A Post Grad Appreciates the Sixth City Known as Cleveland
Part Two of a Series

OK, this might come off as a little harsh -- maybe even as tough love. But I'm only saying this because I love Cleveland and I want to see the city prosper. The old adage, "This is going to hurt me just as much as it hurts you," is definitely at play here, so try not to get mad or defensive and stop reading after reading the next couple of paragraphs. Those three attraction items from last week that I wrote about mean absolutely nothing if I don't address this issue first:

Here's the thing about Cleveland that a lot of Clevelanders might not want to admit... those "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism" videos you've seen/heard about on YouTube? Well, they're more fact than fiction. We can praise and defend our city all we want but the reality is, they wouldn't smart so much if there wasn't some shred of truth to them.

The truth is Cleveland is becoming a vibrant city again. At the same time there are more than enough friendly reminders around Cleveland as to why we are still referred to as "The Mistake on the Lake" by some simple-minded media types (a portion of whom are at least one time zone away and haven't visited here in years).

The good news is recently Cleveland was recently ranked fifth among all U.S. cities for new college graduates by CNN and CareerBuilder.com. And there is no denying companies in the arts and entertainment industry, in the environmental industry, and in the science and technology industry are relocating to Cleveland. That’s how we are attracting more young adults the city.

The bad news is that I think we are so happy things are actually looking good in Cleveland for a change we aren’t willing to ask this very tough question: Are companies/young adults moving here because Cleveland is truly on the rise and they want to establish territory before others hop on the bandwagon? Or are they moving here because of the economy and because Cleveland is a reasonably priced big city where they can make money and live reasonably well until the economy turns around?

Now here’s the really good news: we don’t have to answer that. All we have to do is make sure by the time the economy does turn around, that no one wants to leave. We have to look at the city of Cleveland like an investor looks at a company’s stock. What investments can we make in our city to show the world Cleveland is for real and our stock isn’t rising as a result of smoke and mirrors?

Make Ed Begley, Jr. Go Into a Jealous Rage

I want to smash my head against a wall when I hear people talking about how expensive it is to "go green." Really? Let's say I told you I had a computer for sale that costs $3,000 more than your average computer. Now let's say I could guarantee you that this computer would never get a virus, would never crash, would never run out of memory, and would be just as viable as it is today as it would be 40 years from now.

Oh, and by the way, it would use one-tenth (or less) the amount of energy that your current desktop computer does.

You would have to be insane to say, “No thanks, I’d rather pay less now and continue to pump out thousands of dollars for a new computer every three years.” We need to realize as taxpayers that if we put a little more money upfront into green technology, we will be paying substantially less in the long run.

It starts with baby steps and maximum energy savings first -- things that impact the "triple bottom line" that environmentally conscious folks talk about almost immediately.. changing incandescent light bulbs over to LED bulbs, replacing with CFLs and turning off lights when they aren’t in use; weatherproofs buildings; waterless urinals; urban gardens on rooftops; solar panels and the like. Basically, everything that we can do ahead of green tech innovations, we should be doing.

We also need to think outside the box when it comes to our roads. I don’t understand why we continue to use the same crappy asphalt on our roads we have been using since the 1950’s. Instead of repaving every road, every spring, why don’t we use this stuff called HiMA (high-modulus asphalt). Not only is it better for the environment but it last thirty to forty years but here’s the kicker; Europe has been using this stuff since the 1980’s! Yet we continue to use lower-grade asphalt because our thinking is, “Well HiMA costs more.” Well it only costs more if you discount the fact the lower-grade asphalt needs replaced after every winter.

We've got manufacturing expertise here in Cleveland. We could put it to good use and start manufacturing this new road material here...? Along with wind turbines, solar panels and other critical green tech items.

The biggest thing we need to do is to stop polarizing Green technologies as strictly environmental issues. It's as much a business concern as it is environmental and when democrats and republicans realize that money can be made and saved by individuals and businesses -- alongside the saving of the environment and the local economy -- there may be nothing left to fight over.

We need to turn it into a commonsense money issue; if we can get out in front of green technologies as a city and a region, all of the naysayers will wake up one day and realize that leprechauns and fairies won't be building and installing these innovative new products. It will be native Clevelanders.

Finally we need to realize that if we pony up now, the money we will save in the future really will go a long way to improving our city. We will be able to hire more teachers, refurbish schools, update textbooks, cleanup post-industrial waste and eye sores, develop new tourist attractions and lower taxes in the process.

If You Clean It; They Will Come

You can install a high-def stereo and plush seats. You can toss on a new coat of paint, and put 20" chrome rims on a 1987 Ford Tempo... but that doesn’t change the fact it’s still a 1987 Ford Tempo. The same can be said for Lake Erie. We can renovate the docks and throw-up new housing developments and talk big about revitalizing the waterfront for greater access and usability. But none of that changes the fact you have a better chance of getting a staph infection from swimming in the lake than you do playing for the Browns. Or that you are better off eating out of a dumpster than a fish out of the lake.

The bottom line is that Cleveland can’t move forward as a city until Lake Erie is a clean(er) one.

This is another issue that is as economic as it is environmental issue. Why does lakefront property appear to be coveted the way it is. It certainly costs a lot more money. Why do people prefer to vacation at places that have a beach? Well it’s not because people like staring at the water. It’s because people like doing things in the water. People love to swim, fish, Jet Ski, scuba dive, snorkel, and surf. They also love all the things associated with a beach... like a boardwalk that offers restaurants, bars, boat cruises, live entertainment, and artsy shops.

Now, I want you to grab that can next to your desk and pull it close... because you might get sick reading this next bit. I want you to ponder all the revenue and industrial opportunities we have lost over the years because of our water and our lakefront. Every time I visit Chicago and walk down Navy Pier, I shake my head in disbelief. Every time I’m there all I can think of is how easily Cleveland could be every bit as viable as Chicago for being a young adult, vacation and business destination. That is, of course, assuming Lake Erie was as clean as Lake Michigan.

It makes me think about Milwaukee and Toronto similarly.

Call me crazy, but I wonder why we don’t we take all the federal stimulus money that might be allotted to us and put it all towards cleaning up Lake Erie? We can pump money into all sorts of different projects or we can realize the potential of this one project. We can either pray on a hundred different long shots or we can bank on the sure thing. The way I see it, a clean Lake Erie will have a ripple effect on not only the economy of Cleveland but also on the quality of living throughout the city.

Having a clean lake means more people will want to live on the lake and play in it and near it. This means more work for people in construction and for people who work in industries that rely on construction. Which means more people moving to Cleveland, which means more companies moving to Cleveland, which will bring more job opportunities. And, naturally, this means more people with disposable income, to spend for more entertainment... all of which will bring in millions upon millions of sales and tax revenue, allowing Cleveland to effectively take care of other problems facing the city.

It's not Chaos Theory, or even rocket science. It's just good common sense.

Let Dan Be the Man

The final thing Cleveland needs to do is to attract more young adults and companies to the city. And that's as much a way of thinking (or an approach, if you will) as it is any actual planning (see above). I have no clue how to implement such a way of thinking, but I have an idea: let's ask Dan Gilbert. City Council should be tossing money at Gilbert as a consultant for city planning. Yeah, there's a little bit of self-service there, but it makes sense and I'll tell you why:

This past November, I was watching a Cleveland Cavaliers game. Owner Dan Gilbert was sitting in with the Cavs' announcers Fred McLeod and Austin Carr. I expected Gilbert to come off as a typical out-of-touch corporate billionaire -- nothing more than some rich guy who considered a NBA franchise like a status symbol, much like having a yacht -- but none of this came to pass. We didn't see or hear him promote Quicken Loans or marvel in what he has done for the city of Cleveland and for its basketball fans. Instead this happened -- he spent ten straight minutes aksing the announcers questions about how he could improve as an owner.

Seriously? Yeah.

I sat in awe for those ten minutes as he asked McLeod and Carr things like, “How do the fans like the alternative retro jerseys we introduced? Do they like them or do they think it’s a little too much? What are you hearing from the fans about the ticket prices? I’ve been noticing a lot of signs with Austin Carr phrases; do you think the fans would like t-shirts with some of the phrases on it? What have you been hearing from the fans about what they would like to see the Cavs do differently?”

For the first time in Cleveland, we had an owner who didn’t follow the Cleveland Browns' business model of, It doesn’t matter how bad the team is each year because we can still make millions off the Cleveland brand. Gilbert knows he can make a fortune off of Cavs fans even if the supporting cast from Teen Wolf was on the court with LeBron James. But Gilbert is not stupid. He knows there is a lot more money to be made if he gives the people what they want, listens to them, and puts out an above-average product -- no matter what the initial start-up costs might be.

And that’s the main reason why the city of Cleveland needs his help.

Gilbert’s way of thinking basically comes down to this; “I’m going to try this. If it works, I’m going to get feedback and figure out what I can do to build on it. If it doesn’t work, I’m getting feedback to figure out why and improve it or make sure I don’t make a similar mistake in the future. Either way, my overall goal isn’t to make a million dollars on this endeavor. It’s to figure out what works so I can make million on the next and ten million on the one after that.”

Like I mentioned before, he isn’t banking on us to be dumb enough to believe that something like how ShamWow is such a "great" product, that if we call now we can get nine more at no additional cost.

He’s banking on us buying his product because it works and it is what we asked for.

The more I think about it, maybe city council doesn’t need to throw money at Gilbert to be an independent consultant. I’m sure it couldn’t hurt. After all, the average person doesn’t create a company at age 22 that will one day allow him to afford a NBA franchise unless he knows how to make money. Maybe all the city of Cleveland needs to do is to start thinking like him.

We need to realize our “ride it out” ways of fiscal thinking is the reason why we aren’t as bad off as Detroit. But it will also be the reason why Cleveland will still be Cleveland once the national economy turns around.

That is, unless we realize the potential of spending money while it’s cheap (federal stimulus money) on expensive projects we otherwise would never be able to afford (like green technology and a clean Lake Erie) that will bring more people, more opportunities and ultimately more revenue to Cleveland. Let's try bringing back an old positive stereotype associated with Cleveland: "America’s 6th City, where dreams begin."

From Cool Cleveland contributor Jeff Biasella jeffbiasellaATyahoo.com
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