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Whats Cleveland's deal?

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Started 10 months ago by buckeye54
Latest reply from Rastapasta

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cleveland

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buckeye54

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I'm sure by now some of you may have seen the yahoo list that rates columbus as the number four place in the US for a good job and cheap housing. These lists aren't new and while its great to see columbus on there you always have to take it with a grain of salt.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-Places-With-Good-Jobs-And-investopedia-2472407409.html

Anyways, I was reading some of the comments(I know big mistake!) and was amazed by how many people from cleveland were dumping on columbus. Yelling about annexation policies, lack of culture, calling us a cowtown,and so on and so forth. After the whole thing with Michael Ruhlman and Bourdain I'm beggining to wonder what Cleveland's deal is? If this were just idiots on a message board I would completely forget about it but based on my travels for work I really have only heard people from cleveland really dump on columbus. I mean not joking around but mean spirited your town sucks kind of comments.

As someone who is a diehard browns fans,whos mom and cousins are from cleveland and whos wifes family still lives there I am suprised about the venom I have been hearing the last few years. It seems like I know more about whats going on in cleveland then the people I meet through work but they still seem to like to take pot shots at their friendly neighbor to the south.

So what do you think the deal is? I understand cleveland has recieved some bad publicity over the years,some fair some unfair,but it certainly is not columbus doing it. In fact I really can't think of a time when someone I know from columbus said anything negative about cleveland, except for sports. Is cleveland jealous? Are they snobs? (I understand this is a broad generalization) I guess I've never heard anyone from cincy or indianapolis dump on our fair city. I understand there are rivalrys between ohios cities but this kind of talk isn't friendly competition and really does nothing but damages the states image in my opinion.

So whats your thought? Am I overblowing this whole situation(possibly) or is there really a inferiority/superiority complex with some people in cleveland?

Posted 10 months ago #
colrex7
Ohio
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Well, I live in cincinnati currently and I get the same thing. A few times when I mentioned that I'm from Columbus, or I mention something good about Columbus, the person gives me a look like they don't know where Columbus is. Honestly, it used to bother me.. But now I don't care. Because Columbus is cool for how it is and if somebody doesn't like it it's either because they are insecure about the city they live in, or they legitimately don't like it, which is fine.

But most often when I mention Columbus, people will comment that it's a cool and fun city. I find that there are always overly proud people in every city, who will hate on other places that make them feel threatened or something.

So to answer your question, I don't think Cleveland people hate on Columbus anymore than any other place. It might just be the people you know. Because most people I know from Cleveland like Columbus a lot.

But let me just say that all 3C cities in Ohio are unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses. Love each one because they have something great to offer. Thats what I think.

Posted 10 months ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
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That's nothing, if you want real snobbishness go to Boston and tell them you're from the midwest.

Posted 10 months ago #
anillo
Marzipan City
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Honestly, while I don't appreciate people being snobby about anything, it wouldn't hurt if people from Columbus had more loud pride about being from Columbus.

Posted 10 months ago #
Silver Bezel

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Analogue Kid said:
That's nothing, if you want real snobbishness go to Boston and tell them you're from the midwest.

boston is by far the rudest city i've been to in the US.....NYC doesn't even compare. Bostonians are just bitter pricks with a chip on their shoulder for no apparent reason. It's a shame too, as I love history and all that Boston has to offer in that regard. But thats all cancelled out by what shitbags its inhabitants are.

Posted 10 months ago #
jpizzow
580 N. Park St.
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They're jealous.

Posted 10 months ago #
MichaelC
Short North
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Inferiority complex.

Cleveland was once once one of the great American cities. That it has been lapped by Columbus is of great consternation to many Clevelanders--at least, those that have remained. It's a city with huge potential, and it is slowly beginning to reclaim its past glory. It will learn to love and appreciate its state capitol, just as we'll learn how to be as proud of being from Columbus as they are to be from the Cleve.

Cleveland has some excellent restaurants, unique cultural neighborhoods, a world-class symphony, an excellent museum, and one of the best hospitals in the world. It has much that Columbus can't offer (a lake), and yet it is fallen on hard times that it is still overcoming. Columbus will be better with a strong Cleveland, and vice versa. But its residents dumping on Columbus won't do anything to change Cleveland for the better.

Posted 10 months ago #
ZHC
101 East Main Street, Downtown
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MichaelC said:
Inferiority complex.

Cleveland was once once one of the great American cities. That it has been lapped by Columbus is of great consternation to many Clevelanders--at least, those that have remained. It's a city with huge potential, and it is slowly beginning to reclaim its past glory. It will learn to love and appreciate its state capitol, just as we'll learn how to be as proud of being from Columbus as they are to be from the Cleve.

Cleveland has some excellent restaurants, unique cultural neighborhoods, a world-class symphony, an excellent museum, and one of the best hospitals in the world. It has much that Columbus can't offer (a lake), and yet it is fallen on hard times that it is still overcoming. Columbus will be better with a strong Cleveland, and vice versa. But its residents dumping on Columbus won't do anything to change Cleveland for the better.

+1 think you've nailed it.

Posted 10 months ago #
Schoolboy
Columbus
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I honestly only hear love for Columbus from both Cleveland and Cinci on my frequent visits. There does seem to be more hometown pride in Cleveland than possibly even here in Columbus. Try opening a conversation with some praise towards their city first. It has never failed me no matter where I have visited.

Never been to Boston or Ann Arbor though. Oh, and if you are in Florida Gator college football land... pretend you don't even follow college football.

Posted 10 months ago #
NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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ZHC said:
+1 think you've nailed it.

+1 Same here. Also worth noting: Cleveland was once Ohio's most populous city and #3 in the Midwest behind Chicago and Detroit. Cleveland's losing its most populous city in Ohio status to Columbus during the 1990 Census was a particularly ignominious moment for the city, and one that still fuels a lot of the ire and jealousy that gets misdirected at Columbus.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, they never had the equivalent of Columbus' Mayor Jack Sensenbrenner who foresaw the long term pivotal significance in forcing would-be suburbs into annexation at faucet-point. Sensenbrenner's foresight is why Columbus today has managed to grow to pretty much dominate and even landlock many of its suburbs like Worthington, Upper Arlington, Bexley and Grandview Heights while remaining in control of its own destiny on all sides, while Cleveland has itself been landlocked and dominated by multiple rings of now similarly struggling burbs, hence part of the palpable vibe of ill-fatedness and being out of control that seems to pervade even the very mention of its name.

The real issue here, however, is not with Columbus, but Cleveland's own political shortsightedness and mismanagement over several decades. Clevelanders may be jealous of Columbus for what it has managed to accomplish while their city languishes on the shit list with Detroit and several other once thriving industrial powerhouse cities that lost the plot somewhere along the way. It probably also doesn't help much that even Cleveland's sister city/arch rival Pittsburgh seems to be faring somewhat better lately. Misery loves company, but there's not a lot of that to go around in Pittsburgh these days.

As MichaelC said, there are still many things to be proud of in Cleveland. The real way forward there, however, probably involves a lot less worrying over what other cities are doing while focusing upon creating some kind of true regional governance that puts the central city back in driver's seat and eliminates the feuding and business poaching between the city and its suburbs. IMHO, there is plenty of room for two and even three big cites to thrive and prosper in Ohio. Columbus needs Cleveland and Cincinnati to do well in order for Columbus to prosper and realize its full potential. Likewise, Cleveland should be looking to partner up with Columbus, Pittsburgh and even Cincinnati to re-establish the type of economic network that once propelled it and the rest of the Rust Belt to greatness.

Posted 10 months ago #
anillo
Marzipan City
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Maybe we should build a train between the three major cities in Ohio, to help us all prosper.

Posted 10 months ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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Cleveland? That's like Akron right?

Posted 10 months ago #
joev
Merion Village
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I've never heard angst/jealousy coming from Clevelanders toward Columbus. But I have heard it coming from Cincinnatians toward everyone else on Planet Earth.

Posted 10 months ago #
chaptal
West Side
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anillo said:
Honestly, while I don't appreciate people being snobby about anything, it wouldn't hurt if people from Columbus had more loud pride about being from Columbus.

No way, then we'd start sounding like people from Chicago.

Posted 10 months ago #
drew

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I've experienced this odd reflexive dislike for Columbus by Clevelanders enough to think of it as a distinct phenomenon. What I find most glaringly odd about it is that, to the extent that there's any sort of conversation to be had, LeBron is almost invariably mentioned... as though this very important issue needs to be dealt with swiftly to preempt an impending critique. As if I'd ever think it relevant!

It's a small detail, but to my mind very telling.

Posted 10 months ago #
somebuckeye
Franklin Park
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Maybe Cleveland should annex Parma.

Posted 10 months ago #
colrex7
Ohio
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In most states there tends to be one primary city that is 'the' city to go to and be the dominant urban center. In Ohio...not so much. There are three equally prominent cities. This inferiority complex and city bashing may also revolve around that each city wants to be the "primary" city for Ohio. Maybe.

Posted 10 months ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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I can't think of any place that experiences more bitter disappointment than they do in Cleveland. It's been that way for a long time. So long that it seems to be some source of pride. There is much history and the people that stick around up there are loyal. Hopeful that greatness is just around the corner.

I think Clevelanders are sick of hearing about other cities being success stories because they always fall short.

Personally, I love Cleveland and I'm from there, but I could only handle so much misery.

Posted 10 months ago #
JeffD3

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As someone who loves Cleveland, I think a lot about what's been said regarding an "inferiority complex" is spot-on, but I wish there was a way to say it that wasn't condescending. I increasingly hear a lot a nice things about Columbus regarding quality of life, jobs, etc. (a lot like a Midwestern Austin, actually). However, Cleveland has the more name recognition and gets a lot of uninformed negative press because of it's downturn and pro-teams, and it's downtown doesn't really compare to Columbus (though that might be changing if they build around Browns stadium like they've been talking). People in the media treat Cleveland like a punching bag, whereas when Columbus get's brought up, it's usually along the lines of "Y'know, it's actually pretty nice." I hope it lets up, bc I think Cleveland rules, and it's definitely OSU territory, but there's definitively a tinge of (unnecessary) jealousy

Posted 10 months ago #
Sandersen
In the salt lake
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Silver Bezel said:
boston is by far the rudest city i've been to in the US.....NYC doesn't even compare. Bostonians are just bitter pricks with a chip on their shoulder for no apparent reason. It's a shame too, as I love history and all that Boston has to offer in that regard. But thats all cancelled out by what shitbags its inhabitants are.

Hm. As someone who grew up in Cambridge, Boston excuse me for pointing out that you clearly don't know what the fuck you are talking about.

It also sounds like you have quite the chip yourself resting on your shoulders....is this some sort of overcompensation for being ashamed you live in Columbus?

Posted 10 months ago #