What Did I Tell You About Cleveland Libraries?

This made me frantic with approval. Frantic, because now I feel like I have to move to Cleveland and go to the library twice as much lest it die for lack of use.

Here is an excerpt:

The Cleveland Public Library is the first public library to receive this prestigious national award [the 2007 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections, awarded by the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) and Heritage Preservation] since its inception in 1999. Previous recipients have included art museums, historic sites, research libraries, and archives.

“All too often, public libraries with circulating collections feel forced to choose between basic public services and care of unique research collections,” said Lawrence L. Reger, President of Heritage Preservation. “The Cleveland Public Library is exemplary in its support of an extensive preservation program in the midst of all its other responsibilities.” [emphasis mine]

Seriously, folks, I can't stress this enough: public libraries are starting to focus on circulation numbers at the expense of maintaining a broad, well-rounded collection. In this regard, Cleveland Public Library is an enormous, increasingly rare asset.

Ten Good Reasons to Live Downtown

That is, besides opening up my RTA-friendly job options.

1. The City Club Forum. The "citadel of free speech" is one of the best civic institutions anywhere, let alone Cleveland. Living near it would make me go more often.

2. Cleveland Public Library. Which has a reading garden and, God bless America, is open on Saturday. (And Sunday, during the school year.) Maybe I would even be able to cancel my Netflix subscription.

3. Phoenix Coffee. As if Phoenix coffee wasn't fresh enough already - you can't get much fresher than living 20 blocks from the roastery itself. There are also rumors that they'll be a cafe opening up soon at E.9th and Superior.

4. Walking to Gund Arena. (Sorry, I refuse - and will continue to refuse - to refer to it by its new name, Check Into Cash Arena or whatever.)

5. Escape routes. Easy access to the airport via the Red Line, and that enticing new Amtrak route to New York....

6. Heritage sites. There's something that feels good about living near places of significance for my family. For instance, the Federal Building, where my dad worked for 25+ years (highlights included getting his nose busted by an angry taxpayer, and winning an award for his Eskimo Pie tie ca. 1982). Or the bar at the Ritz Carlton, where my sister met her future husband. (It was a very romantic story.)

7. The building to the left of the Old Stone Church. You know, this one:

I have never bothered to look up this history of this building, or what it is used for, but I have always loved it. I'm sure the city will find some reason to tear it down.

8. Access to the lakefront. The thing that makes me nervous about living in Cedar Fairmount, as opposed to downtown or Edgewater, is that I'd feel landlocked. I am a water creature. The lake - for good or ill - is in my blood!

9. My friend Kim works downtown. I can have lunch with her every day (because I will surely be unemployed...wait, I'm trying to be positive.)

10. Cleveland State. The idea of going back to school, especially because my skills aren't necessarily matching up with the job market, is highly appealing.

Backwards Cleveland, or, Downtown, Part II

As Emily Dickinson said, "the truth must dazzle gradually."

Living downtown is starting to make sense.

All this time, I've been worried about the RTA-friendliness of various neighborhoods (am I going to be able to get to work? To my parents' house? To that sacred triumvirate: the library, bank, post office?) When really, I've been thinking about it absolutely backwards.

I'd been worried that I'd have to find a job downtown, because my ability to get "just anywhere" would be limited. And with limited jobs downtown, I'd been double-worried. However, if I lived downtown, I could work practically anywhere.

Some concerns.

1. De facto pedestrian-friendliness. Yes, I know there's a public square and ample sidewalkage, but Louise's comment here scared me. Especially in light of this Cleveland+ YouTube video I watched a while back (skip ahead to 1:56, and you'll see what I'm talking about. I'm not sure we should be promoting Cleveland as a place for New Yorkers with personal space issues to come and drive their cars.)

2. Food buying opportunities. I am extremely particular about where I buy food. I won't go to chain supermarkets. Locally produced, seasonal stuff is best, but failing that, the place has to be independent and locally owned. (Hey, I haven't bought a single item of clothing in about two years, I like demolition derbies and I drink onion wine - I get to be snobbish about one thing in life.)

So on that note, has anyone been to Constantino's Market? Can you tell me about it? What does the lettuce look like? How much does it cost? Do they even have produce? Do they have cat food? Do they have Weetabix?

(On the other hand, if I lived downtown, I could easily take the bus or the Red Line to the West Side Market. I could take the Blue Line to the Shaker Square farmers' market on Saturday mornings.)

3. Speaking of Saturday mornings, is there anything open downtown on the weekends? Can I buy a newspaper on Sunday? Is there anywhere to buy pastries? (Not Starbucks.)

4. The noise question. I realize that if I live, say, in or near the Warehouse District, I am going to hear street noise. I am going to hear drunk hipsters who I would probably hate. But. Am I going to hear my upstairs neighbor peeing? Am I going to hear him talking on the phone? Am I going to be subject to the constant sound of someone else's TV/stereo/daily life, or are these "trendy lofts" pretty solid? I am sick of living in cheap-ass, poorly made crapshacks that Jack the Unscrupulous Real Estate Developer built en masse next to the highway entrance.

Help?

Where Would I Live? Part Whatever: Downtown

So, now Jim has this crazy idea that he wants to live downtown.

Me? Downtown? All I can picture is noise.

Anyone have any experience they want to share re: living downtown?

Recon Mission

So, I was in Cleveland for two days. Sorry I didn't call you, but we were enormously busy with obligatory family time, interviews (not mine), and scoping out places to live.

Here are some observations (remember now, I haven't been in Cleveland for about a year):

1. My understanding of Cleveland geography has deteriorated considerably. I realized I have no idea how to get from West to East without using the Interstate. In fact, we saw an awful lot of the Interstate, and vowed that when/if we live in Cleveland again we will figure out how to live without it.

2. Neighborhood continuity is good. There's probably an economic development term for this, but let me describe what I mean: in Cleveland, there are tiny pockets of revitalized business districts ("neighborhoods"), with rings of decay all around. Ideally, you should be able to walk from one neighborhood to another. Granted, we may be wrong - but the only place we saw that you can really do this without feeling like you're venturing into sketchy territory was the juncture of University Circle - Little Italy - Coventry - Cedar Fairmount.

3. Deadness after dark is bad. As Jim's cousin pointed out, one of the worst things about the death of Truffles in Edgewater is that, rightly or wrongly, you felt safer walking down the street at night because there was always a throng of people sitting outside. I gotta tell ya, too, that I was surprised and disappointed at how dead Lorain-W.25th was after dark on a Friday night. Although I'm not even a nightlife person, it effectively wiped it off the map for us. I want to believe in Cleveland, but there was just such a marked difference between after-dark Cleveland and after-dark, not-terribly-chic-or-interesting Queens (on our bus ride home from Laguardia) that I'm a little hesitant....

4. Train service between Cleveland and New York is good. I was really happy to find out - much later than everyone else, for sure, about this.

5. Liberty Books is good. This relatively new independent bookstore in Rocky River has virtually no web presence, but it's the biggest that I've seen in the Cleveland area. It has a freaking huge magazine selection - what "could be the biggest selection of magazines between New York and Chicago," according to the Friday Magazine.

6. The wine selection at Dave's Supermarket in Cedar Fairmount is good. Or maybe we were just super-excited to be able to buy wine in a grocery store again. (Also, I was happy they had my Weetabix.)

7. The food selection at Dave's Supermarket was lackluster. Disclosure: I'd never been to a Dave's before. Although I'm excited about a walk-up local supermarket, I confess I was hoping it wouldn't be what one might call a store full of aisles and aisles of processed junk food. (It was.) Although there was organic milk, there was no local milk, no local meat, and the produce section was clean but limited and nothing was local so far as I could tell. I'm willing to live with these tradeoffs, perhaps.

8. I don't care what anyone says, I have always thought, and still think, that downtown Cleveland is really beautiful, layout and architecture-wise. Even with the orange barrels. I've always enjoyed the downtown feel, like I'm part of an actual place, panhandlers and all. I still think this, having spent the greater part of my waking hours over the last two years in Manhattan. This should count for something. In fact, it's better than Manhattan, because there are no tourists clogging up the sidewalk. Downtown Cleveland oozes such potential that I just can't see it going anywhere but up.

I may be adding more observations over the next few days as I remember them, but these are the main ones for now.

Thoughts?

The Russian Solution

Maybe this would work to combat Cleveland's shrinkage.

Or not....

The Midwestern Dream

So I've been reading The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation by Jim Cullen. (Good book. You should pick it up.)

Although Cullen discusses the longstanding yearning to rise above one's humble beginnings, he doesn't directly address the idea that unless you "escape" from the place of your birth, you've somehow failed -- which, I think, is especially pernicious in the Midwest. Indeed, we might even call it the Midwestern Dream.

For my birthday, my mom sent me a copy of Good Roots: Writers Reflect on Growing Up in Ohio. (Which has been discussed on a few Cleveland blogs recently.)

The book got under my skin in a bad way. With all due respect to the authors included in the anthology, the tone of the book is nostalgically defeatist: "Ah, Ohio, what a quaint place. I remember it fondly, now that I'm in civilized society." It's the sort of attitude that doesn't help Ohio's real problems that need fixing.

It reminded me of this bit of classic Seinfeld banter from The Frogger Episode (courtesy of seinfeldscripts.com):

George and Jerry admire their former hang out. Mario, an elder man, stands behind the counter.

GEORGE: Just as she was. Hey, Mario! Remember us?

MARIO: No.

JERRY: We used to come in every day.

MARIO: So where ya been? We're tanking here.

GEORGE: We'll have 2 slices and 2 grape sodas.

MARIO: Oh, thanks. That'll save us.

JERRY: All right, make it the large sodas.

Do you get that? Do you know what I'm talking about?