You would have to be a hermit to have not heard about the Forbes magazine article. They arbitrarily ranked Cleveland as the number one most miserable city in the nation. You can say what you want about me or my family, and I will ignore what you say about my friends, but I get pretty hot under the collar when you put down my city. Being a transplant here, I know the rest of the world. I chose to move here a decade ago, and Even though there have been some definite culture shocks, I have not been sorry. One of the best things about Cleveland and its citizens is seeing them rally-whether it is for something (like a bridge with pedestrian access on I-90) or against something (like closing churches).
I thought that when I wrote my thoughts on the Forbes magazine article that I would be alone in my ranting and singular in my disgust. To my surprise, there have been a grand assortment of responses! The Plain Dealer had an article by Phillip Morris. Blogs went crazy (whew, I’m not the only one!) and posted a host of rebuttals. Readers went off their rockers posting comments both for and against Cleveland and some said some very poignant and smart things. Responses were not limited to just Ohioans though. Texans even weighed in. My family has been here, and they didn’t have a bad thing to say about our town (and my family is not known for holding back). My favorite response was one I found late last night on a blog called Northcoast Lifestyle. Written by Kyle Roth, this blog just features cool things about Cleveland. He made beautiful montage of images from his flickr site come alive in a way that showed how cool Cleveland can be!
Be sure to view the whole montage at his blog site.
We Clevelanders are afunny lot in an “I can say it, but don’t you dare!” kind of way. When the Positively Cleveland held its hastily made tourism video contest, the response was overwhelming:
And we all laughed at the tongue in cheek response that ended with “at least we’re not Detroit!”
Clevelanders are a proud lot, and while we are first to say what is wrong with our city, we are first to come up with a possible solution. If you have ever been to any public meeting, then you know we are first to stand up and complain to city council about how we have too much crime, or not enough parking or even too much snow. But we also will quickly come up with a Facebook page that tells Forbes to flake off. Clevelanders are quick to respond, full of ideas (both good and bad), vocal in their opinions, and warm and caring about their neighbors, and proud of their town.
I guess I am home.
The final day, we created prototypes for our ideas. Some were thought out, and ready to go. Our team developed a prototype for a year-round facility where materials could be diverted from landfill and turned into resources for the community. The plan includes job creation, promoting the arts and the local economy, and job and art training. When I sat down on day 3, we seemed to know what to do. We built a prototype. It came together. We thought, this is a great idea. It needs to be done. Let’s do it. I have heard of things like this happening. Great minds come together and a deal is struck, or an idea formulated, or a company formed…all over coffee or a lunch. 
The idea for this summit was to get the juices flowing, to help form public policy, to help figure out how to help fuel this economic engine with renewable resources. How can we get the advanced energy center going? How can we attract the people who assemble wind turbines into the city? Where can we find the capital to get these ideas rolling? Cheer leading and appreciation is not to be discounted, but words mean little without the action. I challenged everyone in the room to figure out how to continue this work, to take their ideas to the next step. Since moving here in 2000, there has always been a lot of talk, but a lot less action. If we want to make big changes, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. We need to stop asking the government to bail us out and create our own future. This city is behind us, but the city can’t do it all. Without the true efforts of the business community, then how can we recreate a vibrant economy? It is business that creates jobs, careers, opportunities. This event was about Cleveland’s Green Economy. Don’t get me wrong, the environmental crisis is real. But this summit was not about the feel-good, save the planet. It was about rethinking Cleveland and making a change that can have economic impact as well as an environmental one.
We have spent most of the last week visiting various locations in central Ohio. Relatives from Kansas were visiting and we had a grand time showing them various things around Cleveland and Columbus. A lot of things were discussed about this great region that we live in. It was mentioned how lush and green Ohio was. Of all the things that were likely to come up, that is not one I was expecting. It is true, though. Perhaps that is why I find it so easy to live here. Like Portland, Oregon, Ohio is a pretty green state. There are plenty of trees and nice hills and foliage. Growing up in the windswept plains of central Kansas, I love to be near my trees. Another discussion, we had was the rich heritage that Ohio can claim. In the Victorian age, Ohio was a rich and the region very important. Just travel to any small town and see the quality of buildings that are till standing. Every town has a public square and and most a courthouse that rivals Cleveland. Nearly every small town we visited had a row of fine mansions that was the heart of the industrialists of the area. What can we do to bring this type of prosperity back to Ohio? Our attempts to reinvent the region as a new green economy could make all the difference.
This weekend the difference between Cleveland and Cleveland Heights was made glaringly obvious. I attended the Cain Park Art Fair. The park had recycling cans available throughout the area. Judging by their appearance, they have been serving the public for a while now. Moreover, the visitors and exhibitors alike were dutifully dropping their cans and bottles inside and I didn’t wee a single wadded up wrapper or paper make it in. That means the residents of Cleveland Heights know what they are doing. They have been schooled on at least the basics and they understand that a recycling program must be followed or it will not work. In contrast, if you put a recycling bin at nearly any Cleveland area event, and it is half full of garbage and dumped out anyhow.
This is a great event (more on this later, as well-I am trying to stay on topic). But for a Cleveland event that was based on ingenuity and new ideas, why could I not find a simple recycling bin for a water bottle ANYWHERE? The irony was not lost on me. Besides the vendors and their waste, I saw a lot of attendees looking around for their spot to dump their can and choosing the garbage-it wasn’t really a choice anyway. So for a city that is promoting ingenuity, we couldn’t be enough on the edge to even put out a recycle bin? More than that, we keep talking about a Green City on a Blue Lake, but we aren’t going to take the step of requiring permit holders for public events to even provide a single recycle bin? Now that is downright lazy if you ask me. So, here is my plan. I am attending the Cleveland Sustainability Summit in August. It is going to be a big deal. I request that everyone send their councilperson and the mayor a brief not asking them to start curbside recycling thorough out the city and to mandate public events permits issued with recycling bin requirements.
