Cleveland Revisited (And um... still visiting...)

I've been continually revisiting Cleveland for the past three months now, as I've let myself fall behind my research schedule. /sighs at self/

Anyway... Cleveland is my hometown, and fortunately, I grew up in a town that doesn't drive people away in droves. Well, yeah, they tend to leave in droves because the jobs are heading out of town. But people don't leave because it's a crappy place to live. And in large measure, it's a nice place to live because the people here are pretty friendly and down-to-earth.

Example: Mom and I went to the Cleveland International Film Festival yesterday. The walk from the parking garage to the movie theaters is pretty convoluted, especially when you need to add elevators to the route, as we did. I swear, at least 8 people along the way asked if we needed help finding our way. Some of them even stopped other people to ask for help, so it felt like we were escorted the whole way by guides pointing out our path. Another example: I tend to smile and nod as I pass strangers on the street, but around here, most people beat me to it, usually with a “hello” as well. I have noticed one downside, which is that not everyone seems very aware of current events, even really big things that dominate the news for a whole week. Not everyone is out of touch, but it seems to be more than in, say, Washington, D.C. This latter observation isn't a big deal, but I notice it.

I also have many friends in the area, and of course, my mom and dad live in Cleveland. So I wouldn't have to worry about building a social network, although I expect I'll be able to make more friends fairly easily anyway.

Despite the photos in this blog post, which I took on my walk today, I will have to rank Cleveland somewhere in the middle when it comes to looking good. Mostly, I think Cleveland suffers from interesting architecture in either its homes or in most of its skyline. Now, there are a large number of individual buildings that are quite attractive (the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, the art museum, a whole bunch of Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches), but the city sort of lacks cohesion. Ditto with the homes: There are a lot of old homes with character (which I like), but they seem to be outnumbered by 1950s development type homes and 1980s pre-mini-mansion type homes. The town doesn't look awful, but it could look a little better.

The landscape is decent, though. Cleveland is right on the lake (I could see it if I walked down to the corner and stood on a chair). There's plenty of green, mostly because Cleveland lacks a large swath of dense urban landscape. And the Metroparks, a sprawling green ring that circles the county for like 60 miles (and which you've seen in at least one of my noon photos) is accessible from all over, providing bike paths, fitness courses, nature walks, a river, golf courses and horseback riding. So nature is very close. The whole west side of Cleveland is pretty flat, as it is the very start of the Great Plains. The east side is gentle hills, being the very edge of the Allegheny Mountains.

Things I think I'd like about Cleveland:

• It's a really easy town to live in. As a friend once describe, if you decide you want to go to a movie, you can be out of the house and in your seat in 20 minutes. Because driving is easy, parking is easy, there won't be a line at the theater, you don't have to travel forever to get to the place, etc. And this example can be repeated all over town. If I want a massage or a dentist checkup, there's usually a space available the next day; no waiting a week or a month for an appointment. In other than the absolute best or trendiest restaurants, there is never a wait. (Exception: Out in the suburbs where there aren't enough places to eat and everyone clamors for the culinary delights of places like Chili's.) And the cost of living is reasonable, which adds to its feel of an “easy” place to live.
• Lots of friends here, and my parents. Friends for fun and laughter, parents for company and for that kind of help that I'm usually only comfortable asking from family. Plus, one of these years my parents will be old (not yet, mom and dad!), and it would be nice for them to have a daughter nearby to keep an eye on them or help with the heavy lifting.
• For most of the year, the weather. I like all four seasons, which it has. I like snow, which it has. I like cloudy, which it is. Long and cold winters will start to wear on me, but I think I can accept that trade-off for three other nice seasons.

Things I think I'd dislike about Cleveland:

• From what I can tell, Cleveland's economy is not completely in the dump. Not like, say, Detroit. Hell, it doesn't even have the worst unemployment of the 11 cities on my list! But Cleveland's economy usually takes a dive before the country overall, and can be slower to bounce back. And so much of the industrial base that was here between WWII and the 1990s is gone or diminished. Some of that has been replaced with new industries, like healthcare. But I think it's bad for the city that there is a no robust and stationary industry that actually makes things.
• Speaking of economy... Not sure what kind of job I can get around here. I knew from the start that in most places I went, I wouldn't be able to work in the field of commodities regulation, and that's OK. But can I get something in legal field at all? I am open to new fields, but I'd prefer to choose something new, not be forced into something new due to lack of jobs.
• Winter has the potential to really suck.

Five months of this could really suck.