What ever happened to the idea of creating an immigration welcome center?

Resistance looms, but a group pushes Cleveland to welcome the world

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

April 05, 2010, 12:30PM

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The image of an international welcome center in Northeast Ohio began to take shape this week, along with the obstacles that a pro-immigrant strategy must overcome.

 

Representatives of groups that work with immigrants and groups that promote economic development shared ideas and concerns Thursday at the downtown headquarters of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. They pushed forward, painstakingly, toward a controversial proposal of welcoming immigrants and helping them to settle here.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/resistance_looms_but_a_group_p.html

 

 

^From the above:

 

A sense of urgency was tempered by a lack of consensus and worries about what multiculturalism could bring to a city and a region that are both 95 percent native-born.

 

Stanley Miller, executive director of the Cleveland NAACP, said the black community is suspicious of any idea to bring new minorities to a black-majority city and help them to get started.

 

Wow.  That is a really bizarre and disappointing point of view.

NAACP- Kindly step aside on this issue.  Your opinion does not help the greater good of the region.  And yes, I'm a minority.

 

 

 

Wow.  That is a really bizarre and disappointing point of view.

 

You're absolutely right.

When you look up "Ugly American" on Wikipedia, that viewpoint fits right in.

 

That is a bizarre, crazy, nutso, point of view. This country is founded on immigration.

And all U.S. major cities' growth occurred thanks to immigration, both internationally and intranationally.

 

 

 

 

 

Federation leads way on immigrant welcome center

 

By MARILYN H. KARFELD

Senior Staff Reporter

Published: Friday, April 9, 2010 1:09 AM EDT

 

At a meeting last week to discuss establishing an international welcome center in Cleveland, leaders of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland made their enthusiasm for the project clear.

 

Stephen H. Hoffman, Federation president, speaking to about 60 people at the organization’s downtown headquarters, said he was impatient for the immigrant welcome center to get past the talking stages. He expects the project to move into high gear when Federation’s annual fundraising campaign ends in mid-May, with something concrete in the works by the end of summer.

 

Federation would not run the welcome center, but could be a catalyst for the project, said Dan Polster, co-chair of the organization’s downtown vision committee, which has worked on the proposal for months.

 

MORE AT http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2010/04/09/news/local/doc4bbe23afe065e657627350.txt

Whatever happened to the first Iraq war refugees to resettle in Cleveland?

 

Khwater Nayef and her three boys stepped off a plane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in the fall of 2007, fleeing a nightmare.

 

They had lost Dad to sectarian violence. Mom narrowly escaped a kidnapping. She fled to Syria to save her sons and Cleveland Catholic Charities helped the family resettle in Lakewood.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/twins_day_bequeath_first_iraqi.html

 

 

Mayor Frank Jackson, and a parliament of civic leaders, endorses an immigrant welcome center

Published: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 6:00 AM

Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A proposed Cleveland international welcome center is attracting prominent and influential supporters, including a voice long seen as quiet on the issue.

 

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said he will join a blue ribbon committee charged with designing the center and outlining efforts to attract immigrants to Northeast Ohio.

 

The step is a new one for Jackson who, in the past, seemed to dismiss immigrant attraction strategies as an answer to Cleveland's decline.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/mayor_frank_jackson_and_a_parl.html

Interesting twist after the JCF building going to the Cleveland Public Schools.  It appears that want to change focus and rename the center "Cleveland International Welcome Center:"

 

Cleveland international welcome center planning under way

Published: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 9:00 AM

Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland international welcome center will take a broad view of the meaning of "immigrant" as it seeks to attract new talent to Northeast Ohio.

 

The people sketching out a vision for the center say it will target anyone with the skills or resources to boost the local economy.

 

That could mean a person from another country, from another state, or from another part of Ohio.

 

The consensus emerged from the inaugural meeting of the welcome center's executive committee, which gathered Aug. 26 on the newly opened observation deck of the Terminal Tower.

 

Grassroots groups have for years urged regional leaders to get behind immigrant attraction strategies, the kind that helped other cities advance in the New Economy.

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/09/clevelands_welcome_to_the_worl.html

Finally! 

 

We have know that Cleveland needed an immigration center for a long time.  My only concern is if they only bring in high skilled immigrants they will probably not move to the city of Cleveland.  Look at all the Indians.  The typically move to places like Mayfield Heights.  You also need immigrants with lower incomes to full the housing stock in less desireable neighborhoods

 

 

I keep saying it... but the Indian population around me is absolutely exploding.  It's so noticeable because the neighborhood was always mostly white and black... no asians, latinos, etc. for the most part and the Indian immigrants certainly are a 'walkable' crowd.  I see them walking all along Noble and Green where the low-rent apartments on either of those roads can be found between Monticello and Mayfield.  These are not medical residents or students.  These are families.

In two years they will be business owners.

Great story!  We need more like this ;)

 

International Newcomers Academy in Cleveland helps students adjust to school and life in America

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/01/international_newcomers_academ.html

 

 

Definitely. That's good stuff.

This is great.  they didn't have this type of "ESL" program when my uncle came here.  He had to have a working knowledge of English before CPS would register him.  He had to attend summer school and have a tutor his first year.

Great article about the new Global Cleveland leader:

 

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/features/larrymiller111711.aspx

 

"My primary objective is to bring 100,000 newcomers to Northeast Ohio. I want to give the message that clearly communicates we are committed to job growth. There are four components to that: attraction, retention, connections and communications."

Cleveland could still utilize immigrants in the better positioned up-and-coming areas. There are streets in other cities that would be very empty if you were to take away all immigrant run businesses. Providing incentives for a even just a couple of urban business districts that need a boost to completely fill them in would get the ball rolling. Of course, it's pretty late in the game so measures would have to be significant to attract enough entrepreneurs to setup in the city and have a decent presence on numerous "main streets". It's great that Cleveland has recently taken measures to get them to come there and it would seem to be a much larger effort than what I'm aware of in the other Cs, so good for Cleveland if they can breathe more life into vibrant and not-so-vibrant neighborhoods with those bypassing other cities in the region . A few immigrant-oriented business incubators would be ideal where there's already some immigrant presence, especially for the local dining scene.

While we haven't had any flocking #'s to our city JUST YET, it is apparent we have some slowly developing patterns and some that have been dying slowly for the past 20, 30, even 50 years. We have some immigration patterns underway and developing in the last several years that really have me excited. It'd be interesting if someone was willing to plot it all out. I would LOVE to but simply don't have the time. One trend I have noticed besides the obvious (Asiatown) is what's going on along Lorain between 100-150. Koreans flocking to Little Italy, Albanians in Lakewood, from an above post, Indians at Noble/Green, and a solid Orthodox Jewish population concentrated (as has been for a while now) along S. Taylor and also along Green Rd. Russians in Mayfield Heights, Ukrainians and Serbians in Parma. In my own experiences North Royalton has proved to have a fair share of immigrants from Eastern Europe. Many of the ethnic churches there probably help that fact. I recently read there are some other very interesting patterns happening in places like Wadsworth. Just a few, surely many more - lest us not forget the Czech's who still hang by the threads over by Hyacinth Park and the Slovenians who until just a few years ago were still heavily concentrated deep into Slavic Village - around Union/79. If and when the immigrants flock here as we all hope they will (and are planning for), I believe they won't establish some new district, but rather disperse to where others of their same descent are, whether it's inner city Cleveland or a place like Wadsworth - only time can tell.

Let's not forgot how this has seemingly sprung up unplanned:

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,21700.msg449564.html#msg449564

Good one! I completely forgot to mention little Mumbai! Love it! I was on the top floor a few years back at an Indian party and it kicked ass!

Good news in today's paper:

 

Global Cleveland helps immigrant healers get back to work

Published: Monday, November 28, 2011, 6:00 PM

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

 

Maryam Mansour arrived in Cleveland five months ago with nursing skills honed in the hospitals of Alexandria, Egypt. She also brought a love for her profession and a resolve to get back to it.

 

Almost immediately, she realized, she was going to need all of her ambition.

 

Her Egyptian nursing degree mattered little in America, she was startled to learn. Her role in operating rooms assisting surgeries would not be easily duplicated.

 

On a recent Saturday morning, Mansour joined 20 kindred spirits in an innovate class designed to get them back to work and contributing to their new community. The classroom at Cleveland State University stirred with well-educated immigrants, all of them skilled in a medical profession, most of them underemployed or unemployed.

 

These 21 students hailed from Poland, Ukraine, China, Japan, Vietnam, Nepal, Algiers, Palestine, Congo and Peru. They included 15 doctors, three surgeons, several nurses, a dentist, a physical therapist, a pharmacist and a dietician.

 

Some came to Cleveland for school or for a job. Some followed a spouse. Some came from refugee camps. All face a long climb back to their former status.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/with_help_from_global_clevelan.html

An e-mailed press release......

 

December 12, 2011

 

Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation

 

For more information, contact:

Katherine Bulava, Hatha Communications

[email protected]

216-357-9508

 

Cuyahoga Land Bank partners with the International Services Center to create a home for refugees

 

The Cuyahoga Land Bank and the International Services Center (ISC) will announce The Discovering Home Program: A New Beginning - a partnership in order to provide housing for refugees settling in Northeast Ohio, starting with a home in Lakewood - on December 14th at 2 pm at 1443 Hopkins Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio.

 

“We really saw this as the perfect partnership,” said Gus Frangos, President of the Cuyahoga Land Bank.  “The ISC has identified housing as one of the most challenging aspects of settling refugees in Northeast Ohio and we have housing on hand to supply.”

 

Placing refugees in housing has been challenging for the ISC as landlords are often reluctant to accept tenants with no credit history, work history in the United States or current employment.  At the same time, the ISC has noted that refugees, who are anxious to lead normal lives after having lived in refugee camps and looking to settle down permanently, take great pride in their homes and help stabilize neighborhoods.

 

The partnership will kick off with a home at 1443 Hopkins Avenue in Lakewood.  The organizations, along with Fannie Mae, will invest in renovations of properties selected for the partnership.  The refugees in ISC’s program will also participate in the renovations, building a sense of pride and ownership through sweat equity.

 

Rehabilitation work on the Hopkins Avenue property began in November with a projected move-in ready date of February 2012.  The Cuyahoga Land Bank and ISC intend to complete seven units of refugee housing by the end of 2012.  All of the units will be located in Cuyahoga County.

 

“We have a unique opportunity for investing in lives that will establish roots in our local community,” said Karin Wishner, Executive Director of International Services Center of Cleveland. “Refugees come with very little, but find a way around obstacles with a willingness to become self-sufficient.”

 

 

###

Homesteading plan to offer abandoned homes to refugees

 

Published: Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 6:19 AM    Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2011, 8:34 AM

 

By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Within the collection of abandoned houses haunting the region stand some unpolished gems, sturdy structures that lack only a caring family to again become a home. Where will those families come from?

 

They're already here.

 

That's what the International Services Center told leaders of the Cuyahoga County land bank, sparking a novel program that will attack blight with immigrant might. On Wednesday, the new partners will announce an effort to match vacant houses with refugees who agree to fix them up and make them homes.

 

By offering struggling immigrants a fresh start in an empty space, organizers hope to inject new life and economic vitality into distressed neighborhoods. The strategy, believed to be one of the first of its kind in the nation, attacks an obvious problem with a little-known strength.

 

(cont'd)

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/12/homesteading_plan_to_put_refug.html

^Thanks for posting that.  As one would imagine, the comments are a total circus of xenophobia and resentment towards these "lucky" refugees.

We could only be so lucky to have thousands if not tens (hundreds?) of thousands of refugees coming here, helping rebuild, redevelop and remoralize our cities neighborhoods. It's a no-brainer, win-win situation. Immigrants already made this city something special once; residents then clobbered all that progress in so so so many areas; so let's get back on the cycle and do it again.

 

 

This is such a great idea! I hope this takes off!  :clap:

An e-mailed press release......

 

December 12, 2011

 

Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation

 

For more information, contact:

Katherine Bulava, Hatha Communications

[email protected]

216-357-9508

 

Cuyahoga Land Bank partners with the International Services Center to create a home for refugees

 

 

Whoops....posted a separate thread on this one.

No problem. That's why we mods have a "merge" button. ;-)

uh-oh...Global Cleveland being called out!

 

I tend to agree.

 

Cleveland must be better at attracting immigrants

By RICHARD HERMAN and ROBERTO TORRES

4:30 am, April 16, 2012

 

 

In the recent past, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald have expressed support for welcoming immigrants, but they apparently have delegated that task to Global Cleveland, which does not seem to be doing the job.

 

Global Cleveland recently opened its offices on Euclid Avenue near Public Square to much fanfare. Those of us who worked for years to create an international welcome center are so far unimpressed.

 

Now we are at an inflection point. We hope Global Cleveland can recapture the community-driven conversation focused on creating an immigrant-friendly city. To do this, it will need an urban revitalization strategy, as well as an appeal to Latinos, the most powerful demographic force in America today.

 

We should welcome all immigrants, even those who don't have advanced degrees. Most of our ancestors arrived in America with only grit and determination. Many of them started businesses and raised children who accomplished great things. We should keep this in mind, as we prepare to demolish thousands of abandoned but inhabitable homes that could house Cleveland's new immigrant families and taxpayers, but instead seem slated to become urban farms.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120416/SUB1/304169995

Global Cleveland reaches out:

 

Global Cleveland adds youth, diversity and a partner

Published: Tuesday, June 05, 2012, 6:00 PM

Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer By Robert L. Smith, The Plain Dealer

 

 

Two new and innovative talent-attraction groups have decided to combine their respective quests to add energy and people to Greater Cleveland.

 

Engage! Cleveland, a fledgling umbrella group of young professional organizations, will become part of Global Cleveland, the year-old agency trying to boost the regional economy by welcoming the world.

 

The merger is seen as adding youth and diversity to Global Cleveland's 48-member board, which is weighted toward establishment groups and figures. At the same time, it should lend Engage! Cleveland a running start as it seeks to empower young adults.

 

"We view this as a chance for wonderful synergy," said Baiju Shah, the president of BioEnterprise and chairman of the board of Global Cleveland, a non-profit agency that hopes to grow and retain jobs by attracting a new wave of skilled workers and entrepreneurs.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/06/global_cleveland_adds_youth_di.html

Very excited about this one:

 

Global Cleveland draws new leader from Gordon Square Arts District

By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer

on November 14, 2012 at 7:00 PM, updated November 14, 2012 at 8:24 PM

 

 

The woman who oversaw the conversion of Cleveland's Gordon Square Arts District into an edgy, creative economic engine is about to bring her exuberance and marketing mojo to a wider stage.

 

Joy Roller has been named president of Global Cleveland, the agency launched a year ago to extend a welcome mat to immigrants and native-born Americans, with an eye to repopulating the city and Cuyahoga County and boosting the region's economy. She starts her new job Jan. 1; the organization will consult her on any major decisions between now and then.

 

Roller's resume lists political science, divinity and law degrees; a 20-year career as a television producer that stretched to nine urban markets; and political work that included a VH1 documentary, "Bill Clinton: Rock and Roll President."

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/global_cleveland_draws_new_lea.html

^ that seems like an excellent person to promote the cleve, especially since gordon square is off and running with a life of its own now.

while some small cities like Cleveland are not eager to attract immigrants to grow the economy and population, here is an example of a small city (London, Ontario) that thinks much bigger..... check out this 3 minute promo video 

Cleveland is a small city? And since when is Cleveland not eager to attract immigrants?? They may not be adept at it, but most of the city officials I know want immigrants and need guidance and encouragement.

 

And yes, I know who you are. Your assistant was helpful to me recently. Thank you. I hope you continue to post so we can discuss how to make Greater Cleveland a better place for immigrants. Welcome to the board.

 

 

while some small cities like Cleveland are not eager to attract immigrants to grow the economy and population, here is an example of a small city (London, Ontario) that thinks much bigger..... check out this 3 minute promo video 

 

SMALL?  Cleveland and NEO is eager to attract immigrants.  I have relatives that were immigrants.

"... cities like Cleveland are not eager to attract immigrants to grow the economy and population ..."

 

That would be news to the people running Global Cleveland:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/global_cleveland_draws_new_lea.html

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/04/welcome_center_opens_arms_to_n.html

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/cleveland_international_welcom.html

"... cities like Cleveland are not eager to attract immigrants to grow the economy and population ..."

 

That would be news to the people running Global Cleveland:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/11/global_cleveland_draws_new_lea.html

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/04/welcome_center_opens_arms_to_n.html

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/cleveland_international_welcom.html

 

AMEN!

 

It may be a little unfair to compare Cleveland or any other American city to any in Canada. As far as I know Canada has had a very liberal immigration policy for the past several decades, unlike our fairly restrictive one. Additionally, the country is not in the economic doldrums the US is now, and no where is that more apparent than in Ontario, still the economic powerhouse of Canada. These elements are what made Toronto the booming, vibrant city it has become in the past fifty years or so. London, of course much smaller than Toronto (but only a couple of hours away), never suffered the kind of decay and depopulation that American cities did, so of course it's a fairly attractive place for immigrants and native Canadians alike, many of them possibly moving there (just a theory of mine) as a sort of "spillover" effect from the increased congestion and urban woes starting to affect Toronto more.

I visited London, ON almost a decade ago and found it to be a nice city, but it truly is a small city. The mother city has 300,000 people, but the suburbs have only 100,000 more. Canadian cities are often metro governments that include a larger overall geographic share of the developed metro.

 

Cleveland has just under 400,000, but is the mother city of a metro area of 2.2 million, and if you include Akron (as the Census does in its consolidated metro data), the metro population rises to 2.9 million. If Cleveland were a metro form of government like what exists in Canada and a few cities in the U.S., the city's population would be MUCH larger than London's.

 

That being said, I would like to hear suggestions on how Cleveland can become a more welcoming city for immigrants. I ask this selfishly too, as my girlfriend is from Ukraine. There is always room for improvement!

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

 

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

I believe we have. If I remember correctly, flats east bank and the crowne plaza hotel to Westin conversion both relied on the program for some funding to their projects.

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

 

 

Hmmm, could this explain the heavy ownership of small business by immigrants?  I thought they were getting some sort of tax break/exemption....

good to hear. like the vermonters in the times article do, hopefully some cle office is helping streamline the process so the city could attract even more foreign investment and immigrants!

^^Not if you read the article:

 

"Congress created the visa program in 1990 to help stimulate the economy. Because of a cumbersome process and complaints of fraud and corruption, it was long underused.

 

But a confluence of events in recent years has led to its rather sudden revival: the program was improved; the financial crisis of 2008 made it hard for developers to get loans from commercial banks; and foreign nationals, especially in China, were accumulating vast wealth and were eager for their children to study and live in the United States.

 

In 2006, the government issued just 802 of these EB-5 visas to investors and their families; this year, it granted 7,818. "

yeah not much action to date, but its an opportunity to be taken better advantage of -- as vermont seems to be doing.

^^Not if you read the article:

 

"Congress created the visa program in 1990 to help stimulate the economy. Because of a cumbersome process and complaints of fraud and corruption, it was long underused.

 

But a confluence of events in recent years has led to its rather sudden revival: the program was improved; the financial crisis of 2008 made it hard for developers to get loans from commercial banks; and foreign nationals, especially in China, were accumulating vast wealth and were eager for their children to study and live in the United States.

 

In 2006, the government issued just 802 of these EB-5 visas to investors and their families; this year, it granted 7,818. "

 

Yeah, China makes a ton of sense as the government there doesn't want the entrepreneur class there to become big enough to make a difference.  Better to export them here and hope that increase Chinese influence (here). 

 

How long does the visa last after the initial investment?

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

I believe we have. If I remember correctly, flats east bank and the crowne plaza hotel to Westin conversion both relied on the program for some funding to their projects.

 

I'm not sure about the Crowne Plaza conversion, but you are right about the Flats East Bank project using this funding tool.

 

Flats East Bank project receives $20 million from foreign investors

 

How long does the visa last after the initial investment?

 

According to the article I posted above, the investors and their immediate family members (spouses and children) receive a green card for two years, after which time they receive permanent residency, but only if the initial $500,000 investment has created at least 10 jobs.

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

I believe we have. If I remember correctly, flats east bank and the crowne plaza hotel to Westin conversion both relied on the program for some funding to their projects.

 

I'm not sure about the Crowne Plaza conversion, but you are right about the Flats East Bank project using this funding tool.

 

Flats East Bank project receives $20 million from foreign investors

 

Here is what I was thinking:

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/10/crowne_plaza_in_downtown_cleve.html?mobRedir=false

 

This was right when the hotel was announced, though. I don't know if that's still part of the funding package given the indictment of Eddy Zai. Nonetheless, the program was tapped.

vermont is taking advantage of an underused immigration program --

 

uncle sam gives green cards to immigrants who invest $500k.

 

the cleve could take better advantage of that too:

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/us/31vermont.html?hp&_r=0

 

I believe we have. If I remember correctly, flats east bank and the crowne plaza hotel to Westin conversion both relied on the program for some funding to their projects.

 

I'm not sure about the Crowne Plaza conversion, but you are right about the Flats East Bank project using this funding tool.

 

Flats East Bank project receives $20 million from foreign investors

 

How long does the visa last after the initial investment?

 

According to the article I posted above, the investors and their immediate family members (spouses and children) receive a green card for two years, after which time they receive permanent residency, but only if the initial $500,000 investment has created at least 10 jobs.

Including the jobs held by the immigrant family in the business, I presume. 

^How many wealthy Chinese investors do you think Fairmount and Wolstein have hired for FEB?  How many do you think even moved to Ohio? Yeesh, I get the skepticism, but you have some very strange views about China and immigrants, Erocc.

 

Just to close the loop on the Westin: someone from Cleveland International Fund actually took the time to create an account (screen name, "CLEEB5," in fact, which should appear less random now) to tell us that their money is still very much part of the project: see post 250 on http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,26395.245.html.  As reported by Cleveland.com, Cleveland International Fund survived Eddie Zai's criminal prosecution thanks to some creative arrangements by the court and CIF's other principles (Zai's issues did not relate to CIF).

 

Also, people should keep in mind that the EB-5 investors are still looking for the highest possible return.  Although smaller qualifying investments have to be in economically troubles areas, investments over $1M can be anywhere in the country.  Plus, as the Times reported a year ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/nyregion/new-york-developers-take-advantage-of-financing-for-visas-program.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0), local officials sometimes draw zones creatively to bring even the targeted investments to big ticket markets.  All to say, it's not simply a matter of Cleveland chasing after this source of investment -- the underlying economics of projects still have to compete against the rest of the country.