gee great more backhanded praise.  :|  i dk if this was posted, but it was on the avenue newsletter:

 

 

Cleveland Rocks -- Seriously

 

Last summer, when I announced to the world that I was visiting Cleveland, Ohio, the most common reactions were surprise, confusion and pity. One friend covered all three with two words: "Cleveland? Why?" Cleveland, it seems, has developed that rare reputation for being both seedy and boring.

 

Sadly, the city's bad rap is not entirely unfounded. Once one of the country's industrial capitals, Cleveland never fully recovered from the steel manufacturing slump of the 1960s. In 1969, its Cuyahoga River famously caught on fire (a river! on fire!) due to pollution; in 2006 it was rated one of the poorest major cities in the U.S.

 

And yet in 2005, the Economist ranked Cleveland as one of the most livable places in America: Somehow it took a British magazine to notice how much the city that inspired American Splendor (both the film and comic book series portray Cleveland as a city rife with decaying neighborhoods) has improved recently.

 

Poor in cash but rich in attractions, Cleveland boasts a beautiful university district, home to Case Western Reserve University and the world-class Cleveland Museum of Art (www.clevelandart.org); a Warehouse District (www.warehousedistrict.org) full of hip bars and restaurants; and the Playhouse Square Center (www.playhousesquare.org) -- the second-largest performing arts center in the U.S. Add to this the top-notch Cleveland Orchestra (www.clevelandorch.com), the spectacular Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (www.rockhall.com), and picturesque views of Lake Erie, and you get an American splendor indeed. -- Jennifer Reilly

 

http://www.frommers.com/articles/4032.html

 

It's nice, but think about it.  Frommer's is published by the same folks that put out the "...for dummies" publications.

Uh, yeah, thanks for the "compliment."

Poor in cash but rich in attractions

 

I can't even come up with this material.

... as you'll note, Frommers wrote a similar blurb about Detroit.  They seem to view the 2 cities as birds of a feather in damning them with faint praise.

In all honesty, riding the rapid from Euclid to the airport, there still is a lot of abandoned & run-down stuff in Cleveland. 

 

But boring it isnt.

 

What makes the place interesting is not what Frommer is picking up on, but things like Western Market, which is still a real, unsantized and unyuppified market, not a festival market. or places like that Asiatown, which looks like a spotaneous, natural neighborhood that is developing on its own, not some fakey or puffed-up "district", or that Ohio City area around the Western Market, which looks like a real old-fashioned neighborhood that hasnt been gentrified to death.

 

 

 

In all honesty, riding the rapid from Euclid to the airport, there still is a lot of abandoned & run-down stuff in Cleveland. 

 

But boring it isnt.

 

What makes the place interesting is not what Frommer is picking up on, but things like Western Market, which is still a real, unsantized and unyuppified market, not a festival market. or places like that Asiatown, which looks like a spotaneous, natural neighborhood that is developing on its own, not some fakey or puffed-up "district", or that Ohio City area around the Western Market, which looks like a real old-fashioned neighborhood that hasnt been gentrified to death.

 

 

 

 

You almost lost me for a minute, but I need you to clear up some things. 

 

The Rapid doesn't run from Euclid to the airport, it starts in East Cleveland and runs to the airport.

 

Western Market?  Do You mean "Westside Market"?

oh, I road the rapid from Terminal Tower to that Universit Circle area, where that bus transfer point is, on that parkway,  then walked up Euclid to catch the Rapid at the Euclid station, there, then rode it to the airport and then back again to the Terminal Tower.  & Yes, I meant Westside Market...the one with the big tower and the produce stands around the outside.

 

I thought it was kind of odd that the rapid didnt have a station on a I think Mayfield, or whatever the main drag is of Little Italy, as it runs right by there and has stations on either side.

 

 

Hey, go easy on the guy. I knew what he meant.

 

Thank him for the compliment of our fair city.

 

But, yes, there's lots of abandonment along RTA's Red Line. It's why the line is carrying only 20,000 a day these days, compared to 60,000 in 1960. Back then, the rapid transit line cut through industrial areas where many tens of thousands of people worked, and neighborhoods where many more lived.

 

Of course, me being the optimist, I few the abandonment as an opportunity to have a fresh start to build transit-oriented neighborhoods around stations. The problem is, the land isn't fresh. There's probably hundreds of Brownfields and even EPA Superfund sites along the transit line, from rotting factories, their discarded chemicals and even lead paint in older homes. But Battery Park shows us what can be done when Superfund sites are cleaned up. Too bad Brownfield and Superfund funding is pitifully tiny and the roster of polluted properties is so lengthy.

I thought it was kind of odd that the rapid didnt have a station on a I think Mayfield, or whatever the main drag is of Little Italy, as it runs right by there and has stations on either side.

 

RTA has funding in hand to replace the station, and will likely be relocated midway between Mayfield and Euclid, with walkways connecting to both travel corridors. But the Euclid/East 120th station has seen an increase in ridership since the opening of CWRU's campus village and the growth of the Cleveland Institute of Art next to the station. A link to Mayfield would provide an even bigger boost to ridership, like you said.

oh, I road the rapid from Terminal Tower to that Universit Circle area, where that bus transfer point is, on that parkway,  then walked up Euclid to catch the Rapid at the Euclid station, there, then rode it to the airport and then back again to the Terminal Tower.  & Yes, I meant Westside Market...the one with the big tower and the produce stands around the outside.

 

I thought it was kind of odd that the rapid didnt have a station on a I think Mayfield, or whatever the main drag is of Little Italy, as it runs right by there and has stations on either side.

 

 

Sorry, didn't mean to come accross, rude, I just got lost by your landmarks/names.

 

Ok..you mean the Euclid Station or University/Cedar Station.  I was just trying to get my barrings. 

...not some fakey or puffed-up "district"...

 

Thank you for this.  I propose a moratorium on the declaration of any new "districts."

Jeff --

My mother met her fiance (with whom she broke up to marry my Dad) at the Westside Market: she sold cookies, he sold sausages. This was in 1942.

My family immigrated to the nearby neighborhood in the 1880s. I was born a few blocks away in Lutheran Hospital. My family always referred to it as "the market" (Fishers was "the store", Hough's "the bakery")

 

Starting when I was 11 or 12 I led my younger sister on adventures on the Rapid to Downtown, or to the Art Museum. Always exciting.

 

I'm glad you had a chance to explore my wonderful hometown. I hope you become so interested in Cleveland that you do  of your fantastic tourguide/essays on it!

Jeff --

My mother met her fiance (with whom she broke up to marry my Dad) at the Westside Market: she sold cookies, he sold sausages. This was in 1942.

My family immigrated to the nearby neighborhood in the 1880s. I was born a few blocks away in Lutheran Hospital. My family always referred to it as "the market" (Fishers was "the store", Hough's "the bakery")

 

Starting when I was 11 or 12 I led my younger sister on adventures on the Rapid to Downtown, or to the Art Museum. Always exciting.

 

I'm glad you had a chance to explore my wonderful hometown. I hope you become so interested in Cleveland that you do  of your fantastic tourguide/essays on it!

 

So your dad slipped your mom a sausage and you're the bun in the oven, huh?? :wink:

 

Seriously, that is a GREAT story and probably a story told many times to the grand kids.  Venue's like the Westside Market are so much more than what they actually are.

 

Now, I want Hough Bakery sugar cookies with blue sprinkles!  :-(

Yeah, that Frommer's listing didn't excite me much. I get so tired of hearing about the damn river fire. If your city was around during the industrial revolution, chances are a river near you caught fire too. :roll:

...Or your sky was as black as dusk but at midday (see Pittsburgh or St. Louis during WWII and at other busy economic times -- like some industrial cities in China are now).

"I get so tired of hearing about the damn river fire."

 

I know what you mean, but if it weren't for that, we might not have my beloved favorite brew. :drunk:

 

Not to mention, I really love the artwork on the label:

^ How can you drink that crap when Bush lite is SO much cheaper!?!?!?!

Very easily :-D

^ How can you drink that crap when Bush lite is SO much cheaper!?!?!?!

 

Busch Lite?  Dasani has more flavor.

 

Beer-wise, I never drink anything but Great Lakes. Honestly.

If Great Lakes isn't on tap, I'm willing to try other microbrews (Bells, etc.) but I honestly can't stand light beers. They're like decaf coffee - what's the point?

If New Orleans Lady (and her husband) commits to the Cleveland Christmas meet, I'll smuggle a 6 (bottle) pack of Abita Amber from Louisiana to the meet as well.

I hear good things about Abita when I lived in Memphis.

They have Abita Amber on tap at Prosperity - my S.O. really likes it.

I WAS going to say Nati lite!!!!!

It's nice, but think about it.  Frommer's is published by the same folks that put out the "...for dummies" publications.

 

hey funny you mentioned that....until recently my spouse was thee head marketer for the dummy books series, among others at wiley and sons publisher!! not the frommer's guides tho. i'll tell her to talk the 'dummies' over there and try to get that blurb changed.

 

It's nice, but think about it.  Frommer's is published by the same folks that put out the "...for dummies" publications.

 

hey funny you mentioned that....until recently my spouse was thee head marketer for the dummy books series, among others at wiley and sons publisher!! not the frommer's guides tho. i'll tell her to talk the 'dummies' over there and try to get that blurb changed.

 

 

I'm sorry for her!  Poor thing.  Looks like they need to come out with a book called , "publishing for dummies"

 

naah, those books are crazy popular, prob because of her work! also, she's left the company.

 

btw -- did you know the first and only 'dummies' book for many years was published in the 1960's as a manual to fix your volkswagon. everyone had one in the front end trunk of the car because it was easy to fix that lawnmower engine. the kicker is that it was originally published in cleveland back then.

 

 

I'm glad you had a chance to explore my wonderful hometown. I hope you become so interested in Cleveland that you do  of your fantastic tourguide/essays on it!

 

I seem to be spending more time with Louisville now as I realize I know the place a lot less than I thought I did....

 

If i was closer to Cleveland, though,  I am interested enough in that Asia Town area to do something like what I've done with Dayton, as I'm really into those surviving close-in neighbrohoods.  And id like to do something with the rural Western Reseve, taking that driving tour in that Orange Frazier architectural guide and doing it in pix & maps.

 

Cleveland & surroundings really piques my interest when I'm up there (which has been very rare).