Northern District of Division

The United States District

Ashtabula Court for the Northern Lake Euclid Cleveland District of Ohio holds Lorain Cleveland Heights Lakewood Cuyahoga Geaugav Parma court in Cleveland, Elyria Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown. These Lorain Medina courts collectively serve citizens of the

Ashland Crawford 40 most northern counties in Ohio. Richland The Cleveland Division serves nine counties: Ashland, Ashtabula, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, and Richland. Jurors in the venue are randomly selected from a voter registration database that is maintained by the Secretary of State. Jurors sit in juries of six to twelve members according to the discretion of the presiding judge.

Cleveland was settled in 1796 by General Moses Cleveland during his search for a location for the Connecticut Western Reserve. Initially, the harsh weather and landscape did not entice many settlers to locate to the area in the early years; however, but once the Ohio and Erie Canal was finished in 1832, the city began to grow rapidly. Now that the city served as a fundamental connector between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, it transitioned to a manufacturing and business center for the region. Cleveland was a destination for the iron and coal being mined in the area and continued to grow as a manufacturing hub throughout the early 20th century. Automobile manufacturing was especially booming and included companies such as Peerless, Chandler, Winton, and Baker. In 1920, the city grew to become the nation’s fifth largest city, due in large part to its economic prosperity. After the Great Depression, Cleveland hosted the as a way to revitalize the area, and the city continued to experience growth and prosperity through World War II. Cleveland reached its peak population of over 900,000 in 1950. Even the sports teams were thriving – the Indians won the 1948 World Series, and the Browns were dominant in the NFL in the 1950s. The city was even declared

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018 the “best location in the nation” by an advertising campaign by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co., a phrase which later became part of the local vocabulary. During the 1960s, the economy slowed, and residents started moving from the city to the suburbs—greatly reducing the population—a trend which has continued into today.

During the Civil Rights Movement, Cleveland experienced riots and social unrest. The decline of surrounding neighborhoods in the downtown corridor was aggravated by the mandated desegregation in 1977 and the racial tensions that followed. In December of 1978, Cleveland became the first major American city to enter into financial default on federal loans since the Great Depression. The city continued to struggle during the following years as economic difficulties persisted, coupled with a fire on the , eventually earning the city the title, “The Mistake on the Lake.” There were several attempts at redevelopment since the 1960s, which have only been moderately successful. The Cleveland 2000 “Civic Vision” plan resulted in developments that included the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great Lakes Science Center. Other projects included new sports arenas and the redevelopment of the “” downtown, but ultimately none of these were able to reverse the effects of decline, which are still evident today. In recent years, Cleveland has seen a slight improvement and has shifted its focus from industrial and manufacturing sectors to tech and biotechnology.

The metropolitan area is the largest in Ohio and the 33rd largest in the U.S. A total of 2,378,521 people live in the nine-county venue. Cuyahoga County is the most populous county in the venue, comprised of 53 percent of the population. No other county represents more than thirteen percent of the venue. Cuyahoga is also the most ethnically diverse. Two affluent suburban counties – Geauga (94,020) and Medina (175,543) – represent four and seven percent of the venue, respectively. While the region is the most diverse in the state, Whites still make up a large majority of the venue’s population. However, the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites has been on the decline for the past several decades, while Asian and Hispanic populations are both growing.

Cuyahoga County lost 4,940 people from 2016 to 2017, the third biggest decline in the country. Only Baltimore County (5,310) and Cook County (20,093) lost more. Additionally, the Cleveland-Elyria metro area also fell in to the bottom 10 for population growth among metro areas with more than 500,000 residents, coming in with a 0.1 percent drop.

Population Cleveland Division Cuyahoga County

Total Population 2,378,521 1,258,710 White 73.3% 60.0% Hispanic 4.9% 5.4% Black 17.6% 29.4% Asian 1.9% 2.8%

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018 While the venue’s educational attainment averages match overall Ohio levels closely, considerable disparity exists between counties. For example, only 13 percent of Crawford and Ashtabula County residents have a four-year college degree or higher; all other counties are at 20 percent or greater with the highest being 37 percent for Geauga County.

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District is the largest in the state of Ohio, serving over 40,000 students. The inner-city schools have historically been mired with problems. Ohio State has instituted a report card-style grading system for the state’s school districts. The bottom three of the bottom four districts are located within Cuyahoga County (East Cleveland, Cleveland, and Warrensville Heights districts). Conversely, two of the top five districts are also in Cuyahoga County (Beachwood and Solon Districts). Not surprisingly, the districts with the highest median incomes score better than those with the lowest incomes.

Education Cleveland Division Cuyahoga County

High School or Less 42.3% 39.8% Some College or Associate’s Degree 29.9% 29.3% Bachelor’s Degree 17.0% 18.2% Graduate or Professional Degree 10.8% 12.7%

Ohio has been both a battleground and bellwether in national elections, having voted for the winning Presidential candidate in every election since 1964. Historically, Cleveland has voted Democrat in support of the industrial and manufacturing unions, but the state has been nearly split evenly between registered Democrats and Republicans, and that remains true today. The outlying counties are more varied, with Ashland and Crawford Counties having the highest percentage of votes for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

After a five-year long investigation by the FBI, several Cuyahoga County officials were found guilty of multiple corruption charges. Among them was Frank Russo, the former county auditor, who pled guilty in 2010 for 21 different crimes, the most brazen being accepting more than $1million in bribes in exchange for over $21 million in real estate appraisal contracts. Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora was sentenced to 28 years in prison for racketeering and 32 other bribery and corruption related charges. Over 100 people have been implicated in the scandal.

In April of 2018, Ohio Speaker Cliff Rosenerger resigned in yet another political scandal after the FBI launched an investigation into his travel and expenses. This recent history of political and corporate corruption has fostered a sense of cynicism and skepticism among residents of Ohio, which could potentially effect their perceptions of corporations, executives, and politicians.

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018 2016 Presidential Clinton Trump Election Ashland County 23.5% 71.3% Ashtabula County 38.2% 57.2% Crawford County 24.2% 70.9% Cuyahoga County 65.8% 30.8% Geauga County 35.2% 60.7% Lake County 39.9% 55.5% Lorain County 47.5% 47.8% Medina County 35.3% 60.2% Richland County 29.1% 66.6%

Geauga County has the highest median income in the venue at $74,165, while Crawford has the lowest at $40,563. Only Geauga ($74,165), Medina ($69,319), and Lake ($59,958) Counties have a median income above the national average ($59,039). Although the median household income of Cuyahoga County ($45,289) is near the state median, the city of Cleveland tells a different story with the median income of just over $26,000, not even half of the national average.

Home prices in the area have been slowly on the rise. In 2017, home prices in Cuyahoga County have gone up 6.9 percent, and are predicted to go up at least 3 percent within the next year. Garfield Heights, Cleveland, University Heights, and Olmsted Township had some neighborhoods that saw home prices go up more than 10 percent while Cleveland had the highest increase at 14 percent. Suburban cities rose to nearly 4 percent.

Household Data Cleveland Division Cuyahoga County

Median Value of Home $134,422 $122,200 Median Household Income $50,083 $45,289 Home Ownership 65.7% 58.9%

Although Cleveland experienced suburbanization and the decline of heavy manufacturing throughout the late 20th century, Cleveland’s economy has become diversified and more service-oriented, with growth in the financial, insurance, legal, and healthcare sectors. The metropolitan area began to slowly recover under the administrations of mayors George Vionovich and Michael R. White. Redevelopment within the city limits has been strongest in the downtown area near the Gateway complex, which includes and Quicken Loans Arena, as well as near , where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stadium, and the Great Lakes Science Center are located.

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018 Traditionally, manufacturing has been the primary industry of . Dubbed “Polymer Valley,” the metropolitan Cleveland area has the largest concentration of polymer companies in the U.S. For example, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the world’s largest tire company, is headquartered in nearby Akron. Northeast Ohio is home to 935 industry firms – nearly 70 foreign-owned – and employs more than 26,000 polymer workers. The area’s other manufacturing companies are engaged in commerce, such as, the automotive industry, fabricated metals, electrical and electronic equipment, and control instruments. Manufacturing makes up 83 percent of Northeast Ohio’s exports, compared to only 65 percent for US exports. In particular, the exports for medical equipment devices have increased at the highest rate (112%). The region is home to nearly 400 medical device companies, including Philips, GE Healthcare, Steris, and Hitachi, which all have headquarters in the area.

There are more than 168 engineering firms located in the Cleveland metro area that support the manufacturing industry. These firms engage in civil engineering, construction, and the burgeoning field of information technology. Several local institutions support the science and engineering fields including the engineering schools of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, and the University of Akron. The NASA John H. and the American Society for Metals are both located in the venue along with the headquarters of Applied Industrial Technologies, Eaton, Forest City Enterprises, Sherwin Williams Company, and KeyCorp. Additionally, oil and gas has become a very active industry in the region, with the Northeast Ohio region situated right above deposits in the Utica and Marcellus shales.

Cleveland has worked to improve its infrastructure and investments in the arts and is now considered an exemplar for public-private partnerships. However, the city continues to cope with some neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty problems and face challenges to the funding and delivery of high- quality public education.

Major Employers in Cleveland Division

Government and Education Finance and Insurance Manufacturing and Energy • U.S. Office of Personnel • Progressive Insurance • General Motors Management • KeyCorp • First Energy • Cuyahoga County • National City • Swagelok • City of Cleveland Medical and Healthcare • Sherwin-Williams • State of Ohio • Food Services • Cleveland Municipal School • University Hospitals • Giant Eagle District • MetroHealth Systems Consulting • Case Western Reserve University • Group Management Services

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018 The following resources were used in the construction of this document: Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau Cleveland Plus Cleveland State University Cleveland.com CNN Crains Cleveland Encyclopedia of Cleveland History Office of Policy, Research and Strategic Planning Ohio Development Services Agency U.S. Census Bureau

www.thefocalpoint.com | © The Focal Point LLC 2018