Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide © 2014 CEOs for Cities Table of Contents

Cleveland State University Levin College of Urban Affairs 1717 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH 44115 Offices: Cleveland, Chicago 4 Preface: The Connected City www.ceosforcities.org 6 Cleveland: Becoming Itself ISBN: 978-0-692-23580-5 10 Introduction

Written by: Justin Glanville 12 Downtown Cleveland Designed by: Lee Zelenak www.the-beagle.com 18 Waterfronts 24 Euclid Corridor, Campus District and MidTown 30 University Circle 36 St. Clair-Superior 42 Shaker Square and Buckeye The Connected City 48 Detroit-Shoreway “Cities thrive as places where people can easily interact and connect. These connections are of two sorts: the easy interaction 54 Ohio City and Hingetown of local residents and easy connections to the rest of the world. Both internal and external connections are important. 60 Tremont Internal connections help promote the creation of new ideas and make cities work better for their residents. External 66 Special Topics connections enable people and businesses to tap into the global economy. We measure the local connectedness of cities by looking 72 Conclusion at a diverse array of factors including voting, community involvement, economic integration and transit use. Our measures of external connections include foreign travel, the presence of foreign students and broadband Internet use.”

— CEOs for Cities, City Vitals 2.0

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 3 The Connected City Each of these theories alone is wrong. A successful city must have all of these elements. It must have compelling public places, creative and educated talent, pathways for economic opportunity and smart technology. It must have quality architecture, smart buildings, green parks, bustling streetscapes and innovative startups.

“…our ability to connect And it must do something else. It must connect these assets to one another, in ways with each other is the that are meaningful and accessible to residents. As CEOs for Cities argued in our research report City Success: Theories of defining characteristic Urban Prosperity, city leaders ought to think about elements of success as an artist would view a color palette. Each city is different and needs a different blend. of our species.” It’s not enough simply to check boxes off a checklist. Economic growth and development is about linking and leveraging a city’s distinctive assets of people, place, and opportunity. — Ed Glaeser, Triumph of the City It’s that simple. And complex.

CEOs for Cities has developed a signature benchmarking framework, City Vitals, There is no shortage of theories about the using the four letters that make up the word “City” to spell the genetic code of city success: Connections, Innovation, Talent, and Your Distinctiveness. How a city secret sauce for city success. Some experts connects its physical, human, social, and digital capital will, more than anything argue that geography matters more else, determine its economic future. than ever and success depends on physical Success is all about connections. capital and authentic placemaking. Others submit that in a knowledge economy, This Field Guide to Cleveland is not intended to be an exhaustive look at the city. A number of great neighborhoods, innovative organizations and companies, cities must build human capital and creative strong leaders, and exciting economic initiatives are not mentioned. But the thread talent. Some insist that social capital and that runs through this Field Guide, and through Cleveland, is how my great home economic opportunity ultimately define city is creatively connecting its distinctive assets in an on-going, never-ending the soul of a city. Still others predict that the effort to be The Connected City. future city is about smart digital capital and harnessing the power of technology. Lee Fisher

President and CEO CEOs for Cities

www.ceosforcities.org

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 5 Cleveland: Becoming Itself

Major League is not a movie about baseball. In fact, it’s the I Ching, the sum of all wisdom, the forecast for our city’s trajectory. Cleveland (and our baseball team) came down from early 20th-century heydays into decades of struggling to figure out exactly who we are. We dabbled in others’ personalities, sometimes even embraced being the “next” someone else, and by the 2000s, every newspaper was picking on Cleveland to finish dead last.

But, like Coach Lou Brown, we stuck around just long enough to give them, well, something to write about. We pinpointed our city’s sweet spots, embraced our histories and started drawing the lines that would connect our inheritance to our future.

Entrepreneurs and change-makers are joining their predecessors to lift this city from slump to streak. It turns out you don’t need to replicate New York or Chicago’s storied formulas for winning games. We’re doing it our own way — one base, one storefront, one attitude at a time. While we haven’t won the pennant yet, Cleveland, like Jake Taylor in the bottom of the ninth, is calling its own shots. Things don’t happen overnight. But feel that energy?

We’re warmed up and ready to swing.

Gina Prodan Kelly

Creative Director CEOs for Cities

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 7 the challenge of connection Welcome to Cleveland.

As you’ll notice, we’re a complex Across the city, there are unmistakable signs of a re-embrace of urban living. University Circle and Downtown and Ohio City have growing city. We have an east side and populations and hold their own among the most vibrant urban neighborhoods in the country, breathtaking in their cultural amenities a west side that can feel like and building stock and public spaces. Entrepreneurs are setting up shop two different worlds. We have in once-fading commercial districts. Yet one need not look far for signs of struggle. The city’s population a strong history of looking out continues to decline, and now stands at less than half its 1950 peak. A third for less advantaged citizens — of our residents live below the poverty line. Some 20,000 lots stand vacant. Many people — particularly the city’s large black population — continue even as we tend to segregate to feel cut off from economic opportunity. Unemployment in the city’s ourselves along class and race poorest neighborhoods stands at more than 15 percent. All of this makes us an ideal place to study the challenge of connection — lines. We are both industrial and physical connection, yes, but also social and technological and economic and environmental connection. Cleveland, more than perhaps any other natural, with a river, a great place in the U.S., can be a model for how a city can serve both its well-off lake and one of the nation’s and its struggling, for how nature can coexist with development, for how newcomers can integrate with preexisting populations. most-visited national parks just How do we provide for people who are “doing well,” in traditional terms, outside the city border. without marginalizing those who are not? How do we create urban places that are “green” — not just on the surface but because they reconnect people with the natural systems around them? How do we attract Maybe most interesting of all, new residents without alienating existing ones? These are feats that many more unambiguously prosperous cities haven’t managed. Maybe we are reviving and we are Cleveland can. getting smaller. This field guide is for anyone interested in exploring Cleveland in an inquisitive and balanced way. There’s a lot to be inspired by, a lot to learn from — and a lot to discover.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 11 Context and History

Downtown Downtown was Cleveland’s first neighborhood, carved out of a dense hardwood forest between the east Cleveland bank of the Cuyahoga River and the south shore of Lake Erie.

Connecticut surveyor Moses Cleaveland laid out the grid of streets in 1796. His plan wasn’t very sensitive to the site’s topography. He jammed a typical New England town layout rigid street grid surrounding a generous Public Square — onto a triangular piece of land.

In its earliest years, downtown Cleveland was a rough-and-tumble frontier outpost. Huge tree stumps lay rooted in the dirt roads. The river’s swampy floodplain was a haven for mosquitoes. Malaria and ague killed off most of the handful of residents brave enough to try permanent settlement. It’s hardly surprising that the first permanent business in the neighborhood was a saloon!

In fact, the area now known as University Circle (see p. 30) attracted more settlers than the town center for Cleveland’s first few decades.

The Ohio and Erie Canal, linking Lake Erie to the Ohio River, changed all that. In conjunction with its opening in 1827, the Cuyahoga River was channelized. The swampiest areas along its banks were drained. Cleveland’s population grew. Ohio City (see p. 54), a twin settlement on the river’s west bank, also expanded.

Downtown’s time as a residential neighborhood didn’t last long. Once the Industrial Revolution hit in the late 19th century, smokestacks and pollution chased residents away almost as fast as the mosquitoes and malaria had decades before. Outlying neighborhoods and suburbs took the outflow.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 13 For most of the 20th century, Downtown was strictly a center of commerce and industry. People came to work and shop, then emptied out by five o’clock.

In the 1990s, leaders tried to inject glitz into the proceedings with big public-private Lake Erie building projects such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Great Lakes Science Center and three new stadiums for the city’s professional sports teams. But while these drew visitors by the thousand, Downtown continued to lack the “24-hour city” feel of more fashionable cities.

Part of the problem was a dearth of residential options. Developers were slow to fill the Downtown void in an untested market. Instead, neighborhood development organizations stepped Cleveland in, putting together complex public and private financing to push forward apartment projects in the Warehouse District, Gateway and Playhouse Square.

Cuyahoga River Present and Future Today, the neighborhood is experiencing perhaps its greatest-ever popularity as a place to live as well as to earn and spend money. Some 12,000 people now call Downtown home, and more are poised to follow. Hundreds of units are being added in new and renovated buildings, including a historic skyscraper designed by Marcel Breuer. New hotels are also multiplying, thanks to completion of a new Convention Center in 2013. Total development planned or underway exceeds $4 billion.

Retail which had largely drained to the suburbs between the 1970s and 2000s is Who lives here? returning to serve the new residents and visitors. Perhaps the most dramatic example At present, Downtown dwellers are mostly well-paid young professionals who want is a new branch of the high-end local grocery chain Heinen’s. It will open in an to be able to walk to work. One new development — “The 9,” centered in and around opulent former bank rotunda in October 2014. the Breuer tower — will offer “concierge living” tailored to the luxury penthouse set. There’s also a significant amount of subsidized housing for the elderly and low-income. Connections A growing student population is taking root around Cleveland State University, on Downtown has long functioned more as a collection of separate nodes than as a Downtown’s east end. cohesive neighborhood. This dates to the urban renewal era of the 1950s to 1970s, when city leaders oversaw the demolition of large swathes of “slum” buildings in the hope What’s well-known? of encouraging new development. Surface parking lots that were supposed to be Major-League Sports temporary instead lingered. The biggest remaining gaps are in the Warehouse District and to the north of Playhouse Square, though new mixed-use developments are The Cleveland Browns play at Browns Stadium; the Cleveland Indians play starting to fill the holes. at Progressive Field; the Cleveland Cavaliers play at Quicken Loans Arena.

A few different interstate highways also converge Downtown, in a broad gash of asphalt Playhouse Square called the Cleveland Innerbelt. This separates the heart of Downtown from Midtown Five Broadway-scale theaters comprising the nation’s second largest to the East (see p. 24) and Central to the South. Connections to the waterfront theater district. are also few and far between (see p. 18), also thanks to the early primacy of industry and transportation along the river and lake.

Downtown Cleveland Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 15 Public Square The neighborhood’s physical and psychic heart. Plans are afoot to reconnect downtown cleveland Profile the four quadrants.

East 4th Street Jeannie Snider Residential and entertainment district featuring Lola, celebrity chef Michael Symon’s flagship restaurant. Owner, JK Snider Enterprise LLC Warehouse District Wrought-iron warehouses converted to apartments, restaurants and stores.

Terminal Tower Jeannie (54) and her husband, Ken, own a medical device distribution company based in The city’s best-known skyscraper and former rail depot, now a shopping mall that saw Middleburg Heights, a Cleveland suburb. a peak in the 1990s before declining to become more populist.

We originally bought a condo in 2007 in the Water Street Apartments on West 9th Street. Convention Center and Global Center for Health Innovation A few years later, we bought another condo in the same building. Brand-spanking-new convention center alongside a merchandise mart for We don’t live there full-time now. We use the condos mostly for business meetings, medical products. when we have sales reps coming in from out of town. It’s just easy for us to be Cleveland State University centrally located for when we’re bringing people in from West Virginia or Pennsylvania or Indiana. But within the year we’ll be moving Downtown full-time. Our youngest Home to 17,000 students, a growing number of whom live on campus and are helping has gone off to school so now we’re empty nesters. I’m done with the big house revive surrounding blocks. in the suburbs! The Old Arcade The whole building is pretty much 25- to 35-year-olds, which is an energy we like. Now home to the Grand Hyatt Hotel, this soaring 1890 structure was the first enclosed Also it has a view of the lake — and we love the lake. shopping center in the nation.

For our reps who’ve never been to Cleveland before, they come and say, “wow, this place is great! So easy to maneuver, so much fun.” The Flats East Bank is developing, What’s lesser-known? Playhouse Square, West 25th — it’s just fun to use all these different neighborhoods. I’m from Chicago, and I think people who “get” Cleveland the most aren’t from here. Cleveland Public Library Or they’re from here and they left and came back. Home to 10 million items, one of the largest collections in the nation.

I wish the Rapid was better at coming up at different spots, other than just Tower Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and The Money Museum City and E. 9th. You’ve got the trolley — we’ll jump on that to get around. But if we could One of the nation’s 12 federal reserve banks plus a museum all about the link West 25th to Downtown by trolley or bus, maybe include Tremont — it would tie green stuff. things together better. Things are separate, and if they could be more cohesive, that would serve everyone. The 5th Street Arcades

I firmly believe Cleveland will be discovered and it will boom and it will catch up Smaller than the Old Arcade but burgeoning with independent businesses. with everything else. But it’s fun to be here at the beginning of all that.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 17 Context and History

The Lake Erie formed during the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age, 12,000 years ago. It’s the smallest and shallowest Waterfronts of the Great Lakes — but still the 17th largest body of fresh water in the world.

The Cuyahoga River, meanwhile, runs a meandering course from southeast of Cleveland. (By some accounts, “Cuyahoga” is an Iroquois word for “crooked.”) The river originates in the Appalachian uplands outside Kent, Ohio, wending its way through Akron before finally emptying into Lake Erie on the western edge of Downtown.

Both bodies of water suffered rampant pollution during the city’s industrial heyday. Debris and oil on the surface of the river caught fire repeatedly. The most famous of these was a relatively minor 1969 blaze that wound up being featured in a well-read issue of Time magazine. The Cuyahoga’s reputation as “the river that burned” was sealed, even though it was far from the only urban waterway that had earned the distinction (the Chicago River, the Hudson River and the Shuykill River had all earned bragging rights, too) (See p. 69).

It was the river-burning episode, more than any other, that made Cleveland the butt of late-night talk show jokes for much of the 1970s and 1980s. Even though the laughter has died down, Clevelanders are still trying to exorcize the trauma of the fire and its impact on the city’s reputation. The Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, run by the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability, is an effort to make the city a model of environmentally-friendly urbanity in time for the fire’s 50th anniversary.

On the bright side, outrage over the Cuyahoga River fire catalyzed Congress to pass the Clean Water Act in 1972. The act imposed tougher standards on industrial dumping.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 19 More than 40 years later, industrial pollution is well under control in both the river and the lake. The river, in particular, has enjoyed a major turnaround. It now teems with aquatic bug populations — a sign of a healthy waterway — and a number of pollution- intolerant fish species are returning. Lake Erie

The lake’s water quality has been more variable. One problem is fertilizer runoff from farms and yards. Another is raw sewage. Cleveland, like most older U.S. cities, has sewers Map that dump a mix of stormwater and wastewater into the lake during major storm events. The Waterfronts The most dramatic outcome are the vast algae blooms that stretch across the lake’s surface Downtown in summer. They act as opaque mats, leeching oxygen from the water and keeping other forms of aquatic life from growing below. Cleveland

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has been federally mandated to fix the combined sewer problem. But its initial proposal for footing the $5 billion bill — a new Cuyahoga River stormwater fee for homeowners and businesses — faced opposition from some suburbs. The plan was shot down in court a couple years ago.

Connections Cleveland is the waterfront city that, for many years, forgot it had a waterfront.

And not just one, but two: a riverfront and a lakefront!

Visitors to Downtown are routinely frustrated to find Lake Erie “so close, yet so But maybe the best recent news for the lakefront is that the well-funded regional far away” — visible from many spots but accessible from few. Meanwhile, the river is park district, Cleveland Metroparks, has stepped in to manage a series of lakefront tucked away in a part of town that most people no longer visit — though that is parks on both the east and west sides. Plans are afoot to upgrade the parks with beginning to change. new trails, recreational facilities and more environmentally sensitive landscaping. These hidden waters are a legacy of the city’s industrial heritage. Back in Cleveland’s Increased attractiveness will undoubtedly lead to a public push for more access points. early days, no one especially wanted to cozy up to the dirty, busy, wind-driven lake The riverfront, known as the Flats, enjoyed a revival as a nightclub district in the 1980s or the dirty, busy, mosquito-plagued river. As a result, residential and office districts and 1990s before succumbing to rising crime and general tomfoolery. But it, too, is were sited far away. In addition, transportation arteries tended to be constructed right on seeing some signs of rebirth. The west bank has seen an influx of market-rate apartments the waterfronts to provide easy access to industry. For example, a broad highway, alongside one of the nation’s oldest public housing estates (Lakeview Terrace). And a new the Shoreway, blocks people from walking to the lakefront in all but a couple of places in office tower, anchored by Ernst & Young and completed in 2013, is the first phase of the the city proper. A parallel railroad line — one of the busiest freight lines in the nation — planned Flats East Bank mega-development. Leaders hope these projects spark a full-scale reinforces the barrier. re-embrace of the river — without pushing away the active industry that remains.

The good news is that after years of talk and planning, plans to connect Downtown to That effort to balance industrial, commercial and residential uses defines the current the lakefront are inching toward reality. The city is trying to raise money to build a discussion on the waterfront’s future. Burke Lakefront Airport, across the street from the pedestrian bridge from the Convention Center to the lake, over the highway and railroad Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has been a particular point of debate. “A lakefront airport tracks. A nonprofit, LAND Studio, is spearheading another bridge to link the city’s where there could be a neighborhood or a park? Outrageous!” cry some. But others — near west side neighborhoods to Wendy Park, on the lakefront. New pedestrian and bike including Mayor Frank Jackson — insist the airport remain for in place business travelers tunnels also reach Edgewater Park. and as a reliever airport for Cleveland Hopkins International.

The Waterfronts Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 21 Who lives here? Like a number of Cleveland’s other central neighborhoods, the Flats has a mix of older, the waterfronts profile lower-income housing alongside new-construction apartments and townhouses for middle- and upper-income residents. New mid-rise apartment towers have taken root on the river’s west bank, while plans are underway to add more on the east bank. Meanwhile, John Paul Stephens Lakeview Terrace, dating from 1935, was among the first public housing estates to be Assistant Professor, Organizational Management, approved by the federal government. Case Western Reserve University The dominance of industrial and transportation uses means not many people live directly on the Downtown lakefront.. This could change. The Port of Cleveland and the City of Cleveland are partnering on a plan to solicit developers for a new mixed-use neighborhood adjacent to Browns Stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Until recently, John Paul (32) lived in the Stonebridge apartment complex in the Flats. He now lives in Detroit-Shoreway. What’s well-known? There are so many things about the Flats that are defining parts of living in Cleveland. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum The commercial traffic on the Cuyahoga River, the huge boats — that was my favorite part, actually. You hear the boats and the bridges going up and down, the Shrine to popular music. trains going by, and that’s Cleveland. That industrial landscape. It took me a while to Great Lakes Science Center recognize that. It took one of my friends from Boston saying, “hey, there are a lot of beautiful bridges around here!” I hadn’t seen that. Family-friendly exhibits.

It’s a mixed neighborhood, in terms of income level, which I also appreciated. Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum Folks were thrown together at different income and education levels. Then you also Decommissioned bulk freighter that delivered iron ore to Cleveland’s steel mills. had these different activities and types of people. Lakefront Parks Half my apartment was glass, so I had amazing views and lots of light. I loved seeing Now managed by Cleveland Metroparks, historically cut off from the city by highways the sunset over the lake. It was so amazing being able to see when a storm or the fog and railroad tracks. was rolling in.

At the same time, I wished for a closer connection to the lake. When I first moved (Also see Downtown, p. 12) there, I imagined that one of the streets would go straight down to the shore. But none of them do, because of the train tracks and the industry. What’s lesser-known?

There’s something about an easily accessed, continuous public lakefront that’s Wendy Park democratizing. Look at Chicago’s lakefront. You’ve got this prime real estate, but it’s Established in 2004, a 22-acre park on landfill at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. an open space that everyone can use, regardless of income level. We have that in Cleveland in some spots, but it’s fragmented. When you have a continuous experience, Coast Guard Station it’s all-inclusive. You feel engulfed. You think, “wow, I can’t see land on the horizon.” Decommissioned 1940 building, now vacant. It’s this expansive, unifying experience. Burke Lakefront Airport and the International Women’s Air and Space Museum Public, 450-acre airport and museum celebrating women in aviation.

(Also see Downtown, p. 12)

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 23 Context and History

Euclid Corridor, Euclid Avenue is the city’s primary east side transportation artery, and was a Native American trading route before Campus District white settlers arrived. It’s built on a beach ridge formed by the ghost of a larger, and MidTown prehistoric Lake Erie. The street is the most direct connection between the city’s two main employment hubs: Downtown (see p. XX) and University Circle (see p. XX), four miles to the East.

Today, it functions almost entirely as a retail and commercial corridor. But that wasn’t always the case. In the 19th century, it was the most prestigious address for Cleveland’s early industrial barons, who built opulent mansions set far back from the street. Only a handful of these remain. As the city boomed in the early 20th century, industry and commerce marched ever eastward. The wealthy families of Euclid Avenue fled to Cleveland Heights and beyond to escape the hustle and smoke.

Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, the commercial phase of Euclid Avenue’s history also began to wane. White flight, industrial decline and suburbanization were the main reasons. Factories, warehouses and storefront buildings emptied, leaving surrounding neighborhoods with decreasing access to jobs and services. Residents who could afford to leave moved to newer parts of town.

By the 1980s, Downtown and University Circle remained strong business and cultural centers. The ever-expanding Cleveland Clinic, founded at Euclid and E. 93rd Street in 1921, was another beacon of hope. But the blocks between these nodes — particularly between about E. 30th Street and E. 79th Street — were fighting a mounting tide of disinvestment.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 25 In 1982, business leaders founded what’s now known as MidTown Cleveland to confront the blight. They focused not only on Euclid, but also parallel streets including Prospect Lake Erie Avenue, Chester Avenue and Carnegie Avenue. The organization demolished the buildings they deemed too far gone to save, and developed new exterior design standards for the Cleveland ones that remained.

Present and Future Downtown Euclid Corridor These improvements encouraged a trickle of businesses to invest or reinvest in the and Midtown neighborhood. But the biggest turning point came in 2008. In that year, the city’s first bus rapid transit line — a bus line with dedicated stations to approximate a train — began operating on Euclid Avenue. It was called the HealthLine in honor of the Cleveland

Clinic and University Hospitals, in University Circle. Ridership to date has exceeded Cuyahoga River expectations, and MidTown estimates the $200 million project has attracted more than $4 billion in public and private investment — a mix of new and renovated office space and market-rate and subsidized housing. The project also included a streetscape component. This gives the street a unified “look” that reinforces the visual connection between Downtown, MidTown and University Circle. More challenging is the reestablishment of social and economic connections to MidTown is now partnering with The Cleveland Foundation and others to give surrounding neighborhoods. The areas along the Euclid Corridor are some of the the area a new “brand”: the Health-Tech Corridor. The idea is to build on the continued poorest in the nation, with average household incomes well below the poverty line and growth of the hospitals to draw biomedical businesses to the area. There’ve been some unemployment soaring in some cases above 20 percent. The irony of this is vexing, to early successes. The area around E. 79th and Euclid a particular bright spot. There, say the least: Severe economic distress occurring cheek-by-jowl with billions of dollars in a mix of renovated and new-construction office/industrial buildings are fully leased, new development and growing employment opportunities. How can leaders connect the with new projects in the pipeline. residents of these areas with the new jobs and development happening blocks away?

Two large public universities — Cleveland State University and Cuyahoga Community The Greater University Circle Initiative, a partnership between The Cleveland Foundation College — have banded together with St. Vincent’s Hospital to promote growth and and an array of government, private and other philanthropic organizations, is exploring a greater sense of place. Under the mantle of the nonprofit Campus District Inc., these ways to close the gap. NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology, for institutions are campaigning for better signage and a cap over the freeway to strengthen example, provides training programs to prepare adults for careers in health care — the the area’s link to Downtown. most plentiful jobs available nearby. The initiative’s partners have also helped found cooperatively owned businesses to provide services for neighboring institutions. These Connections include an industrial-scale laundry to serve the hospitals; a solar-panel installation During the peak of Cleveland’s economic decline between the 1960s and 1980s, Euclid company; and a massive greenhouse to supply produce to hospitals’ and universities’ Avenue and parallel streets lost not only businesses and residents but also much urban food service programs. The idea is to keep a larger portion of the institutions’ massive fabric — the buildings and public spaces that gave the area shape and a sense of “place.” procurement budgets local, rather than exporting it to other cities and states. Downtown and University Circle began to function more as independent satellite cities The longstanding lack of quality primary and secondary education in these neighborhoods than as parts of a cohesive urban whole. People commuted directly to one or the other is another hurdle. A few new public school options are providing hope. John Hay High in the morning, then left in the afternoon. School, for example, offers college preparatory classes and receives the highest possible The process of reestablishing the physical connections between these two nodes ranking from the state board of education. And the Cleveland School of the Arts will open has been slow. But it’s gaining momentum, with the HealthLine spurring new a new building in 2014, a move leaders hope will better serve the students there. development every year. Despite promising early results, however, it’s clear that much work remains to be done to bridge the stark social and economic divides in this part of the city.

The Euclid Corridor and Midtown Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 27 Who lives here? The Euclid Corridor and MidTown encompass a handful of smaller, historic euclid corridor & midtown Profile neighborhoods between Downtown and University Circle. These include Central, Fairfax and Hough.

Amy Cronauer All of these areas suffered overcrowding in the mid-20th century, as urban renewal and racially-biased housing policies pushed black families into a shrinking city footprint. Director of Foundations, Once these practices faded or were made illegal, families with means began to move Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland to other areas. The real estate market in the older neighborhoods collapsed. Most were no longer able to support basic neighborhood services.

Today, the neighborhoods along the Euclid Corridor continue to be among the poorest Amy (42) lives in the Dixson Hall Apartments, a 1910 Italianate building on in the nation. Public housing estates intermingle with private housing in various Prospect Avenue in Midtown. states of repair. There are many vacant lots. Still, there have been some new developments. One federally funded initiative, the Homeownership Zone, added 300 market-rate Four years ago, I’d just started my job at MOCA [now in University Circle]. I was but affordable new houses to the Central neighborhood. thinking about moving closer to work, but I wasn’t really sure where. Then one day I drove down Prospect and saw these beautiful old buildings. I noticed a sign for The area is clearly poised for redevelopment given its position between Downtown rent by a parent of someone I worked with. I asked her very bluntly, “Would you want and University Circle and the success of the HealthLine. The challenge facing leaders your daughter to live here?” I’m not afraid of living urban, I just wanted to know if is two-fold: to attract new residents to an area still suffering the effects of disinvestment; there were red flags. She said it would be a great neighborhood for me. She knew and to do so without alienating or displacing existing ones. I’d love the architecture — not just of my building, but the whole district.

When I moved here, some of my more adventurous friends found it interesting. What’s well-known? But some of the comments and the looks were really funny. I think people remember it being the red light district, like it was 20, 30 years ago. I had heard all these things Gallucci’s Italian Foods like, “Oh, good luck getting a cup of coffee.” But I find that within a few blocks of me The only remnant of an old Italian neighborhood, with fine cheeses, wines and there’s all kinds of stuff. I can walk to Dave’s Supermarket, the markets in Asiatown. prepared foods. I think it’s totally walkable if you’re open. Pierre’s Ice Cream I love my neighbors. There are bike messengers, a few young moms, students, Well-known ice cream manufacturer. professionals — people with dogs and cats. Then there are people who’ve lived here 40 years. They have crazy stories from years ago, how they’d carry pistols when The Agora they lived here, see women of the night doing business out front, wallets lying in Legendary concert hall, helped establish the careers of Bruce Springsteen, Talking the parking lot. Heads and others. I’m amazed by how closed to people still are to the neighborhood. I guess there are certain things that scare people off. There are still a fair number of transients — I’ve seen What’s lesser-known? people using drugs in some of the parking lots. But the reason I’m up for it is that Upper Prospect Historic District my building feels really safe. I think that stuff goes on everywhere in America, it’s just more visible here than in other places. Between E. 30th and E. 55th streets, a collection of notable commercial and residential buildings. I don’t see much happening in terms of attracting new residents to this part of town. You’d think things would bleed over more from all the energy Downtown. You hear Baker Electric Building about buildings being 100 percent occupied and so on. But so far I haven’t seen it, Former automobile factory, now an incubator and post-incubator space for and it’s frustrating. One or two things on my block could make such a difference, technology companies. maybe a cafe or a coffee shop.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 29 Context and History

University In Cleveland’s earliest days, the area now known as University Circle was actually more populous than Downtown. Early Circle settlers were attracted to the higher, dryer land here, more suitable for building and small-scale farming than the swampy floodplain that was Downtown. (“Dry” also meant mosquito-and disease-free!)

Today, the area functions as Cleveland’s second downtown — a cultural, educational and medical hub. It’s already the region’s second-largest employment base and is projected to grow even larger. Cleveland’s largest employer, The Cleveland Clinic, alone expects to add thousands of new jobs in the coming decade.

The “Circle” in University Circle refers to an old streetcar turnaround near the intersection of Euclid Avenue and E. 105th Street. It’s gone now, but a constellation of world-class cultural institutions remain. Most of them date from the city’s industrial zenith in the early 20th century, when rich magnates competed to leave behind the largest legacy for the city. The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Orchestra, The Cleveland Institute of Art and The Cleveland Botanical Gardens are just a few of the institutions that today make the area some of the most culturally rich real estate in the nation. Joining them are several large hospitals and a major research university, Case Western Reserve University. (See What’s well-known, p. 35)

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 31 In a region that’s suffered major economic upheaval, University Circle has served as a kind of thumbtack on the map, its institutions mostly immune to the economic shifts that have so affected the rest of the city. In fact, most are thriving and seeking to expand. The Cleveland Museum of Art, for example, recently completed a $500 Lake Erie million expansion project that increased gallery space by one-third. Large plots of developable land in the heart of the district are now all but non-existent. Institutions Cleveland are now increasingly looking to surrounding neighborhoods for new space.

What’s long been missing from the heart of the district is housing and neighborhood Downtown retail. For decades, options were so scarce that even many students lived far from University campus, in the neighboring district of Little Italy or in suburbs such as Cleveland Heights Circle and University Heights. This gave University Circle a “dead after dark” feel similar to Downtown in the 1970s and 1980s. Cuyahoga River But that’s quickly changing. The mixed-use Uptown project has added dozens of apartments and neighborhood retail to a former surface parking lot, anchored by the new Museum of Contemporary Art designed by starchitect Farshid Moussavi. New townhouses are springing up on every available scrap of land. Instead of being an eerily empty urban tunnel, Euclid Avenue now rings with life. The new vibrancy seems to be drawing attention: Case Western Reserve University is now enjoying record application numbers.

The surrounding neighborhoods of Glenville, Hough and Fairfax have much poorer Connections populations. The foreclosure crisis of 2008-2010 hit these neighborhoods as hard With nearly every square inch of space accounted for, University Circle now stands or harder than just about anywhere else in the nation. Glenville, in particular, suffered as Cleveland’s most cohesive and walkable urban neighborhood. a wave of vacancies and demolitions after families left houses they’d bought with Connections to Downtown are excellent. The HealthLine bus rapid transit (see p. 68) subprime loans (see also Euclid Corridor, p. 24). provides limited stops between University Circle and Downtown. And a new train station on the Red Line will open in 2015 at the crux of University Circle and Little Italy, What’s well-known? moving from an obscure and less convenient location a mile away. Almost too much to list, but here are a few:

But not all is perfect. As along the Euclid Corridor (see p. 24), the biggest connection The Cleveland Museum of Art challenge facing leaders in University Circle is a socioeconomic one: How to open More than 30,000 objects, and a new addition designed by Rafael Viñoly. the invisible border between the Circle’s wealthy institutions and its poverty-stricken surrounding neighborhoods. Programs to address this divide are now being explored The Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art by University Circle Inc., the neighborhood’s development organization, and The A brand-new permanent space designed by Farshid Moussavi. Cleveland Foundation-led Greater University Circle Initiative (see p. 27). The Cleveland Museum of Natural History

Who lives here? With a new mission to promote sustainable living in Northeast Ohio. University Circle proper and the adjacent district of Little Italy are home mostly to students, young professionals and empty nesters. Within the heart of the district, this population is growing due to high-end infill projects. Cleveland Heights, a historic streetcar suburb immediately to the East, has similar demographics.

University Circle Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 33 The Cleveland Botanical Gardens Permanent and rotating exhibits of local and world ecosystems. university circle Profile Case Western Reserve University A top research institution. Stanley Miller The Cleveland Institute of Art Consultant, SRM Group LLC Programs in art and design.

The Cleveland Institute of Music Conservatory that hosts a biannual piano competition. Stanley (65) was executive director of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP and worked for University Hospitals 31 years as Ameritech’s vice president of external affairs. He lives on the southern edge of Glenville, the neighborhood directly north of University Circle. Nationally ranked hospital system.

University Circle is the place to be in Cleveland. I grew up in Glenville, and it’s just Cleveland Clinic fascinating to see this community changing. We’re already seeing more diversity in The city’s largest employer and one of the nation’s top-ranked hospitals. terms of race, age and finances. You’re going to have people who are moving here out of choice, not out of need. Western Reserve Historical Society Exploring the region’s history. That change is happening slowly, though. There are a number of people living in Glenville who aren’t homeowners. People without a financial commitment in a Severance Hall neighborhood think about it differently from people who do. So a lot of people live Art Deco home of the Cleveland Orchestra. in Glenville because they have to. They don’t have the economic means to leave. As soon as they do, they move to one of the inner-ring suburbs because they think Lakeview Cemetery they’re getting better schools for their kids. Final resting place of James Garfield, John D. Rockefeller, others. I think the people who already live here aren’t fully aware of the potential of this Rockefeller Park and Cleveland Cultural Gardens community. We haven’t done a good job explaining to people how they can be a part of what’s happening, part of the future. Dozens of gardens along MLK and East boulevards, celebrating city’s ethnicities.

Cleveland went through a traumatic period in the 1960s and 1970s. That’s when What’s lesser-known? enforced school busing came in, to desegregate the schools. What happened was that everyone who could leave, left. Not just professionals but also working class people; The Cleveland Cinematheque not just white people but black people. It destroyed any sense of community. After- Inside the Cleveland Institute of Art, shows international and revival films. school programs and bands and all those things disappeared. MLK Tennis Courts When I grew up here, we were a neighborhood. The lady on the street knew everyone. If you did something wrong, she’d bop you on the head. That’s gone now. Recently rebuilt, home to what’s believed to be nation’s oldest black tennis club.

But what I love is that we have some new people coming to the neighborhood who Wade Park Avenue and East Boulevard bring that sense of community with them. I belong to Neighbor to Neighbor, an Dozens of historic homes and apartment buildings. organization that’s made up of the neighbors around where I live. We meet and talk about issues. That’s the kind of thing we’re going to have to have to connect people.

In this town we have a history of keeping people separate. The future is that we’re going to have to connect people. That’s going to have to be very intentional.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 35 Context and History

St. Clair- Named after its two main east-west arteries, St. Clair-Superior lies several miles to the East of Downtown. Physically, Superior it’s the mirror image of Detroit-Shoreway to the West: an intact storefront district surrounded by dense single-and two- family housing. It’s even at about the same latitude! As in Detroit-Shoreway, many of the earliest residents were European immigrants who walked to work in factories along the lake. Where Detroit-Shoreway was a center for Romanians, Irish and Italians, St. Clair-Superior attracted Slovenians, Poles, Croats and Serbs.

Some of Cleveland’s most robust manufacturers operated in St. Clair-Superior. Among them were White Motors, Tyler Elevator and Cleveland Twist Drill.

In 1944, the neighborhood saw one of the worst disasters in Cleveland history. A natural gas tank at the East Ohio Gas Company exploded, killing 130 people and laying waste to about 20 blocks of houses north of St. Clair Avenue and E. 55th Street. The site of the exploded tanks is now Grdina Playground.

As in so many other parts of the city, deindustrialization in the 1960s and 1970s drained the neighborhood of some of its former stability. Yet it remains a manufacturing stronghold. The clank-clank and whir of small- and large-scale factories continue to fill the air along the streets north of St. Clair Avenue.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 37 Present and Future Today, the area divides into two sections.

The western part, between E. 30th and E. 55th streets, is called Asiatown. It’s home Lake Erie to a burgeoning population of Asian immigrants — primarily Chinese and Koreans. The area’s large supermarkets, offering aromatic (some might say smelly) arrays of Asian vegetables, dried fish and meats, are a regional draw for shoppers from surrounding states. St. Clair-Superior To the East of E. 55th Street, meanwhile, live a mix of Eastern European, African- Downtown American and Appalachian families. This population continues to support some neighborhood retail along St. Clair Avenue, including Sheliga Drug — one of the Cleveland last remaining independent drug stores in Northeast Ohio.

The St. Clair-Superior neighborhood organization is also working to draw young entrepreneurs and aspiring shop-owners to the commercial district along St. Clair. Cuyahoga River An early comer is the Upcycle Parts Shop, offering salvaged materials, art supplies and classes in creative reuse.

Meanwhile, artists have been trickling into both halves of the neighborhood to work, live or both. They’re drawn by vast warehouse spaces featuring tons of natural light and fireproof cement floors. The city has passed live-work ordinances making it legal for artists to occupy spaces that might not pass conventional residential codes.

The old Tyler Elevator complex is perhaps the area’s most emblematic industrial-reuse A remaining challenge is how to better connect the neighborhood’s two halves. Asiatown project. Its ornate red-brick buildings house a mix of small- and large-scale artisans and the commercial strip in the East 60s continue to function as two separate nodes. and technology companies. Energy from one tends not to bleed into the other. To resolve this may require stronger transit connections or new, cohesive streetscaping. Frank Sterle’s Slovenian Country House on E. 55th Street, straddling the neighborhood’s two halves, is a traditional Eastern European restaurant that’s emerging as an unlikely As its commercial districts reawaken, St. Clair-Superior also faces the question of how cultural hotspot for the area. Its offerings of schnitzel, polka nights and craft brews draw to keep offerings relevant to both visitors and longtime neighborhood residents, who are an enthusiastic mix of elderly stalwarts and refreshingly unironic young folk, all eager to predominantly low-income. Upcycle St. Clair, a program to address this divide, seeks take part in a living piece of the city’s ethnic heritage. to fill the neighborhood’s physical and psychic gaps through creative reuse of materials, public art, education and community outreach. In 2013, the initiative received a $375,000 Sterle’s parking lot also hosts The Cleveland Flea, a monthly “maker fair” where local grant from ArtPlace America. artisans sell everything from bagels to jewelry. St. Clair-Superior has embraced the urban agriculture movement (See p. 67). The Stanard Farm is a 2.5-acre farm on the site of a former schoolhouse. It’s also an Connections agriculture training center for people with developmental disabilities. A nonprofit called St. Clair-Superior sits a few blocks north of the beaten path between Downtown and Urban Shepherds grazes sheep (!) on a vacant lot next to the East Shoreway — the University Circle. As such, it hasn’t been as visible or as incidentally accessible as other idea being that it’s both beneficial for the sheep and saves the city money on mowing grass. parts of the East Side. Blue Pike Farm grows produce on another former brownfield site. In all cases, organizers Yet the growing profile of Asiatown, creative programming such as The Cleveland Flea use farms and pastures to engage and train local residents. and a reviving commercial district along St. Clair Avenue are moving St. Clair-Superior onto the main stage. It’s becoming a destination neighborhood on par with Detroit- Shoreway or Ohio City.

St. Clair and Superior Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 39 Who lives here? Asiatown is home to a population of about 8,000 Asian immigrants, mostly ST. CLAIR-SUPERIOR Profile from China and Korea, along with African-American families and recent arrivals from Appalachia. The area east of E. 55th Street is predominantly African-American, with a sizable population of ethnic Eastern European families. Artists are moving to the area Dave Sharkey in increasing numbers, too, mostly to repurposed warehouse and industrial space. President, Progressive Urban Real Estate Both halves of the neighborhood attract manufacturing employees who want to be able to walk to work in the many small-scale factories and shops north of St. Clair Avenue.

What’s well-known? Dave (46) has lived in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood with his wife and two kids for 15 years. Progressive Urban Real Estate is a realty company focused on Cleveland Asian markets and its inner-ring suburbs. A half dozen large-scale Asian food markets cluster between E. 30th and E. 40th streets,

We live on East 40th Street between Superior and St. Clair. The house was such an drawing visitors from across the region. opportunity. It’s an 1890 Italianate duplex. And the street is wider than most, with Koko Bakery these beautiful street trees lining it. Famed Asian bakery and purveyor of bubble tea. What I like about the neighborhood is there are warehouses across the street, churches, trains. I’m attracted by that. During the day it’s a really active place, then at night Frank Sterle’s Slovenian Country House it’s really quiet. I don’t think people really understand how quiet and peaceful an inner Both old-school and updated, and pleasing to veterans and newcomers alike. city neighborhood can be when all the business goes home. That could creep some people out, but for me it’s nice. Slovenian National Home Events center and gathering place for Cleveland’s Slovenian population. My neighbors are all very different. It’s part of Asiatown, so it’s got the Asian contingent, some Croatians, Slovenians, Appalachians, a couple old hippies. There’s a large African American presence to the East, too. We’re the token yuppies, for lack of a better term. What’s lesser-known?

We have a grocery store that you can walk to, and Sheliga Drug. It’s got a lot of stuff Slovenian Museum and Archives that a lot of the “cooler” neighborhoods don’t have. And then throw in all the Asian Honoring the area’s ethnic heritage. restaurants and corn beef restaurants — it’s a great place. Stanard Farm There are no bridges between us and Downtown. It’s just right there. You can walk if Includes agriculture education program for people with development disabilities. you want, or it’s an easy bike or bus ride. And for driving, I always say my life is 10 minutes away, because to get around anywhere it’s so easy, with all the freeway access. Urban Shepherds A pilot project to show how sheep grazing can replace lawnmowers. Sometimes walking by parking lots or industrial places that aren’t active — that can feel pretty desolate. On certain blocks, there’s not much going on. I’ll walk anywhere, St. Martin de Porres High School but I think most people want something interesting every 20 feet or so. Private Catholic school offering academic assistance and counseling along I’ve got two boys, 8 and 10. There aren’t a ton of other kids in the neighborhood for them with traditional classes. to play with. A lot of their friends are on near west side, Collinwood, Cleveland Heights. Part of that is defined by their school. They go to Campus International School [a magnet Kirtland Park school Downtown that draws from around the region]. Small city park at neighborhood’s north edge, featuring ruins of a concrete amphitheater.

I can see the lake from where I live. Other than that, I don’t really think about it, because Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation it’s Burke Lakefront Airport! I do wonder about lakefront access opportunities over here, Offering workshops and exhibits. like the old Aviation High School, which is vacant now. What’s going on with that? It’d be fun to make that a park, watch the planes coming and going. Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 41 Context and History

Shaker Square Shaker Square was the 1920s version of a “lifestyle center” — an outdoor shopping mall surrounded and Buckeye by dense housing.

That it still functions as a vibrant neighborhood nearly 100 years later is testament to the vision of its developers, the van Sweringen brothers. The two men built the area as a kind of portal to Shaker Heights, a prestige suburb they were developing at the same time. (The Square itself, however, lies entirely in the City of Cleveland.)

The Square — actually an octagon — is attractive enough, flanked by brick American Colonial buildings and a central green. Many surrounding apartment buildings are also notable, especially Moreland Courts, which rise with ornamented brick-and-stone dignity along East Boulevard.

But what makes Shaker Square truly unique, especially in automobile-centric Cleveland, is its transit orientation. Two rapid transit train lines from Shaker Heights converge at Shaker Square before heading Downtown. The van Sweringens built these lines at the same time they were planning the Square and Shaker Heights. This means that unlike in other parts of the city, where trains tend to stand separate from their surrounding residential districts, in Shaker Square they integrate seamlessly into the neighborhood’s fabric.

The Square primarily served upper-crust shoppers from Shaker Heights and neighboring Cleveland Heights — the executive and management classes. Larchmere Boulevard, just north of the Square, also emerged as a ritzy shopping district.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 43 Just a few blocks to the South, the Buckeye neighborhood along Buckeye Road was a working-class stronghold of Hungarian, Czech and Italian families. In the middle of the 20th century, it was home to the largest population of Hungarians in the U.S. Where apartment buildings dominate Shaker Square, here classic “Cleveland doubles” (two- Lake Erie family houses split into “up” and “down” units) line residential blocks. Cleveland By the 1970s, ongoing suburbanization and racial tensions had led much of the area’s white population to decamp to points further East. Today, the areas around Shaker Square and Buckeye are predominantly African American. Although the area’s racial makeup Downtown has changed, class divides have persisted, with Shaker Square the higher-income counterpart to Buckeye. Shaker Square and Buckeye Present and Future Shaker Square still draws visitors from across Northeast Ohio. Instead of high-end Cuyahoga River shops, the primary attractions today are destination restaurants and the weekly Shaker Square Farmers Market, which buzzes with local produce and prepared-food vendors. The Square also serves neighborhood residents — who are primarily middle- and low- income — with basic services like a supermarket and a pharmacy.

Larchmere Boulevard, meanwhile, enjoys regional caché as an arts and antiques district. It also boasts one of Northeast Ohio’s best independent bookstores, Loganberry Books, selling a mix of used and new titles. Yet the neighborhood stands at the crux of two vastly disparate areas. Shaker Heights, to Buckeye Road has struggled to find a strong contemporary identity, its small storefront the East, remains one of the most prestigious and affluent suburbs in the nation. The city businesses fading against competition from suburban big-box retailers. Neighborhood neighborhoods to the West, meanwhile, are some of the poorest. Shaker Square is left in leaders are making concentrated interventions in key areas in the hope of spurring the difficult situation of trying to serve both populations. This tension is reflected in the additional development. For example, the intersection of Buckeye and E. 118th Street current tenant mix. Destination restaurants, targeting affluent suburbanites, coexist with is now home to a new pocket park and commercial building renovations. neighborhood retail serving lower-income residents.

Another bright spot just to the West of Shaker Square is St. Luke’s Hospital. The old One institution that’s trying to bridge the gap is Edwins Leadership Institute and hospital building itself serves as a mix of elderly housing and offices for Cleveland Restaurant. It serves well-regarded “industrial French cuisine” — while training formerly Neighborhood Progress, the city’s preeminent neighborhood redevelopment nonprofit. incarcerated adults for careers in the restaurant industry. It’s an example of an On nearby blocks, a new public library and K-8 school have risen, along with new single- institution that’s trying to strengthen social connections between the region’s historically family houses on former hospital parking lots. With sweeping views of Downtown and divided income classes. access to a rapid transit station at E. 116th Street, the area seems poised for rediscovery. Who lives here? Connections Shaker Square and Buckeye attract a diverse population, but the dividing lines between Thanks to the Rapid Transit trains, Buckeye and Shaker Square’s public transportation classes and races are stark. Whites, young professionals and students at University Circle connections to Downtown are unparalleled. It’s one of the few places in Cleveland people institutions cluster to the North and East of the Square. Blacks and lower-income residents can live conveniently without a car. The area is also convenient to University Circle — concentrate to the South and West. just a mile or so uphill.

Shaker Square and Buckeye Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 45 Because of the excellent transit options and the full array of retail, the neighborhood is popular with people who want to live a car-free of “car-light” lifestyle. Students also shaker square Profile find the area appealing because of the wide selection of modestly priced apartments — some in better repair than others. Joyce Pan Huang Finally, the easternmost sliver of the neighborhood, though technically in the city of Cleveland, lies within the Shaker Heights school district. Parents who want to live in the Campus Staff Member, city but also to send their kids to prestigious Shaker schools flock to this area. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship

What’s well-known?

Shops and restaurants of Shaker Square Joyce (29) works with college students at Case Western Reserve University and Oberlin College A collection of destination restaurants and neighborhood retail. as part of a national campus ministry. She lived on Shaker Square for six years. Shaker Square Farmers’ Market When I first moved to Cleveland after college, I liked how walkable Shaker Square was, One of the region’s largest and most comprehensive. but also how safe and pretty. Also, I’m Asian American. I appreciated seeing other Asian Americans around, and thinking — yeah, this is a space for me. Larchmere Boulevard

In the first two or three years I tried hard to stay right in the area, walking to everything. Arts and antiques district. Dave’s Supermarket is there, the movie theater. I’d go to Dewey’s Coffee Shop a lot Loganberry Books to work. There was a dry cleaners, my bank, the Rapid. I loved the Shaker Square Farmers Market. Eventually I started driving more because there were certain things I One of Northeast Ohio’s largest independent bookstores. couldn’t get right in the neighborhood — like if I wanted to go to Target, or the gym. Shaker Lakes I think one of the biggest things they could do to improve the neighborhood would be to Linear park lying mostly in adjacent Shaker Heights. attract — not nightlife exactly, but something active for young people to participate in.

Shaker Square aesthetically looks really different from anywhere else in the city. And What’s lesser-known? t feels really different too. The whole neighborhood was built in the 1920s and 1930s. St. Luke’s In some ways that’s good. There’s a lot more green space than much of the city. The Shaker Lakes are right there. Redeveloping former hospital campus, now including a public school, library and new houses. Then again, it never felt very connected to the rest of the city. Just the way the roads are built, it’s hard to get to. You have to be really intentional about getting there. You’re Edwins Leadership and Restaurant Institute not going to drive through on your way somewhere else. Really, the Rapid and the bus Restaurant that provides formerly incarcerated adults hospitality training and a system are the main ways that people are connected to other parts of town. support network for successful re-entry. There’s an interesting mix of people. Around the Square, you have middle class black Cleveland City Dance families, grad students, international students, people from Shaker Heights visiting — mostly for the farmers’ market. I appreciated the fact that I could walk down to Shaker Well-regarded dance school for kids. Square and hear different languages, or just see people living their lives. For example, older African American men would sit outside Dewey’s playing chess. I loved the availability of spaces for all different types of people to interact. I think that’s important, and it’s not something you can find everywhere.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 47 Context and History

Detroit- Neighborhoods with easy access to Lake Erie are scarce in Cleveland. Detroit Shoreway, about three miles Shoreway west of Downtown and named after its two largest thoroughfares, is one of the few exceptions.

Much of the neighborhood’s current pace of revival, in fact, stems from its nearness to Edgewater Park, one of the largest of the city’s lakefront parks. Edgewater offers public beaches — one for humans, one for dogs — along with paved running trails and even a short, hidden woodland trail. Oh, and ice cream from Honey Hut, one of the city’s oldest and most popular ice cream makers.

Germans and Irish originally settled the neighborhood in the mid-19th century, followed by a second wave of Romanians and Italians during Cleveland’s industrial boom. Much evidence of this heritage remains. St. Mary’s Church, on Detroit Avenue, is the oldest Romanian Orthodox church in the U.S. (It’s now part of the Cleveland Public Theatre complex.) Around Herman Avenue and West 69th Street, meanwhile, a close-knit Italian-American community thrives.

As in St. Clair-Superior (see p. 36), the neighborhood organized itself into two sections. An industrial district to the North, closest to the Lake, provided employment to residents of the close-packed neighborhoods to the South. In between lay the main commercial artery, Detroit Avenue. One of the largest industrial complexes was an Eveready Battery factory, now the site of a townhouse development called Battery Park.

Detroit-Shoreway depopulated along with the rest of the city in the 1960s and 1970s. Detroit Avenue became notorious for its rambunctious bars — so much so that Cleveland City Council zoned the area “dry” in the 1970s. (Liquor licenses have only recently begun to be granted again.)

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 49 Present and Future The first seeds of revival took root in the mid-1980s, when actor-lawyer James Levin opened Cleveland Public Theatre in an old vaudeville theater at Detroit Avenue and West 61st Street. The company quickly gained a national reputation for staging experimental Lake Erie theater and for its community outreach programs to youth and former prison populations.

That success was slow to spread. Surrounding blocks continued to suffer from crime and disinvestment. Finally, around 2005, the neighborhood development organization organized a capital campaign to “rebrand” the Detroit Avenue commercial Downtown district as a performing arts district. The campaign had three prongs: To rebuild and Cleveland expand Cleveland Public Theatre; to renovate a 1920s movie-house into a digital Detroit- cinema showing mainstream and art-house fare; and to build a new home for Near West Shoreway Theatre, a youth-community theater company. Cuyahoga River Fast forward to today, and funding goals for all three projects have been met. The Capitol Theatre has been showing movies since 2011. A new building for Near West Theatre is under construction at West 67th and Detroit. And Cleveland Public Theatre’s campus has expanded to encompass a handful of buildings along Detroit, including the former St. Mary’s Church.

Those three projects have helped revive adjacent storefronts. Clothing stores, a coffee shop, restaurants, a record store and an independent bookstore are among the Connections tenants. Meanwhile, new residents are moving into the neighborhood, inhabiting Detroit Shoreway lies about halfway between Downtown and the stable city neighborhood a mix of infill townhouses and historic Victorian houses on West Clinton Avenue and of Edgewater (not to be confused with the park of the same name). Highway and transit Franklin Boulevard. access are good, but not as good as in neighboring Ohio City (see p. 54). For example, The Happy Dog, a 1940s-vintage bar, hits a sweet intersection between the the Rapid Transit station at W. 65th and Lorain lies just far enough from the epicenter of neighborhood’s blue-collar past and its artsy present. It sells gourmet hot dogs (regular redevelopment that many casual transit riders don’t consider it an option. and vegan) and features garage rock bands, performances by the Cleveland Orchestra The city painted bike lanes on Detroit Avenue in 2013, a development cheered by the and science lectures by professors from Case Western Reserve University. near west side’s strong bike advocate community. But Lake Erie and Edgewater Park may be the neighborhood’s greatest assets, and its Until recently, Detroit Shoreway and Ohio City had functioned as isolated islands, with greatest guarantors of continued success. That’s especially true now that the Cleveland a no-man’s land of used car lots along Detroit Avenue separating the two. Hingetown Metroparks have taken over management of Edgewater. (see p. 54), a reviving area that straddles the two districts, has started to fill in the gaps The Metroparks, one of the country’s oldest park districts, had previously confined with renovated storefronts and infill housing. itself mostly to an “emerald necklace” of connecting parks in the suburbs. But in 2013, Detroit Shoreway has been perhaps the most successful of any Cleveland neighborhood it made an unprecedented foray into the city by taking over not only Edgewater but all at achieving social and economic integration. Some of the neighborhood’s best-located of the city’s lakefront parks from the financially-strapped State of Ohio. Improvements housing, nearest the intersection of West 65th and Detroit, is protected as low-income began almost immediately. Formerly trash-strewn beaches now gleam. Tired landscaping housing because of the federal funding used to renovate it years ago. At the same has been spruced. And plans are afoot for new programming and improved trails. time, new and renovated housing options abound for higher-income residents. With plenty of developable space remaining, it seems likely this balance will persist for the foreseeable future.

Detroit-Shoreway Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 51 Who lives here? Detroit Shoreway’s population includes representatives of just about every demographic. Detroit-Shoreway Profile The ethnic and racial mix includes Hispanics, blacks and whites — as well as a small population of Vietnamese. Recently, refugees from Liberia and other African countries Ra Washington have begun to settle here, too, thanks to outreach efforts by local churches. Artists, young professional families and empty nesters flock to the Victorian houses Writer and Co-founder, on West Clinton Avenue and Franklin Boulevard, as well as to the dozen or so new- Guide to Kulchur Bookstore construction townhouse developments scattered throughout the neighborhood. (Generally speaking, the closer to the lake the higher-priced these developments are.)

Ra (44) co-founded Guide to Kulchur Bookstore, adjacent to the Capitol Theatre, in 2013. Longtime residents persist, too, including Romanian and Italian families from the last He also lives in the neighborhood. major wave of European immigration.

When we were looking for a place to open a bookstore, we liked Gordon Square What’s well-known? and Detroit-Shoreway because it was centrally located to the west side and east side. Also, it had enough of an urban walkable feel to it, that we didn’t think it would be out of Cleveland Public Theatre the question for punks and suits to both be around the area and come into the store. Experimental live theater and dance. We didn’t seek out any resources. We came in, we showed our business plan to Detroit Capitol Theatre Shoreway, and we paid the cost to have the storefront. Independent cinema showing art-house and mainstream films. There are three main things we do. One, we sell new and used books. For local authors and local presses, we give them a 100 percent wholesale return on their materials. Happy Dog We sell them to the public for the wholesale amount, and we don’t take a cut. Second, we More than just a bar, a social institution featuring science lectures and performances by run Cleveland Books 2 Prisoners, which is a direct action campaign where prisoners write the Cleveland Orchestra. to the store asking for books by subject or author, and we mail them with no government subsidies or grants. Near West Theatre Community theatre for youth and adults, with an emphasis on human services. The third thing is we run a printing cooperative. We’ve got a range of machines in the store. So if you have a new novel you want to print, we’ll print it for a charge. The workers Edgewater Park in the print shop split the salary wage they get, which is $17 an hour, for each job, and Well-used Cleveland Metroparks reservation, and one of the best places to see a cross- part of it supports the prisoner initiative. section of the neighborhood’s diverse population. The bills get paid, but there are no profits. We mail 350 books to prisoners per week, so any profit from printing and selling books goes to that. What’s lesser-known?

In a lot of ways, I like the way the neighborhood’s changing. But a lot of times when West 69th Street we do a rebranding of an existing neighborhood — it’s not a malicious thing that North of Herman Avenue, the West Side’s version of Little Italy, with close-packed happens, but some people fall through the cracks. When you rebrand, you’re much more storefronts on a hillside tumbling down toward the lake. interested in bringing people into the neighborhood, and sometimes that oversteps the agenda of making a nice environment for people who already live there. I think Tina’s the local organizations could improve in that area. I think they are willing, but they need A biker bar that’s begun to attract hipsters with its karaoke nights. to hear that feedback. 78th Street Studios For example, there could be a program to keep storefront spaces for people within the neighborhood. Some of the spaces could be held and proposals encouraged from Former creative studios for American Greetings, now home to dozens of independent local residents. Or for festivals — making sure the bills contain stuff that’s going to appeal artists and designers. to people who live in the area, not just people who are going to drive here. Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 53 Context and History

Ohio City and Ohio City started out as Cleveland’s sister city, a separate settlement on the west side of the Cuyahoga River. The two Hingetown cities remained rivals — sometimes bitter, sometimes good-natured — for decades. Cleveland eventually gained the upper hand in population growth and political clout, and annexed Ohio City in 1854.

National magazines often cite Ohio City as one of the nation’s most charming neighborhoods. It’s not hard to see why. Brick worker cottages, Queen Anne Victorians and stone mansions line its tangled streets. West 25th Street, the main commercial artery, is one of the city’s most intact commercial districts. It’s anchored by the West Side Market, a public market that’s been in continuous use since 1912 and remains one of Cleveland’s most beloved landmarks.

Despite all this, Ohio City was not immune to the economic decline that diminished so many Cleveland neighborhoods from the 1950s onward. Families with means moved West and South, to newer city neighborhoods and suburbs. Many social services moved into the neighborhood beginning in the 1960s to serve the struggling population.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 55 Ohio City took a few tentative steps toward gentrification in the 1970s and 1980s, but the path back from decline was slow. Persistent crime magnified class and race tensions. Many upper- or middle-class families who made a go of living in the neighborhood gave up the second or third time their house or car got broken into. Lake Erie The lack of quality public education options was another factor that drove many young families away.

At the same time, residents differed on the extent to which they wanted the neighborhood Ohio City and to change. Some were adamant that all parts of the neighborhood remain accessible to Hingetown Downtown lower-income families. Others believed it was OK for some areas to gentrify completely. Cleveland

Present and Future Only in the last four or five years has Ohio City become truly “mainstream.” It’s now top-of-mind for college grads and young professionals looking to settle in Northeast Cuyahoga River Ohio. Infill housing nestles alongside carefully renovated cottages — some built before the Civil War — and Victorians.

Families are also giving the neighborhood a fresh look. This is thanks in part to the Intergenerational School, a charter school inaugurated in 2011 on a model developed in Shaker Square (see p. 42). It’s providing a quality public education option within walking distance of the neighborhood’s heart.

West 25th Street has also attained a new stability. The West Side Market is enjoying a Connections higher-than-ever profile thanks to its centennial in 2012. New anchors are also arriving. Ohio City is only a mile or so west of Downtown, but it feels farther. The main reason Mitchell’s Ice Cream, a popular regional ice cream chain, moved its manufacturing for this is that the Cuyahoga River valley (the Flats, see p. 18) separates the neighborhood operations to the street and opened a flagship store. The Cleveland Hostel (see p. 58) from the city’s heart. Some unfortunate urban renewal efforts dating from the 1960s, and Room Service, a home furnishings boutique, are among other recent arrivals. particularly at the north end of West 25th Street, also give the area a sense of remove.

Urban agriculture also enjoys a strong foothold here. Refugee Reponse, a nonprofit that Still, Ohio City enjoys stronger transit connections to Downtown than almost any other helps refugees settle in Ohio, runs a six-acre farm just behind the West Side Market. city neighborhood. There’s a Rapid Transit station at West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue, It’s one of the largest urban farms in the nation, and one of the most dramatically sited, near the West Side Market. Several city buses also pass through this intersection on with sweeping views of Downtown. their way between Downtown and points West or South.

A formerly marginal area around West 29th Street and Detroit Avenue — a mile or The neighborhood’s also a favorite of bicyclists. Bicycle lanes on Detroit Avenue and so from the neighborhood’s epicenter — has seen intensive redevelopment in the past the Detroit-Superior Bridge encourage a two-wheeled journey downtown. few years. Developers call it Hingetown (the “hinge” between Ohio City and neighboring Detroit Shoreway). Its most glamorous focal point is the Transformer Station, a West Tension over gentrification continues. At present, there are two Ohio Cities: one for Side outpost of the Cleveland Museum of Art in a former electrical transformer recent, moneyed arrivals and one for longtime residents and visitors to the neighborhood’s station. Apartments and independent retail have sprung up around it, including a tea social services. It remains to be seen whether the former population, as it grows, will shop, spinning studio and pet supply store. continue to make space for the latter.

Ohio City and Hingetown Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 57 What’s well-known?

ohio city Profile West Side Market 100-year-old public food market, featuring dozens of produce and meat stands. Mark Raymond St. Ignatius High School One of the city’s best-known Catholic schools for boys. Owner, Cleveland Hostel Mitchell’s Ice Cream Factory and flagship store for regional high-end ice cream chain.

Transformer Station Cleveland Museum of Art’s West Side outpost, featuring rotating exhibits. Mark (33) runs Cleveland’s only dedicated hostel in Ohio City. He opened in 2012 and lives Fairview Park and Kentucky Garden in an apartment in the building. City park and connected community garden, an original Victory garden dating from Even back when I was in college, I’d look online at apartments and houses in Ohio City. between the World Wars. It was a walkable neighborhood even then with a supermarket and restaurants. It was close to Downtown and the Red Line. That was something that set it apart — how Great Lakes Brewing Company walkable it was. Pioneering craft brewing company, takes up an entire city block.

Those were the same reasons I thought of it for the hostel. There are a lot of things Market Plaza to do within walking distance. That was important because I knew a lot of our Large public square hosts events and concerts in the summer. guests wouldn’t have cars. I always tell guests there are so many connections to Downtown — you can walk, bike, take the Rapid. There are eight different bus lines that go through this intersection. What’s lesser-known?

So far, the hostel’s doing really well. People definitely appreciate the location, especially Horizontal Books if they’re coming from the airport. They can just hop on the Red Line and get here Deep discount, remaindered books. without needing a car or a taxi. I take them up on the rooftop, point out Downtown, the West Side Market, orient them to the city that way. South of Lorain Area south of Lorain -- called “SoLo” by some realtors. One woman who stayed had grown up in the area but now she lives in Seattle with kids and a family. She’s stayed at the hostel a couple times, and now she’s planning to Carnegie West Branch, Cleveland Public Library move back. I can’t say the hostel’s the only reason — but it let her meet more people, An original Carnegie library with a large meeting space downstairs. experience more of a real neighborhood than she would have experienced in a hotel. The Cleveland Hostel So much new stuff is opening here, which is exciting. But one thing I’d like to see is Cleveland’s first and so far only hostel. more attention on the older businesses that have been here for decades, doing their thing. They tend to get lost in the shuffle. I’m thinking about places like Nate’s Deli, BuckBuck Fridrich Bicycle, Steve’s Lunch, even some of the older stands at the West Side Market. Art gallery “devoted to exploring and fostering personal and public creativity.” These are family-run businesses, and they attract a much wider cross section of people than the newer spots do. You’ll see everyone in these places — lawyers, Hansa Import Haus bankers, shop owners, families. I think it’s important to preserve that. European imports and Slovenian brewpub.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 59 Context and History

Tremont If any formerly down-on-its-luck Cleveland neighborhood has beaten a full path back from decline, it’s Tremont. Almost every square inch of the neighborhood’s heart, wedged between Interstate 90 and the west bank of the Cuyahoga River, is now spoken for. Some of the city’s highest-end infill projects are located here, many boasting views of the river or Downtown skyline. Available apartments attract a clamor of almost San Franciscan scale, with eager renters plunking down full deposits on their first viewing just to reserve a place.

It’s not a future anyone would have predicted until recently. Tremont first developed in the 19th century as a working-class neighborhood. The houses were small and simple, their chief attraction being their proximity to jobs down in the industrial valley. The many ethnicities who flocked to the neighborhood for work also built grand churches — one on almost every block.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 61 Once cars became popular, that proximity — and the attendant smoke and pollution of the factories — became a liability. People began moving away in droves. White flight contributed to the exodus, until by the 1970s the neighborhood became a favorite target of arsonists. Lake Erie

Deindustrialization, ironically, helped this particular neighborhood revive. No longer as polluted as it once was, and within spitting distance of Downtown, Tremont began to attract a trickle of artists and young professionals in the 1990s. Galleries abounded, and the monthly Tremont Art Walk was inaugurated, emboldening Downtown suburbanites to visit. Around the same time, future celebrity chef Michael Symon opened Lola Bistro here. Other restauranteurs followed, making the area a culinary hotspot. Cleveland

Present and Future Tremont Tremont’s no longer just a destination neighborhood for fine dining and art. It’s now Cuyahoga River one of the most desirable places to live in Cuyahoga County. One need only witness the competitiveness of an apartment open house here to understand the extent to which Tremont has “made it.” Swanky townhouse projects complete the picture of a neighborhood at its peak popularity.

Not everything’s hoity-toity. A public housing project, Valleyview Estates, was recently rebuilt as mixed-income neighborhood of townhouses to better integrate it into the surrounding housing stock. It sits immediately adjacent to the neighborhood’s Early in the neighborhood’s redevelopment, this separateness was an asset. It gave best-known brunch spot, Lucky’s Café. residents a real or perceived sense of distance from the chaos of the city at large. The commercial district along Professor Avenue also thrives. Restaurants dominate Now, though, there’s a growing desire for better connections to Ohio City, in particular. the mix, but there’s plenty of merchandise retail and a few galleries, too. One of the This is starting to be realized with a new streetscape and public spaces along Abbey few things missing is a full-scale grocery store. Avenue, the main connector between the two districts. At least one developer is eyeing As the neighborhood’s center approaches capacity, development is spreading south the empty lots along this street for a comprehensive redevelopment. and west. These more outlying areas are likely to fill out even faster as the Towpath Strengthening Abbey Avenue will also give Tremonters easier access to the West 25th Trail — a 120-mile multiuse trail reaching from Downtown Cleveland to south Street Rapid station. This is a welcome prospect in a neighborhood lacking great transit of Akron— nears completion. Its route will follow the curves of the Cuyahoga River at connections to Downtown. the neighborhood’s edge. The Towpath Trail, aside from serving as an amenity in itself, will connect the Connections neighborhood to one of the region’s most unsung assets: the Cuyahoga Valley Tremont stands isolated from its closest surrounding neighborhoods, Ohio City National Park, preserving 20,000 acres of rolling Appalachian Plateau between and Downtown, due to the river valley and the interstate freeway system. Cleveland and Akron.

Tremont Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 63 What’s well-known?

tremont Profile Lincoln Park The neighborhood’s center, with a municipal pool and live arts events in the summer. Patricia Lozano Top-Tier Restaurants Many of the region’s top chefs operate restaurants here; big names include Michael Anesthesiologist, Cleveland Clinic Symon, Rocco Whalen and Dante Boccuzzi.

Art Walk The neighborhood’s independent artists and galleries roll out the red carpet the second Friday of every month.

Patricia (49) grew up in Colombia and has lived in the Cleveland area for about 10 years. Sokolowski’s University Inn Old-style Polish cafeteria-style restaurant has drawn raves from the likes of Anthony I moved to Tremont three years ago. Before that, I lived in the suburbs for seven years. Bourdain and the James Beard Foundation. I got tired of it! All the houses looked the same, there wasn’t much diversity, not much that you can walk to. Steelyard Commons Massive big-box development on remediated steel plant site. Tremont doesn’t seem like a made-up city, like in the suburbs. Everything was so pretty there, the front yards and so on, but here it’s unique. You can be more yourself, I guess. A Christmas Story House One of the things I love about Tremont is that there are a lot of places you can walk. The house used in the classic holiday movie A Christmas Story is now a museum. There are a lot of independent shops. Loop Coffee I especially love because you can find old records and art by locals. What’s lesser-known? You find people from all races, people of all different economic statuses. I like that — Visible Voice Books to be able to mingle with everybody. I’m a foreigner, I’m from Colombia. I like seeing all kinds of people — Latinos, black people, white people. Everyone’s enjoying the same Independent bookstore. neighborhood. Even if not everyone can go to the fancy restaurants, you still have Tremont Montessori something like Lincoln Park. You see everybody there — kids playing, dogs playing. It’s more like what I’m used to in Colombia. We’re a country of mixed races. Public school popular with young families.

I also like the fact that it’s convenient. My commute time to the Clinic is 15 minutes. Clark Field I’m not using a lot of gas. I use my bike sometimes, in the summer especially. Athletic fields and dog run. Cleveland’s more bike-friendly than it was before, more bike routes, which is nice to see. Animal Protective League Nonprofit humane society shelter. I would like to see it become even more bike friendly. I want to see the Towpath Trail [a multi-use trail planned to link Downtown to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park] Ukrainian Museum-Archives connected to the neighborhood. The other thing is the schools. One of my neighbors — Preserving Ukrainian history and culture. he moved out to Lakewood because his kid was turning 5. It was time for him to go to school. The guy didn’t want to leave, but he wanted a good school for his kid. If we had better schools, I think that would attract a lot of people, especially families.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 65 Cleveland’s Urban Agriculture Movement

Urban agriculture — growing food within city limits to reduce carbon emissions and boost the local economy — has become trendy all over the nation.

But few cities have embraced the movement or pioneered as many creative practices to support city farmers as Cleveland. Projects and legal language crafted here have become models for cities nationwide.

Part of what’s allowed Cleveland to be so daring is its abundance of vacant land. Deindustrialization and depopulation have meant that about 3,300 acres of former factory sites and house lots now stand empty — about 6 percent of the city’s area. For years, leaders clung to the hope that all the land would return to conventionally productive uses — that factories and homes would return.

The foreclosure crisis of 2008-2009, and the wave of house demolitions that followed, forced a modification to that thinking. Leaders realized that even if Cleveland were to boom again, it would take years or decades for all the empty space to fill in. Urban agriculture was a logical interim solution. It provided clear economic and environmental benefits — jobs for the unemployed, keeping food expenditures local, reduced emissions — but could also be temporary, if demand returned for higher- Special intensity land uses. Topics Below are some of the novel urban agriculture approaches pioneered or adopted in Cleveland. Many were spearheaded by the Ohio State University Extension and the related Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition.

“Chickens and Bees Ordinance” Approved in 2008, legal language to allow city residents to keep chickens and bees in their backyards.

Urban Grazing The city has permitted pilot programs in St. Clair Superior and other neighborhoods to allow sheep to graze vacant lots. The double purpose is to encourage urban agriculture and reduce city mowing costs.

Urban Vineyards and Orchards Entrepreneurs received city funding as part of the Reimagining Cleveland effort to build vineyards and orchards on urban properties.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 67 Green City Growers Transit-Oriented Development. Particularly along the Red Line rapid transit line, One of the Evergreen Cooperatives of the Greater University Circle Initiative (see p. 27) is for-profit and nonprofit developers are focusing on projects within walking distance of this 3.25-acre greenhouse to supply greens to area hospitals. transit stops. For example, plans are afoot to redevelop property adjacent to the West 25th Street station in Ohio City. Gardening for Greenbacks Grants up to $5,000 to help urban farmers establish themselves. Rebuilding and Moving Stations. Some of Cleveland’s transit stations are poorly maintained or inconveniently located. A campaign to rebuild or relocate stations is Refugee Response Ohio City Farm therefore underway. For example, an old station located at the periphery of University A 6-acre farm and sales booth in Ohio City (see p. 54), providing employment for Circle (see p. 30) will move to the neighborhood’s heart by 2015. recent refugees. Bicycle Advocacy. Bike Cleveland, an advocacy group to promote bicycle ridership in Greater Cleveland, launched in 2011 with strong support from local foundations. Its successes to date include new bike lanes on major arteries and greater integration of Public Transportation biking and transit (for example, permission to take bikes on trains). There are some signs that these efforts are having a positive effect. The HealthLine has in Cleveland boosted transit ridership on Euclid Avenue by 60 percent since the project’s launch, Northeast Ohio is a driving region. Most people with economic means own vastly exceeding projections. And the transit system overall continues to post modest a private car, and they do much of their getting around on four wheels. gains, with a 2 percent increase in 2013 over 2012.

For many people, this works fine. Traffic in the region barely registers on the radar compared with other major metropolitan areas. Even at rush hour, most people’s commutes clock in at under half an hour. The Truth About the Class and race tensions reinforce this regional preference for the car. Many affluent Burning River suburbanites perceive public transit as being only for poor or black people. In case you hadn’t heard, the Cuyahoga River burned. Some observers say the region’s automobile orientation is its greatest obstacle to achieving environmental, social and economic integration. How are people supposed It’s a fact Clevelanders love to mention to out of towners — probably partly out of to connect across socioeconomic lines when they spend so much of their time cocooned shame and partly out of some desire to reclaim that shame and turn it into a point of in their cars? How will disinvested neighborhoods revive when they’re so easily bypassed pride. The flaming river is also the namesake of a few local institutions. To whit: Burning for the suburbs? How can the region become more sustainable when its land-use River Pale Ale, a local microbrew; the Burning River Roller Girls, an all-female roller patterns continue to be so expansive? derby; and Burning River Lacrosse.

There’s also growing evidence that younger people seek out transit- and bicycle-friendly You can’t exactly blame us. For more than a decade after the most famous river fire, cities when deciding where to live. How can Cleveland be more competitive in attracting in 1969, Cleveland became the nation’s laughing stock. During Ronald Reagan’s inaugural this demographic? gala in 1981, comedian Rich Little said the best way to keep Russia from invading Poland was to rename it Cleveland — “nobody wants to go there.” (Little later apologized With these questions in mind, a growing number of public and private agencies are for the joke.) collaborating to boost alternatives to the car. Here are some of the projects and initiatives to get people thinking of other ways to travel: The thinking went like this: Only a city fundamentally unmoored, lost and without a shred of self-regard, could have a river so dirty it burned. Right? The Euclid Corridor HealthLine. This “bus rapid transit” line (see p. 26) mimics a train, with limited stops and dedicated stations. A similar project is now underway for Clifton Wrong. New York City, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia — all had waterways that burned. Boulevard, linking the city with the densely populated inner ring suburb of Lakewood. Repeatedly. In the early part of the 20th century, before pollution regulations took effect,

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 69 such conflagrations didn’t even make news. The Cuyahoga River alone burned multiple were the number of small independent firms; the proportion of the population with times, with the 1969 blaze causing only minor property damage. college degrees; and January temperature.

So why did that particular fire seize the nation’s attention? For two reasons. One,Time Cleveland doesn’t do so great in the January temperature department — and probably magazine happened to feature it in an issue that turned out to be one of the best-selling never will, even given climate change. (The average high for the month hovers just above in its history. (The cover of the issue featured Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick scandal.) freezing.) So local leaders have instead focused on supporting small companies and Two, the fire occurred at the dawn of the environmental movement in the U.S., with young startups and boosting educational attainment. Americans in particular waking up to the horrors of unregulated industrial pollution. Here are some of the initiatives in place to improve the city’s standing in those areas: The fire’s infamy had a silver lining for the nation, if not for Cleveland’s reputation. All Bizdom. A startup accelerator that gives seed funding and mentorship to tech-based the media attention led to passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, which imposed strict startups in the city’s urban core. Dan Gilbert, chairman of Quicken Loans Inc. and new regulations on industrial dumping in waterways. owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, started the program. Another office in Detroit. Thanks in part to those regulations, the Cuyahoga River has made a comeback. It’s hardly Jumpstart. Works with early-stage companies on raising funding, hiring employees pristine, but the oily debris and chemical sludge that caused the fires of the last century and testing new products. Also has its own funds to invest. are a distant memory. Especially upriver, native fish species and insects have returned to waters once left for dead. Bad Girl Ventures. Provides education, access to capital and mentorship for women entrepreneurs. Other offices in Columbus and Cincinnati.

LaunchHouse. Coworking space and startup accelerator where entrepreneurs have access to potential investors and business partners. Current location in Shaker Heights, Entrepreneurship planned new location in Tremont.

in Cleveland incFuse. An online platform that provides information and social connections for A climate of entrepreneurship has long been a predictor of city success. small-scale entrepreneurs. Administered by the Council of Small Enterprises (COSE). Economists say this willingness to take risks is one of the main reasons places Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland. An initiative of Cleveland Mayor like Silicon Valley and New York and Chicago are doing so well. The constant Frank Jackson to “increase the number of Cleveland students who are ready for, have experimentation and churning of ideas in those cities leads to lots of little access to, and persist in college.” A current campaign focuses on encouraging high failures — but also a few big successes. school students to complete their applications for federal financial aid. Cleveland — like its older industrial sister cities Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Detroit — Global Cleveland. Seeks to attract educated or entrepreneurial newcomers — including has historically received less-than-stellar marks on most measures of entrepreneurship. immigrants from abroad and transplants from other metro areas — to Cleveland through Why? Economist Benjamin Chinitz said the main reason was “vertical integration.” such initiatives as job fairs and networking events. The dominance of a few giant manufacturing interests in places like Cleveland, he said, constrained entrepreneurial creativity. It also discouraged people from getting college The Fund for Our Economic Future. A philanthropic collaboration that aims to “promote degrees, since jobs in factories didn’t require higher education. This dominance good jobs, vibrant cities and communities, and equitable access to opportunity” continued to be felt even after big manufacturing companies faded and began to bleed in Northeast Ohio. jobs after World War II. NorTech. “A technology-focused organization that strengthens Northeast Ohio’s So what can Cleveland do to encourage entrepreneurship? economic vitality by accelerating the pace of innovation in the region.”

In a 2009 analysis for The New York Times, Harvard economics professor SEA Change. “A collaborative initiative that transforms big ideas into social Edward L. Glaeser wrote that the three greatest predictors of urban entrepreneurship entreprises, improving communities in Northeast Ohio.”

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 71 Some experts say Cleveland is lucky. Because there’s less development Every city faces the same basic pressure here than in more fashionable cities, Cleveland can be inclusive challenge: How to connect in its planning and thoughtful about its future in ways other cities cannot. Hot-market cities are constantly trying to play catch-up, says Victor Rubin, people, places and institutions vice president for research for the national research group PolicyLink. with each other in ways that Development pressures build so quickly that there’s little chance to get “out front” of them. Rampant gentrification and displacement can be the result. generate new energy and new Slower-growth regions such as Cleveland, on the other hand, can “seek capital while uplifting the lives investment in disinvested neighborhoods but do it in a way that has a viable plan for mixed used and mixed income development,” Rubin says. Only time of real people. will tell if Cleveland can fully capitalize on this opportunity, but nuanced redevelopment approaches in places such as University Circle, Downtown and Detroit-Shoreway bode well.

In the meantime, Cleveland, like all cities, will continue to experiment in search of that “intricate ballet,” in the words of Jane Jacobs, “in which the individual dancers and ensembles all have distinctive parts which miraculously reinforce each other and compose an orderly whole.”

That’s the thrill and the promise of urban life the world over: the opportunity to take part in the dance.

Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide 73 Notes Notes Notes Notes Cleveland: A Connected City Field Guide Produced by CEOs for Cities www.ceosforcities.org