Laura Putre served as columnist for Cleveland's Scene magazine before moving to Chicago to take over the Editor job at the Chicago Journal. She's selling her Cleveland home (see listing below), and she commented on the differences between Chicago and Cleveland.
For the past year and a half, I've been the editor of the Chicago Journal, a weekly newspaper covering the city's South Loop, West Loop, and Near West Side neighborhoods.(Our website, http://www.chicagojournal.com, is in the middle of a relaunch and should be current by the end of October.)
I've also written for the Chicago Reader while I've been here. I live on the periphery of a neighborhood called Ukrainian Village with my husband, Richard, who teaches English at a community college in Skokie, and our dog Ernie, who works full-time as a dog.
Although I love Cleveland, it's beneficial for me, to broaden my perspective by living and working in a bigger city. Things happen so fast here--neighborhoods take six months to gentrify, rather than ten years. A few short months ago, I could sit at my window and watch all the buildings across the street being rehabbed or torn down and rebuilt. Now the sort of people who buy $600,000 luxury condos have already moved in. It's good in the sense that all the construction means there's still plenty of money in this town and the economy here is still quite diverse. And it's bad in the sense that the zoning is quite lax--meaning that some ridiculous non-conforming monstrosities get built--and middle-income folks are hard-pressed to find decent housing in the city. I went to the fall art walk in the Pilsen neighborhood last weekend, and I have to say, I wasn't impressed. There are artists working in Tremont, and/or showing at SPACES, who definitely have more to offer. This wasn't surprising to me; I think Cleveland has to be one of the best cities in the country for working artists because it's utterly affordable, is rich in history and landscape, and has an art scene that other, newer cities of its size can only envy. Now, if only Clevelanders would buy some art! I think one thing that's really helped Chicago is the infusion of new immigrants. The city enjoys a constant stream of people coming over from Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Central America. In fact, it now has the second largest Mexican population of any city in the country. Anybody who says we need tighter immigration laws in this country to boost the economy is dead wrong.
Other Chicago things that Cleveland doesn't have: lakefront; Millennium Park; major literary events with the likes of Denis Johnson, David Eggers, Alexander Hemon, Margaret Atwood, and Calvin Trillin all under the same tent; P.J. Harvey in concert (last week); about a hundred to-die-for Mexican restaurants.
Cleveland things that Chicago doesn't have: the Cinematheque (it takes three arts theaters here to make one John Ewing); the Beachland; the Metroparks (the Cook County Forest Preserve is primarily a place you go to hide a dead body or get attacked by wild dogs). Cleveland also had B-Ware Video, but sadly, that's no more.
A home in the city Live comfortably in the heart of the city. Lovely vintage two bath, four-bedroom colonial with two-car garage in the West Blvd. area. Recently remodeled. Finished basement, central air, all appliances. Large bedrooms; master bedroom has a walk-in closet. Hardwood floors, berber carpeting, marble foyer, landscaped front yard. Fenced backyard, vinyl siding. Ten minutes, and you're downtown. Listed at $129,900; call Armand Rossi at ERA-Lentz, 440-842-7171. (:divend:)