Cleveland Industry

While on the trip you could see that in one area of Cleveland it looks like no one even could live there or even care about it, then another area has shiny huge buildings that show there is some life in the city. While at the Cleveland Port we were told several times about how the port hasn't had as much business this year due to the economy. Cleveland way back when was the place to be because of all the steel factories and other industries that existed there. Unfortunately most have moved away. Entire Industries have either moved to different sates or have died off completely.

One of my ideas as to why Cleveland has been slower to rebound then other industrial cities is that when a city like Cleveland has its downfall, most of the people don't stay there. They move to other places, other major Cities. Well those other large cities now have people that are living there and those cities are doing well. Cleveland I feel just has a lack of people and a lack of people that trust that their city to do well and make a rebound.

What encouraged me as we toured Cleveland today (haha...was like a week ago now) was even though we passed some buildings that looked run down and probably vacant, there were some buildings that had been restored and looked to be new and full of people. My biggest concern with Cleveland's revitalization is that with many businesses struggling to keep afloat that there will be less momentum to revitalize Cleveland. In the next 30 some years I don't know if I can visualize anything other then different historic landmarks and places of interest along the Cuyahoga river.

The Cuyahoga valley helps to connect both Akron and Cleveland by being a medium between the two. Yes Akron and Cleveland are completely different cities but have similar histories and started in similar ways. But on a side note, thinking back I don't recall any mention of Akron during the Cleveland trip. Yes I know the focus was on Cleveland but if they were connected in a huge way wouldn't there be more talk of it? What we lack to be able to compete with other metropolitan centers is people hear the city Cleveland and think of how it is one of the poorest cities in the US and don't really look into the city and what its doing to attempt to rebound.

All in all I really enjoyed this trip, got to see things like a guided tour of a steel mill and the port which most people will never get to see. And even though Cleveland may have alot of troubles, it shows hope to rebuild and come back as a great city, just takes time.

--
Fosch!