According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Cleveland is the second poorest city after only Detroit Michigan. The downfall of both cities is linked and ongoing but at least Cleveland doesn't have a mayor under indictment for perjury. Local news outlets are trying to cut the sting of the numbers by pointing out that the same report states the average household income in Cleveland grew over the same period. What they either don't realize or are deliberately not saying is that this means the gap between the rich and the poor is widening at the expense of middle income families.
This is the kind of thing one would expect to see in a major urban center that is still experiencing flight of the middle class out of the city into the suburbs. It is also an increased threat to the American Dream. In a city where poverty is increasing and which has been hard hit by the collapse of the housing market it seems increasingly unlikely that this is a place where a working family can get a leg up and advance their financial standing. Which would explain why people are leaving the area.
All of these things combined cut down the tax base while increasing the demand on government services. This isn't just more people becoming a drain on the welfare state. It's vacant buildings becoming bastions of criminal behavior causing a drain on the under staffed police force. Those same vacant buildings are also a drain on the fire department due to arson, which increases response to emergencies and costs of investigation. Lastly, the city has to buy those buildings and demolish them creating costly legal work on top of paying out settlements to the banks that have foreclosed on these houses. The roads are in bad need of repair, and communities region wide have to replace their sewage systems because they violate clean water standards, spewing human waste into lake Erie. The steel industry is dead, but its rotting corpse is lying unburied across the rust belt of America.
2 comments:
Wow. I just looked at all your posts about Cleveland. You sound like you really hate the place.
I've lived in the Cleveland area all my life, and Cleveland is nowhere near as bad as what you say. Sure, it has problems like any big city, but there is more good there than bad.
If you live there, I suggest you get out since you clearly hate it so much.
That's a well thought out response. Apparently you didn't pay attention to the specifics of the articles. First, like all the articles on this blog we are just linking to things the MSM is reporting and put up our personal reactions. So its not like we are making any of this up.
Second, the articles we link to make it clear that these problems Cleveland has that we point out are not just like "any big city." They are different both in kind and in magnitude. If you have lived only in Cleveland all your life you really aren't qualified to claim that these problems are common. True there may be similar problems in Detroit, Pittsburgh, and East St.Louis, but not in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Madison, Houston, San Fransisco. Life is different outside the rust belt.
Third, it has been made clear in a number of posts that we are pointing out the problems of Cleveland to draw attention to them and encourage efforts to address these problems because we have found that residents like yourself feel that this is normal and the way a city is supposed to be. That is not the case.
Fourth, you say if I don't like it to get out. I am doing one better and am actually donating my time and money to a number of local non-profits working to improve the city both environmentally and socially because I want to be a part of the solution.
Fifth, don't mistake these posts for hatred of Cleveland. They stem from a desire for improvement. And you are right, there is more good than bad which gives me hope. Because if this is the worst America can give, this really isn't so bad.
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