We’ve previously written about Cleveland’s lawsuit against 21 big banks over the mess that was created by the foreclosure crisis.
This article in Cleveland Scene summarizes the case nicely:
“The case against the banks isn’t a class action about individual homeowner losses, or whether they were tricked into signing commitments they couldn’t keep. (Attorney Joshua) Cohen knows that’s a common misunderstanding. Instead, it’s about the big picture from the city’s point of view — an attempt to recover money Cleveland has been forced to spend cleaning up …

We’ve been writing a lot about sprawl and race relations lately. I think that is because these issues are tremendously important to the discussion of the current conditions in Rust Belt cities.

Well, I’ve got to thank UrbanSTL for pointing me to this illuminating interactive map that shows how white flight and sprawl transformed the metro area over the course of decades.

You have to visit this site to see it unfold. I think this really mirrors development over the past six decades for Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, Youngstown, Buffalo and many other Rust Belt cities.

Notice how the application is called Mapping Decline.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but nevertheless:
#1. Detroit
#2. Cleveland
#3. Buffalo
#4. Milwaukee
#5. St. Louis
#6. Miami
#7. Memphis
#8. Cincinnati
#9. Philadelphia
Poverty workers in Cleveland blame the increase on unemployment.
This should send a message to the federal government. If we’re serious about addressing poverty in this country, we need to address the way the economic restructuring has affected Rust Belt cities. Taking tax dollars from the people in these cities and giving it to bankers in New York isn’t much of a solution.
-AS
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Leadership in the city of Cincinnati has been campaigning to develop a streetcar line, for quite some time, and it has been a controversial issue.
Here is the mayor and city manager promoting the initiative. During the last week, the city assembled $86 million for a rail and streetcar line that will connect the University of Cincinnati to downtown. Yesterday, city officials approved $64 million in bonds to support the project, according to The TransportPolitic.
City voters endorsed the measure this fall, despite an effort to block the initiative.
It is hoped that …

Our friends at Great Lakes Urban Echange (GLUE) alerted me to this event: a film screening Tuesday, (Nov. 24) at 7:30 pm at the Drexel Theater, located at 2254 E. Main Street, in Bexley, Ohio.
The film is The New Metropolis, about America’s first suburbs and the problems they face. For a more detailed explaination of the film, click the link to the movie’s web site (above), or read a more detailed explanation from Cincinnati CityBeat.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion. The screening is being hosted by Greater …

Next April is going to be a very bad time to be a transit-rider in Cleveland if RTA moves forward with proposed service cuts. For a system that’s been devastated with fare hikes and service cuts over the past few years, this might just be RTA’s nail in the coffin.

Something particularly important that caught my eye in the Plain Dealer story is this quote from RTA’s general manager, Joe Calabrese:
“We will spread the cuts among the seven days,” [Calabrese] said. “The staff feels it is more detrimental to have any …

Ohio voters recently passed a constitutional amendment that will allow for the construction of four casinos in the state for the first time.

One will be located in each Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
Ohio voters have turned down ballot initiatives like this one before. But it seems this time the need for jobs and the pervasiveness of casino gambling in neighbor states helped sway the electorate.
Anyway, there’s been a lot of debate over whether this will ultimately be good or bad. I thought it would be interesting to hear from other …

The state of Ohio lost population overall for the first time in nearly a decade, according to a study by Community Research Partners.

90.3 WCPN in Cleveland reports that the state lost 35,000 residents. In-migration and birth rates were not able to offset the decline.
Experts believe the out-migration can be traced to job loss. Ohio has a tendency to lose residents during a recession, experts report.
Franklin County, home to Columbus, managed to avoid the decline and gained residents. Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County and Cincinnati’s Hamilton County both lost residents overall.
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Christopher Steiner’s new book $20 Per Gallon is an interesting read. The book’s thesis is that oil and gasoline prices will appreciate over time. Not just to $4 per gallon like we saw last summer, but significantly higher as supply dwindles and demand continues to pick up steam. It’s not all bad news, though. One potential revival that Steiner points to is the resurgence of Rust Belt cities; some of the same cities that have been badly struggling over the past few years.

Admittedly, it’s a plausible theory. Rust Belt cities …

That’s my best guess after features on Cleveland and Pittsburgh and now this one on The Queen City, not that Cincinnati doesn’t deserve this upbeat feature in the paper’s travel section.

No story of Cincinnati could be complete without mention of Over-The-Rhine and the race roits of 2001, could it?

But the Times gives the city credit for downtown redevelopment projects as well as “cool music venues, funky shopping outlets and smart culinary options.”