The Credit Crunch is Crippling Cleveland
November 12, 2008
The Plain Dealer publishes my letter to its Letters Unlimited blog:
Cleveland's urban renewal efforts, most of which were scheduled to begin coming to life around 2011, may now be delayed for years, if not canceled altogether. People like me, who might have been willing to wait it out for Cleveland's long-anticipated urban renewal, are losing patience and confidence.
The credit crunch, combined with Cleveland's lackluster leadership, is making the city increasingly less attractive relative to its competitors. To begin, the city of Cleveland has been acting, more or less, very anti-business over the past years and decades, and the impact has more than caught up to them. As companies move to suburbs like Beachwood and Independence, more and more people lose the incentive to live in the urban core. Even if people prefer the city to the suburbs, reverse commuting is absolutely not what urban living is all about. On top of that, developments like the Flats East Bank and the Warehouse District were meant to bring new residents and businesses into the city - without them, Cleveland will probably gain few of either.
Members of my generation aren't spending their seniors years of college dreaming about graduating and launching their careers in places like White Plains, NY, Northbrook, IL, or McLean, VA. Similarly, I'd be hard-pressed to find many who can't wait to start the next stage of their life in Beachwood or Westlake, OH. The difference, of course, is that New York City, Chicago, and Washington, among other cities, are already well along the process of urban renewal, and it isn't surprising that they are attracting young people at healthy rates, while leadership in Northeast Ohio sits around scratching their heads and wondering why brain drain has become such a problem.
The damage may already be done. If the credit crunch successfully freezes development across the nation, then it won't matter if Cleveland's leadership suddenly "gets it" because the ability to make things happen will already be out of their hands.
The credit crunch could not have hit Cleveland at a worse time. Michelle Jarboe's recent front-page feature, reporting that Cleveland's commercial development projects may come to a grinding halt, given the current economic conditions, is extremely disheartening to those who have been holding out hope that Cleveland's urban renewal may soon move from a dream to a reality.Since I submitted the letter about a month ago, some of the fears have already been realized. Two weeks ago the Plain Dealer reported that Wolstein's Flats East Bank Project is being put on hold as credit is unavailable to finance the development. Today, news broke that Bob Stark is pulling out of his proposed Warehouse District development, leaving disgusting surface lots to dominate some of Cleveland's most valuable downtown real-estate. How many more projects the credit crunch will topple like dominoes is still to be determined, but we certainly are not off to a good start.
The credit crunch is a nationwide phenomenon that may affect every city across America; but it puts some, including Cleveland, in an especially precarious situation. Cities that got ahead of the curve, and have already made great progress renewing their core urban areas and gentrifying previously decaying neighborhoods, will become relatively stronger and more attractive compared to cities that have not. Unfortunately, a crippling of development may confirm Cleveland as a less-than-desirable city for many who are seeking exciting and walkable urban communities.
Cleveland's urban renewal efforts, most of which were scheduled to begin coming to life around 2011, may now be delayed for years, if not canceled altogether. People like me, who might have been willing to wait it out for Cleveland's long-anticipated urban renewal, are losing patience and confidence.
The credit crunch, combined with Cleveland's lackluster leadership, is making the city increasingly less attractive relative to its competitors. To begin, the city of Cleveland has been acting, more or less, very anti-business over the past years and decades, and the impact has more than caught up to them. As companies move to suburbs like Beachwood and Independence, more and more people lose the incentive to live in the urban core. Even if people prefer the city to the suburbs, reverse commuting is absolutely not what urban living is all about. On top of that, developments like the Flats East Bank and the Warehouse District were meant to bring new residents and businesses into the city - without them, Cleveland will probably gain few of either.
Members of my generation aren't spending their seniors years of college dreaming about graduating and launching their careers in places like White Plains, NY, Northbrook, IL, or McLean, VA. Similarly, I'd be hard-pressed to find many who can't wait to start the next stage of their life in Beachwood or Westlake, OH. The difference, of course, is that New York City, Chicago, and Washington, among other cities, are already well along the process of urban renewal, and it isn't surprising that they are attracting young people at healthy rates, while leadership in Northeast Ohio sits around scratching their heads and wondering why brain drain has become such a problem.
The damage may already be done. If the credit crunch successfully freezes development across the nation, then it won't matter if Cleveland's leadership suddenly "gets it" because the ability to make things happen will already be out of their hands.
