BTW, I get mildly annoyed when people show up on this board, ask for a favor, receive tons of free advice, then slam one of the best contributors to the forum.

Alright kids, simmer down...

 

tom2323, you're welcome to participate on the forum and ask for advice, but as punch said - KJP contributes an enormous amount of info here. Given that Cleveland is a smaller market for writers, he probably has good reason to be apprehensive about what info he chooses to disclose, especially considering that he's in more of a position to be "scooped" (weekly paper versus monthly pub). He's given us a lot of information about the downtown residential projects and he's likely taken a lot of time to develop a relationship and trust with his sources. Regardless, I imagine with the amount of people on the forum, you'll get plenty of information with or without KJP's help.

 

 

 

I greatly appreciate all the advice I've received, and I've thanked each contributor accordingly.  As for that message being "humor", well we all have our idea of what's funny.  Of course I realize that in his mind, he was just throwing in a little light-hearted aside.  I can clearly see your point of view: some guy out of the blue comes in and "slams" a good forum regular.  But if you can't see the childish underpinnings to his message, then you'll be unable to see this from my point of view.  If you could set aside your bias for site regulars you might see how his comment was, at best, ungracious and pointless; at worst, vaguely invidious. As for whether or not disclosing info to me could undermine his own efforts/position, I apologize, and should give him the benefit of the doubt, as I'm probably naive about that issue.

I greatly appreciate all the advice I've received, and I've thanked each contributor accordingly.  As for that message being "humor", well we all have our idea of what's funny.  Of course I realize that in his mind, he was just throwing in a little light-hearted aside.  I can clearly see your point of view: some guy out of the blue comes in and "slams" a good forum regular.  But if you can't see the childish underpinnings to his message, then you'll be unable to see this from my point of view.  If you could set aside your bias for site regulars you might see how his comment was, at best, ungracious and pointless; at worst, vaguely invidious. As for whether or not disclosing info to me could undermine his own efforts/position, I apologize, and should give him the benefit of the doubt, as I'm probably naive about that issue.

 

 

Sorry for taking this too seriously.  No further scolding necessary please.  Thanks.

No further scolding, just some context:

 

"If you could set aside your bias for site regulars you might see how his comment was, at best, ungracious and pointless; at worst, vaguely invidious."

 

I absolutely can see how it could be interpreted that way, and being able to set aside bias is why I'm an Admin here :-) I can't and won't speak for KJP, and if you two want to discuss the issue, the forum's private message system is the best medium for that. No need to apologize for taking things seriously, either - it's just that I don't expect everyone to like each other, but at least try to get along. Having met KJP on a few occasions, he's usually pretty good about that (usually) ;-) Do us a favor and keep us posted on your findings - I think a lot of us would be interested.

No further scolding, just some context:

 

"If you could set aside your bias for site regulars you might see how his comment was, at best, ungracious and pointless; at worst, vaguely invidious."

 

I absolutely can see how it could be interpreted that way, and being able to set aside bias is why I'm an Admin here :-) I can't and won't speak for KJP, and if you two want to discuss the issue, the forum's private message system is the best medium for that. No need to apologize for taking things seriously, either - it's just that I don't expect everyone to like each other, but at least try to get along. Having met KJP on a few occasions, he's usually pretty good about that (usually) ;-) Do us a favor and keep us posted on your findings - I think a lot of us would be interested

 

I think my over-reaction was due to being new to writing for publications.  I didn't see (and frankly, still don't see--but I'm open to learning that I have misconceptions) how any information that a writer could share with me, simply to aid me in writing an article about living downtown, could affect their situation in any way.  It's not like I was looking for an exclusive inside scoop about anything--I just asked for help steering me toward the right people to talk to regarding downtown life.  Very broad subject matter along what seems to be a pretty well-worn path, for an unknown, as yet uninfluential magazine.        But this could just be a case of very different sensibilities; if a writer was earnestly looking for information, and came into a forum that I frequent and asks for help, I would never dream of actually sitting down and posting a message that says "yes, I have information, but I'm not going to share it." I'd just keep that to myself, and help with whatever information I didn't mind sharing.

edit: Oh nevermind, I can't stay on topic.

PD Tipoff:

 

Spelling errors are easy to make. Tipoff knows that better than anyone. Still, we almost keeled over onto our keyboards when Mayor Frank Jackson's press office issued a release congratulating the Indians. In it was the one word no mayor of Cleveland should ever misspell: Cleveland. It read "Celveland."

 

It's not as if they didn't have time to hit spell check in the rush to get the release out. It was only two sentences and it was sent about 5 p.m. the day after the Indians eliminated the Yankees.

 

False positives:

 

There are plenty of spelling-challenged folks out there. The former Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, which renamed itself Positively Cleveland, is trying to cover every scenario with its new Web page.

 

In addition to www.positively cleveland.com, officials have registered www.positivlycleveland .com and www.positiveley cleveland.com.

 

Unfortunately, no www. positivelycelveland.com. How will the mayor's office find it?

This is so bad.  It sounds like a medical procedure or a health PSA!

Cleveland + and Positive Cleveland = pointless. 

 

Neither phrase means jack.  If we want our economy and reputation to rebound, we need jobs and better schools.  These above phrases are unnecessary; instead, we should market our city around Rock and Roll (which we do), our proximity to the lake (which we don't), or our strong health and legal market (which we kind of do).

 

Just keep the Cleveland Rocks moniker and forget about those other two...

 

Honestly, I preferred the Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau. Positive Cleveland sounds so gimmicky. What, like no one will see through that? To me, Positively Cleveland implies that there is a negative image. And it just goes to show that Cleveland's negative self-image is still being projected onto the world when people market the city.

honestly, and not to be rude or insensitive, it sounds like an HIV/AIDS campaign.  It doesn't bring Cleveland to mind.

^I was thinking the same thing

Gotta wonder if that *ever* crossed their mind.

These people should be fired! 

Just for fun, let's go over some ways for Cleveland to become a thriving city

 

I'll start. 

 

1. There are so many Iraqi, Iranian, Chinese, Indonesian, Pakistani, Indian, etc people who have all kinds of diverse skills hardly utilized.  How many doctors, artists, and teachers are either stuck in refugee camps oversees or, if they manage to make it to the States, are either driving a cab or working some, no offense, mindless labor. 

 

Cleveland could become an international community in itself by bringing in these individuals with such diverse skills; our population would vastly grow, our reputation would improve, and all sorts of new industries would develop and flourish from these new residents.  Of course there are obvious cons (all of which deal with money and even fear), I think the benefits are so great they cannot be ignored.

 

2. Cleveland certainly has a strong relationship with Jews.  The Cleveland JCC and Jewish Federation helped bring in hundreds (probably thousands - I don't actually know) of Eastern European Jews after the Wall fell.  Plus, if you look at communities like Solon, Beachwood, Orange, and maybe Shaker Heights, there are a large number of wealthy Jewish families with strong ties to Israel.  Since Cleveland has a unique link to Israel (my group leader from last year's Birthright program, which is a free trip to Israel for college aged jews, agreed there is a strong connection), this would be a great opportunity for our city to commit to serious and lasting foreign investment.  There are lots of plans for development in the southern desert lands of Israel; I believe Warren Buffet has discussed investing billions (well, we'll see about that - I knew his grandson, and well, the kid was a jerk so I wonder about grandpa).  If he sees it as solid investment, why not Cleveland?

 

3. Finally (unless this board picks up steam), I would think that a Navy Pier type area would be a great attraction.  I've gone there many times in Chicago; it's always a lot of fun, as there are games, a boardwalk, a giant ferris wheel, restaurants, countless people, boats/crusies, fireworks, free and paid entertainment, etc.  To have this either somewhere along the lakeshore or the Flats (yes, I know about the Wolstein project but hey, my board = my rules) would be a huge incentive for people from all over the Midwest to come there.  Look, Corner Alley is a huge success; whenever I'm there, there are plenty of people and sometimes it takes hours to get a bowling lane.  This tells me there really is a demand for late night activities other than theater and clubs/bars/restaurants.  People want to have fun, and honestly, the Navy Pier is a great way to spend a day.  Sure it would be somewhat seasonal - but so is Football, and it's a huge cash cow for the city (actually, I have no idea if it is, but the stadium is always full and bars/restaurants are packed too on game day, so...maybe?)

 

Obviously I'm being overely idealistic here and I don't see any of these ideas ever floating (at least not in the foreseeable future), but just for fun, what do you guys think and what other ideas do you have?

 

 

 

The whole Navy Pier thing may attract families to downtown for a day, but I hardly think it would have any role in attracting top talent to Cleveland.  Aside from the fact that it's a pretty chessy, we should be figuring what can make the best "Cleveland," not copying what makes up part of another city, especially one that is relatively close.  If we talk about copying other cities, it should be about emulating high density, transit and pedestrian oriented development in the urban core, not singular objects like a ferris wheel or video games.  Just my opinion.

The whole Navy Pier thing may attract families to downtown for a day, but I hardly think it would have any role in attracting top talent to Cleveland.  Aside from the fact that it's a pretty chessy, we should be figuring what can make the best "Cleveland," not copying what makes up part of another city, especially one that is relatively close.  If we talk about copying other cities, it should be about emulating high density, transit and pedestrian oriented development in the urban core, not singular objects like a ferris wheel or video games.  Just my opinion.

 

W 28th you beat me to it.  Thats exactly how I feel.

I agree. I personally hate Navy Pier and all things that are so blatantly "touristy", even when I visit places like Chicago as a tourist. If it would be an attraction that would serve to mostly draw tourists, though, I would think it would have to be something unique that would really bring tourists to CLEVELAND. The Rock Hall draws tourists to Cleveland because it's a unique venue. Otherwise, I'm not sure that Cleveland is really known for tourism, so I'm not sure if a Navy Pier knock-off would work. Maybe it would. I just don't know, and I question it.

 

In terms of creating more of an international vibe, I agree. Cleveland needs diversity, but more than that, it needs current residents to be more open to diversity. There's FAR too much segregation in Cleveland right now, whether it's mental or physical, and I'm talking on the citizen level, not even on the governmental one. People need to break down cultural barriers and become open to new cultures invading their own before Cleveland can truly become an international mecca. It's there now somewhat, but communities are waaay too divided right now. This needs to change as soon as possible.

 

I think people in Cleveland just need to stop being so afraid in general. Afraid of change. Afraid of new people. Cleveland isn't known as a risk-taking town. It needs to stop being so conservative on a much broader scale. It needs to be open to new ways of thinking, and it needs to be able to show others that it's capable of this. But this is all difficult. It's not an easy thing to change people's mentalities. But I think this is inherently necessary for Cleveland to truly move forward to the future.

The Rock Hall draws tourists to Cleveland because it's a unique venue. Otherwise, I'm not sure that Cleveland is really known for tourism.

 

A recent market study of 12 arts and culture organizations (Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Great Lakes Science Center, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Opera Cleveland, Playhouse Square, Rock Hall, SPACES Gallery and Western Reserve Historical Society) found that between 2001 and 2006, the organizations collectively sold to 70,214 individual households from outside of Northeast Ohio (defined as a 13-county region). These out-of-region visitors accounted for 17% of all households making purchases and 8.4% of all sales.

 

Top markets were Columbus (4,920 households), Pittsburgh (3,682), Sandusky (3,477), Detroit (2,296), NYC (2,283), Toledo (2,208), Chicago (2,021) and Cincy (1,953). These are households that have purchased single tickets, memberships and subscriptions from our local arts and culture organizations ... and these are just 12 arts and culture organizations out of well over 100 in Cuyahoga County alone (add on a chunk of 'em in Akron, Youngstown, Canton, etc.) ... you get the idea. While the organizations varied in the geographic pull they had for drawing in tourists, they all contributed to this number ... some contributed surprisingly high amounts (unfortunately, information about the particular organizations' numbers is proprietary).

 

The Rock Hall is CERTAINLY not the only drawing force for cultural tourism.

 

I should also reference the study: it's "Northeast Ohio Cultural Consumer Insight Project: Phase I Findings". It was released in June by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland and Elliott Marketing Group. The full community report is available upon request ... PM me if you would like it, as it was too big to attach here.

You're right. But I guess I was thinking more on a national scale. I think the Rock Hall, along with some of those venues, are more known on a national scale.

The only Navy Pier-esque thing I'd like to see is more amenities and better connections between each of the lakefront attractions, and of course, a better connection to the CBD. Other than that, I don't see a Navy Pier doing anything other than taking away from what's already here.

 

As far as increasing our immigration draw - absolutely, I'd be happy to organize a walking tour for the new arrivals!

I should also reference the study: it's "Northeast Ohio Cultural Consumer Insight Project: Phase I Findings". It was released in June by the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland and Elliott Marketing Group. The full community report is available upon request ... PM me if you would like it, as it was too big to attach here.

 

I'm not sure if it was part of this program or not, but some of the institutions will ask you for a zip code when you purchase tickets.  The problem I ran into, was that they couldn't handle international visitors who I have shown these attractions to, and ended up just using a cleveland zip code for the transaction.  It would be a shame if they weren't accurately logging the international visitors that come to the region.

^ Lots of market research is conducted at the zip code level, but this research is remarkably more detailed, as it's done at the household level. So instead of saying "12% of people living in 4411* bought from organization X", this study gives the researchers the power to say "John Smith living at 123 Cleveland Way made three purchases from organization X's theatre series, as well as a membership to organization Y. As a result, the study actually included cross-sell models ... just like Amazon.com, these Cleveland organizations are able to score households on how likely they are to make future purchases and what they would be most interested in purchasing. So, to answer your question, the data includes everyone who pays by credit card or check or, in some cases, patrons who provide a phone number when asked (zip code won't work, but with a phone number, they can do a reverse append and capture household data). International customers wouldn't be lost in most cases.