Top 10 Reasons to Love Northeast Ohio

My appreciation of Northeast Ohio has grown over the years just like my appreciation of my wife. Sometimes we have something really good in front of us and we only see the bad stuff. Yes, 1/4 of the year, the weather is gloomy and depressing. But 2/4 of the year, it is as good as any place in the country. What do we see - the good or the bad. There is always the possibility of bolting for warmer, sunnier climes during the gloomy season. This area is so diverse, so full of things that are so wonderful.

In 2005, I bought properties in Georgia and Tennessee thinking we would move one of those two places. I bought a selection thinking that whatever wasn't the place to live, it would be an "investment".  Currently my investments are for sale at 50% off - don't have me make real estate investments on your behalf.  Nine years later, I live in Brecksville and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.  We are 13 miles from Cleveland and 25 miles from Akron so we live near both but I would say this post probably has a slight Cleveland bias. I am still learning Akron assets. So here goes - my top 10. Yours might be different and probably is.  First 5 in this blog post and next 5 in the next one.

#10 - Little Bit of Country, Little Bit of City

I really like that I can ride my bike not too far from me (even in Cuyahoga County) and I can be in the country.  I have lived in the Chicago and New York areas and it is a lot harder to find country. When we lived in Aurora, I would bike about 10 miles from our house and I was in Amish country. We had Amish builders on our house. Every Labor Day, we make a trek to the Great Geauga County Fair where we look at pig butts (as Debsue says), eat onion rings and drink 4H milkshakes. We are in the country, yet we are also in a city with all of the city amenities. Best of both worlds.

#9 - A Manageable City

This one is quite similar to #10, but slightly different. Our city is very manageable. What I mean by that is it is fairly easy to get around and navigate. From our house in Brecksville downtown is 17 minutes with no traffic. Traffic here is nothing compared to other cities. Have you driven in LA, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C.  I missed a flight in Baltimore driving from Dulles, VA 30 miles away as I was in traffic 3 hours. Even smaller cities can be challenging. Our rush hour commuting delay is usually around 10 minutes. I commuted downtown for 7 years and it is really nothing. Yes, we would love to have a better RTA system, but it isn't terrible. From one end of the city to the other is a few minutes. There is a reason why Cleveland's downtown residence is now at 98% occupancy.

#8 - Museums

I am not a museum junkie and that is why this one is probably number 8 on my list. We have a plethora (using a big word because of the topic) of museums. And they are top rate. The Cleveland Museum of Art is massive and just underwent a major renovation.  The Museum of Natural History is going through a similar renovation. By the lakefront is of course the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and the Science Center. In Akron, you have the Inventors Hall of Fame. In Canton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Specialty museums, normal museums, quirky museums - we have them all.

#7 - Blossom Music Center and the Cleveland Orchestra

A city of less than 500,000 has one of the world's renowned orchestras seems almost too good to true. Every summer, Debsue and I principally have a staycation where we stay in the area. We love being here in  the summer and one of the reasons is to go to Blossom Music Center and hear the Cleveland Orchestra.  We get season passes each summer and sit on the lawn - it is the perfect place to hear the orchestra and the perfect venue to be with friends, drink wine or beer, and eat dinner.

#6 - World Renowned Health System

It is hard not to think of Cleveland without thinking of our world class medical care. Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are best in class. Now we have added the Global Center for Medical Innovation (formerly known as the Medical Mart), the only facility in the world that demonstrates the future of health and health care. One time a friend who is in medical care in Cleveland once asked me if there was any better place in the world you could get sick and not worry about the quality of health care. He was right.

#5 -  Neighborhood Diversity and Charm

I learned this one early on when I started living here. Do you live on the east side or the west side? Side note - we now live in Brecksville and there is a running debate on whether this is east side or west side. If you use Route 77 as your divisor, we live on the east side. If you use the national park, we live on the west side. Maybe we can claim both! Cleveland is a city known for its neighborhoods. Shaker Square, Gordon Square, Tremont, Ohio City are examples of some of our favorite "neighborhoods". In Ohio City, there is the West Side Market, the oldest operating indoor/outdoor market. We love to visit there, buy great produce, Ohio City pasta and from time to time fritters and Steve's gyros. One of the things we love the most is the people we see at the West Side Market. In Tremont, there is Grumpy's, in Gordon Square, the Happy Dog.  There seems to be a decided food theme to this one.

I will continue this post - I have been writing over an hour.  Bottom line - I love Northeast Ohio.  No one should be surprised that anyone would want to live here. There is so much to love and we are only through the first five.

Northeast Ohio: What's Not to Like?

What a week for Cleveland and the broader Northeast Ohio region. First, we are awarded the Republican National Convention and then Lebron (this is one of the few athletes who is referred to by first name only and everyone knows who he is) comes home. The way he did it and the communication through SI was first rate. Literally brought tears to my eyes. This is not my normal blogging pattern, but I feel compelled to write about why I love living here.

I have lived in Northeast Ohio for 42 of my 54 years. I was born here, I came here from college and have stayed (other than a year courting my wife). I have lived other places (Northern New Jersey, Western Chicago, Western Michigan), but this has always and will be my home (at least on this earth). I find it incredulous that people draw conclusions about NE Ohio having never lived her. They draw it from conjecture and misinformation. Ask my wife - a Chicago transplant who loves living here.

I have conducted business in this city since 1988 (seems like yesterday) when I left a secure job at KPMG and went into my first startup business. Over the years, I have gotten to know a lot of people in this area simply because my work gets me out and about. My wife and I joke how about almost inevitably I run into people I know. I have been honored to be put into leadership positions that serve as a kind of ambassador for the city and region. I am part of the Leadership Cleveland class of 2013 and I learned so much about the city during that year. I am also part of LC II which did the initial research on implementing a new water taxi system that was handed off to the Cleveland Metroparks. In other words, I have lived and breathed the region.

This is why it is not surprising to me that Lebron James would come back to this area. Some of us look superficially at our home and say "it is not New York City or Los Angeles or Chicago", larger cities with more to offer. I don't begrudge my children who have chosen to live in NYC, Washington D.C., and Chicago respectively. They have each done so for different reasons and I think it is great for them. Some of us look at the weather here and want to live in warmer climates or sunnier climates. That is certainly my challenge - no question the weather here stinks about 3 months of the year. I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that is managed through Vitamin D supplements. However, the summers and falls are almost perfect. It is what you choose to see and appreciate. Getting out of here for a week or two during the peek depression season seems to do the trick.

The last few years have made me appreciate my home area that much more. I love and appreciate its distinctiveness. I love the size - not too big, not too small. I love the people, the best part. In my next blog, I will rank my top 10 reasons why NE Ohio is one of the best places to live.

Nick Gilbert, the son of Dan Gilbert has famously said at the draft lottery "What's not to like". We in Cleveland tend to have inferiority complexes and we shouldn't. We live in a jewel of an area and we need to appreciate it as such.

Feeble Excuses

Uruguay soccer star Luis Suarez set excuse making to a whole new level this past week. Despite this being this third biting incident, he maintained his innocence. Suarez, in a letter appealing his ban from future games said " I lost my balance, making my body unstable and falling on top of my opponent." "I hit my face against the player leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth". In other words your shoulder hit my face. In the face of overwhelming evidence, Suarez eventually came clean.

It reminded me of an incident with our daughter Meghan when she was around six or seven. It appeared she had had a bad haircut overnight with bangs cut strangely. Apparently the attempt of a botched haircut. When confronted with the evidence, she quipped "I don't know how those scissors got in my bed and cut my hair".

One final one - we were at the Indians game Friday night and a t-shirt vendor was selling shirts with profanity on them. When several reacted with indignation, he commented "I don't print the shirts". But you are selling the shirts right?

I think most excuses sound really flimsy to a holy God. Even ones where there might be some element of truth to an enlightened world probably sound like Suarez's excuse to God. Like "I was born that way or that was the way I was raised." God wants us to come clean to him and others, and confess our sin. 1 John 1:9 says "if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us and cleanse us". Confession is always the process to renewal. There is always a difference between confession with an attitude of repentance and one that confesses just because we were caught. The latter is simply remorse and is much more prevelant today. The closer a man walks with God, the more he confesses. Awareness of sin is acute, like a finely tuned set of senses.

 

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