Lets Be Positive, But Let's Not Overdo It...

I like Cleveland plenty. I enjoy the Metroparks probably more than most and I regularly drive 150 miles in a weekend to take advantage of the various things Cleveland has to offer -- live music, restaurants, clubs, sports, you name it, I'm willing to try it out. I'm in probably the most active MeetUp group ever and we are always doing stuff outside. So, no one can call me a couch potato. That being said, in the 13 years I have lived here Cleveland, things have come a long way but this city still has a hell of a long way to go.

I have lived in Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, Boone (NC), Vail, and Cleveland. I have traveled to Europe twice, Australia, the Caribbean islands, Canada, and have been in almost every US state at least once. I would like to think I have a decent knowledge base from which to draw from and to compare what Cleveland has to offer:

Cleveland ranks better for young professionals than Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, Tampa. (In what? Cheap housing in the ghetto and family pyramid gigs?)

Best place raise a family. I can get behind that.

Cleveland in top 20% for best cities for outdoors. I'm OK with that, too.

The 2003–2005 average growth rate in the number of Ohio venture capital firms is 3.1%'''. What is the post 2005 growth rate? Probably a huge negative percentage. More closed up businesses every time I turn around.

Cleveland listed above Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Orlando, Minneapolis-St. Paul, for "Hot Cities" list. No one is going to buy this one. I was at the Ingenuity Fest... if Ingenuity was held anywhere else, it would be mobbed with people. I went Friday night and the turn out was decent. I talked it up to some friends and took them back down Saturday night. There was at least 50% less people there during prime time on Saturday night. This city just does not get it. It is now, and will always be, a blue collar, working-class town in a world where many blue collars and working-classers live at a poverty level of income. Cleveland peaked before the 1940's and has been in decline ever since.

JumpStart is on their top 100 VC Firms list. Aren't most of the companies they own outside of Ohio?

Cleveland Clinic is ranked #1 in heart care for the last 14 years and has grown by 25% in the last 3 years. Ohio is always in the top three for obesity in the US. No kidding. We'd better have a good heart center.

RTA is best public transportation system in the US. Come on now -- that's going way too far here. They may have a good rating from whomever does that sort of thing, but no one uses it. Anytime I take the bus, it's practically empty.

See? It's easy to pick a list like this apart while offering no solutions. This town has dragged it's feet too long, while the West and East coasts absorbed all our businesses, best students, etc.

I'm a vegan, by the way. When I first moved here, my options on eating out were usually french fries or a crappy iceberg lettuce salad. There are a hell of a lot more options to eat out around here these days. But even the best restaurants in the city usually do not offer one vegetarian option on their menus -unless you count the french fries or salad. Thankfully we have great Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Mongolian, and other ethnic food options.

Next time you are at another city in a decent restaurant check out the menu -- almost always a vegetarian option, even in steak houses in Washington, DC. Why isn't that on the menu here? No one will order it!

The one shining light for vegetarians? VegeTerranean in Akron. Wins my vote for the best vegetarian restaurant in the country ever (even beats Paul Newman's restaurant in Hollywood!). How is it reviewed in the local press? It's called average, and [the press] slams Chrissy Hynde for saying she "built a restaurant in Akron so she would have a place to eat when she comes to visit". Sorry that hurt your feelings Akron, but it's true. I don't eat out there, either.

So what can we do to fix this city? Stop putting up bank branches on every corner, somehow get people to eat somewhere other than Applebee's or TGIFridays. When they do eat somewhere else, get them to order something different than BBQ chicken wings or a steak. You don't have to eat tofu -- this is a free country -- but damnit, try something else!

Enough of my manifesto. Keep that weekly email coming -- things like Cool Cleveland are what will improve this city.

From Cool Cleveland reader J. Norris cle.insurance.recruiterATgmail.com

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