We live in a community. The gospels are replete with the environment and community that Jesus and the disciples lived. Imagine the gospels without the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Samaria, and of course Jerusalem. Other than the lousy winters there is no other place I would rather be. So it is with great pride that I republish my blog of two years ago of the Top 10 things to love about Northeast Ohio.
****************************************************
#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
#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
#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
#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
#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.
#4 - The Lakefront
If
you had asked me the top 10 off the top of my head, I probably would
not have listed the lakefront. I don't have a boat and I live 15 miles
from the lake. There is also no doubt that the lakefront is
underutilized. But I also know that is changing. Cleveland sits on Lake
Erie and that makes it a hub of transportation and commercial activity.
It is also a hub of recreation. Last Friday, Deb and I volunteered for
the Cleveland Metro Parks at Burning River Fest. The festival was at
Wendy Park. A year ago, I did not even know where Wendy Park was. We
were promoting the new Water Taxi system coming over the next few years.
I was privileged to work on this project as part of Leadership
Cleveland II. The lakefront is a great asset and the best is yet to
come.# 3 - The Park System
In
my rankings, I could have easily justified this as number one or two.
One of the major reasons we moved to Brecksville is because it is at the
fulcrum of three different park systems - Cuyahoga National Park,
Cleveland Metro Parks, and Summit Metro Parks. All are first rate and
they almost seem to blend together. In fact, I used to think they were
all kind of one big park system. Again my ignorance. The CNP is one of
the top 10 most frequented national parks in the country. It is up there
with the Yosemite's of the world. I have a much greater appreciation of
our park systems as both a regular user and because of my friendship
with a few leaders in CNP and Cleveland Metroparks. I think it is crown
jewel. I love getting on my bike and just riding on the Towpath or Bike n
Hike.#2 - SPORTS...
Hard
to believe that I would put sports teams number two given that we
haven't won anything since 1964. I was five years old at the time so I
have no recollection of the event even though we lived in Euclid at the
time. That makes it even more amazing that NE Ohio is still so sports
crazy. I submit as proof that the Plain Dealer, our daily paper is
almost always half devoted to our crazy sports teams. Count articles on
the front page as indirectly related to sports. We have a definite bias
as an area towards football - we will support that even if the team
stinks which it has since 1999. Now we have added Johnny football - not
sure what that will mean. But we also had 455 straight sellouts in
baseball and one of the top attendance figures in the NBA for basketball
when Lebron was here. Speaking of which - Lebron is back! If you have
not seen Frank Calliendo's rendition of Lebron's speech in Morgan
Freeman's voice, it is definitely worth a look.#1 - The People
A community is only as good as its people. I love the people in this community. By and large, they are down to earth, genuine, mostly humble people. To that point, I get to interact with some pretty successful people and the vast majority are wonderful people. I could not say that about growing up in the East Coast or what I have observed other places. NE Ohioans care about people. We care about our community. The biggest flaw we have is that we tend to have an inferiority complex but I think that is changing. NE Ohio is on a roll baby and it is about time the world sees it for what it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment