Friday, April 3, 2015

365 Days Blogging About Cleveland

April 2, 2015 - Ladies and Gentleman, it's been exactly 365 days since I started blogging about my adventures in Cleveland. That's right. 78 posts later and the name of the blog finally has some meaning. I guess it'll have meaning again on May 1st when it will be 365 days actually living in Cleveland...but a man needs content! Especially when he's waiting for it to stop snowing in April so he can get back at it. 

As I look back at the blog stats for my 78 posts, I've had almost 9,200 views from 10 counties which is weird, unexpected, and certainly a glitch of some kind. I've made a whopping $0.14 from ad clicks. I don't really see any particular thing that you people like to read about more than others except you kinda hate when I talk about my ideas and not about things that I actually did. Understandable since I do that for my own peace of mind and because maybe I just felt lazy that week and didn't do anything. Those weeks are few and far between though thanks to this blog and to the fact that I feel compelled to keep doing things in order to have something to write about. I, like many of you, fight the urge to just relax my spare time away but because I can only BS my way through my opinions on architecture, urban planning, and mass transit just so much without boring everyone to sleep, I have to get myself out and explore. Even if it's going to a new restaurant (a word in which I can now spell correctly about 85% of the time since starting this blog), I think of the 6 people who read this and get my butt out of the house.

With that all being said... I am going to continue blogging for another 365 days in Cleveland!

There's actually a lot of positive/selfish reasons why I'm going to continue to write this blog. Mostly I want people to know that there is more to this city than what you hear on the news. If that was your only reference point, there'd be downtown and the East Side where all of the gang violence happens. It's a sad fact that the news just up and assumes that you know about every neighborhood and street in this city. The fact is that most of the people I talk to about Cleveland have no idea about my neighborhood, Tremont, or even where it is. My neighborhood has a low crime rate, 4-star restaurants, high-end boutique shopping, a huge neighborhood park with a public pool, and $450,000 homes with city views. Yup, that is an area of land within the boarders of Cleveland, Ohio and not a separate city that just boarders it. It's a 15 min walk through the Flats to downtown and a 10 min walk to the West Side Market. Similarly great things can be said to describe other Cleveland neighborhoods like Ohio City, University Circle, West Park, North Collinwood, Detroit Shoreway, Buckeye-Shaker, etc... They are all within the boundaries of the city of Cleveland and have their own positive things going for them.

For Example...

The Beachland Ballroom and the Cleveland Clothing Company's flagship store are in North Collinwood but did you know that Waterloo Road just completed a huge streetscape project with public art installations that is drawing new small businesses to the area to join the art galleries and existing shops? North Collinwood is right along the lakefront and not even in the way that downtown is "on the lakefront". You know, how you have to go over train tracks, streets, highways, and more streets to get to downtown's lakefront. Ya, it's nothing like that! Euclid Beach Park is right there! It's the next great Cleveland neighborhood and everyone is taking notice!

Want another example?...

You can find local favorites like Happy Dog and Sweet Moses in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood but you can also find places like 78th Street Studios which is the largest fine arts complex in NE Ohio with over 43 retail galleries, studios, and other creative spaces. The neighborhood has beautiful old homes and brand new $350,000 townhouses. Go north through any of the pedestrian tunnels and you're right there at Edgewater Park along the lake. It's a great neighborhood all year round but it's especially fun on Dyngus Day when it becomes ground zero for this great Polish celebration! 

...And the list goes on and on. It's not all about the downtown renascence or the crime on the east side, it's about people of all kinds moving back to the city and making it work for them. They're taking a risk with the hope of a big payoff in the end. Sure the schools are still crumby but there are great schools here that are attracting families to once forgotten Cleveland neighborhoods. Once great buildings and homes that have been abandoned for years are now diamonds in the rough for people who have the passion to do some improvements and get their hands dirty. We really have turned a corner and you can feel that fact like an electric shock in the air.

With all that has happened in the last 365 days, it feels as if we've seen the red tape get cleared away and are ready to see some serious progress in this next year. Progress that will give me new buildings to visit and take pictures of, new events to attend, new thrills to experience...and I'm so ready! So just for shits and giggles, here is my Cleveland bucket list for this year:
That's all I can think of for now. If you have any for me, leave them in the comments section. Here's to another 365 Days in Cleveland urban pioneers!
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Location: Cleveland, OH, USA

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