The Observation Deck

The research triangle in North Carolina wasn't an accidental creation:

https://sites.duke.edu/urbaneconomics/?p=899

You may have noticed that no one is North Carolina thought the key to economic development was a

football stadium
baseball stadium
basketball stadium
airport expansion
casino
convention center
subsidies for the arts
subsidies for downtown apartment's
subsidies for retail development

Jared Denman discusses some of our poor choices here:

http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/v ... =7&t=24847

Lebron James or the research triangle? We made our choice a long time ago.

Bill Call wrote:You may have noticed that no one is North Carolina thought the key to economic development was a

football stadium
baseball stadium
basketball stadium
airport expansion
casino
convention center
subsidies for the arts
subsidies for downtown apartments
subsidies for retail development

Or: a Medical Mart
a national political convention
a $350 million publicly funded driveway for an immensely profitable "nonprofit"
a "film industry"

Let me chime-in here on this topic, with my earlier Plain Dealer opinion/forum article from 2002.

http://kindt.com/?page_id=50

Bill Call wrote:The research triangle in North Carolina wasn't an accidental creation:

https://sites.duke.edu/urbaneconomics/?p=899

You may have noticed that no one is North Carolina thought the key to economic development was a

football stadium
baseball stadium
basketball stadium
airport expansion
casino
convention center
subsidies for the arts
subsidies for downtown apartment's
subsidies for retail development

Jared Denman discusses some of our poor choices here:

http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/forum/v ... =7&t=24847

Lebron James or the research triangle? We made our choice a long time ago.

I am definitely not arguing that the Cleveland region's choices have been great, but it's definitely easier to create a Research Triangle when you have NCState, UNC and Duke right in your backyard. Unfortunately, the higher institutions in the Cleveland area are nowhere near the size or prestige of those three in North Carolina.

Unfortunately, the higher institutions in the Cleveland area are nowhere near the size or prestige of those three in North Carolina.

I would respond that we have CWRU, a major research facility, the Clinic, UH, NASA, and the underrated CSU and U of Akron with their polymer dept.

We are no slouches when it comes to brains.

It really comes down to the fact that Cleveland could “F” up almost any endeavor as the pols and their cronies fall over themselves clamoring to get what they can out of any idea or proposal. It’s not about the city, county, region, or it’s residents, it’s all about THEM.

Until that mindset changes, the region will continue to bleed people and talent.

It feels like the discussion playing out, here and in other threads, would benefit from mention of Sam Allard's recent "Essay on the Failed Amazon Bid and the Defective Philosophy Undermining Cleveland's Progress."

Since it's really long, I'll just pull out a few points that I think are particularly relevant to our conversation.

His tl;dr assessment of the bid is that it represented just a staggering amount of indisputable, very empty and amateurish BS'ing. As in, not just spin, not just exaggeration, or customary hype, but actual completely make it up on the fly BS'ing.

Allard also spends some time on the Cleveland habit of "the superlative imperative." As he illustrates with plentiful examples, local leaders constantly talk up Cleveland as "the biggest, the best, the most and the first" on whatever cherry-picked basis they can find.

I would submit that this is also a type of habitual BS'ing, and that this habit is a general problem. In a broad sense, there's a completely normalized custom of acting as though talking enthusiastically about a solution is the same as an actual solution. This phenomenon might be most intense in the readiness to suggest, or even literally declare, that the population is growing when this is absolutely not true. I'm still gobsmacked by one little example from last fall.

Last takeaway from Allard, he suggests that the obsession with "moonshots"—even when not completely imaginary anyway—is an obstacle to actual achievable improvement. "The goal should be making Cleveland better, not making it the best."

For what it's worth, if there is such a thing as Lakewood exceptionalism, I propose that it is not currently to be found in any of the issues mentioned above.

mjkuhns wrote:It feels like the discussion playing out, here and in other threads, would benefit from mention of Sam Allard's recent "Essay on the Failed Amazon Bid and the Defective Philosophy Undermining Cleveland's Progress."

Thanks for sharing, Matt!
My fellow NU alum Sam Allard did a great job on this piece..it is a "must read" for anyone trying to understand the level of dysfunction in our regional government.

mjkuhns wrote:Allard also spends some time on the Cleveland habit of "the superlative imperative." As he illustrates with plentiful examples, local leaders constantly talk up Cleveland as "the biggest, the best, the most and the first" on whatever cherry-picked basis they can find.

When I first read this, the phrase "America's Healthiest City" immediately jumped into my mind.

I would add that whenever the phrase "mixed use" appears it means I dunno

Mixed Use
Active Living
Lifestyle Center
Attracting Millennials
Transformative
Opportunity of a Lifetime


There are so many buzzwords they throw out to make it seem like they know what they are doing.

Bridget Conant wrote:

Unfortunately, the higher institutions in the Cleveland area are nowhere near the size or prestige of those three in North Carolina.

I would respond that we have CWRU, a major research facility, the Clinic, UH, NASA, and the underrated CSU and U of Akron with their polymer dept.

Excellent point. The potential is there or was there but our "leaders" have no interest.

When those "leaders" talk about regionalization they mean merging East Cleveland and Rocky River or merging Cleveland with Lakewood or merging Brecksville schools with Euclid Schools. It never occurred to them that regionalism that works isn't about County wide government; it's about synergizing the assets that you mentioned and working together to get the jobs and economic activity to the Cleveland area.

I really encourage everyone to take the time to read the Sam Allard article in the Scene (Link posted above by Mr. Kuhns).

The public relations puffing around the bid for the Amazon hdqtrs seems to echo in my ears.

Sounds just like all of the nonsense that we've heard over the past several years from the paid PR flacks for our City Hall and Build Lakewood.

Economic contraction and job-loss "spun" as "transformation" and "growth".

"A once in a generation opportunity" -- You know -- that kind of blathering.

Back in the early 1970s I worked for the prime engineering consultants on the Jetport Feasibility Study. In retrospect I think that the Study was part of and a victim of the phenomena that Allard describes. I can still hear the constant refrain that we would chant "No, this is not another study that will gather dust on a shelf."

The southern states have a different history than the north.
https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Kingdom-F ... 007554413X

the new deal paradigm built enough infrastructure for them to attract a lot of new industry and commerce and economic activity.
most of the industry parts of it have since been outsourced.