Edgewater: Neighborhood of Tomorrow...Or of Yesterday?

We're thinking about buying a house in Edgewater. I lived there about ten years ago and up until very recently, I was terribly nostalgic about it. (I don't know what happened -- it just disappeared, like a wart you've had for years.)

I have mixed feelings. Yesterday afternoon we were at the bank getting our preapproval letter, watching the Ohio City Blooms banner go up where Villa y Zapata used to be. In fact, West 25th is full of "Coming Soon," "Opening Soon," and "Grand Opening."

In contrast, the business district on Clifton has been hit really hard by something lately - whether it's the recession or good old Cleveland-style urban decay. We drove over to Edgewater after our trip to the bank to have a look around. There are a lot of empty storefronts, including the old Giant Eagle at West 117th and It's It Deli, and there are rumors that the Hollywood Video is going to close soon. Heck, even the community development corporation moved out of its building on Detroit a few years ago.

We stopped in at Clifton Web, a card and gift store that's been around as long as I can remember, because there were big banners out front that said "Moving Sale." The girl at the counter told us they were moving to Avon Lake. I casually mentioned that we were thinking about buying a house nearby and asked if she thought the neighborhood was in decline. "Oh yeah. Big time," she said.

Now, I never thought the business district on Clifton was all that fantastic -- there were always a lot of empty storefronts and business turnover -- and even ten years ago when I didn't know much about urban stuff I found it weird that a neighborhood so chock-full of people could barely support a business district. But it's really only a walker's neighborhood on the surface -- I think in reality, Edgewater is more of a pass-through neighborhood for people getting on and off the Shoreway.

My husband contends that Edgewater has good housing stock (the house we're thinking about buying is lovely and would be a joy to live in), good public transit connections, lots of old-growth trees, and it remains just about the only neighborhood in the City of Cleveland where you can walk to the Lake. (If there's one thing I learned from living in New Jersey, it's that proximity to Big Water is nothing to be sneezed at, in terms of property value or potential property value).

Me, I don't know. I'm not sure I want to get stuck in a declining neighborhood.

So what do you guys think? Anyone out there want to share their thoughts about the future of Edgewater with a potential neighbor?

Remember the Museums!

Remember a couple of months ago when I asked you to please remember your favorite Cleveland cultural institutions in your charitable giving plans? This is is why:

Cleveland Museum of Natural History Lays Off 16 Employees

Take note:

“Like every other nonprofit institution, we’re facing the impact of two significant factors,” said Bonnie Cummings, interim executive director of the museum. “Our investments have suffered, and contributions from our supporters have slowed due to turbulence in the financial markets.”

At times like these, no institution is too big to fail.

Spend, spend, spend

I've been wrestling with this "if you're not in debt, you should be spending money" idea lately, particularly because I see so many local businesses in Cleveland struggling.

I have been spending a little more than I normally would on things that I would've bought anyway -- case in point, I went well out of my way to Lucy's Sweet Surrender to buy my dad a birthday cake because the place has become a real victim of both good old-fashioned neighborhood decay and the newer, deadlier, subprime mortgage variety. I feel like it's just part of my civic duty to help these folks out and if eating cake is involved...hey, all the better.

However, when I read this Economix post yesterday it dawned on me that there may be a fundamental misunderstanding about frugal people going around.

This author exhorts people who have been living within their means to go out and start spending money to help the economy, but here's the thing: I don't feel like I can just change what's essentially the most ingrained part of my personality. By being frugal, I'm not sacrificing anything, depriving myself of anything; I'm not holding back the floodgates of rampant consumerist desire. I'm not saving up so I can buy a new flat-screen TV in cash rather than on layaway -- I just don't want one. I don't want very much at all, and if you asked me to start spending I'd say, "on what?"

Mixed Market Feelings

I had the day off so I headed over to the West Side Market to pick up some lamb and parsnips for dinner. I was sitting up in the balcony eating my customary Maha's falafil and drinking my equally customary Regatta ginger beer when I realized that in spite of living a mere one block away, I haven't been to the Market in at least a month.

Why? Because the only day I can go is Saturday and I hate going on Saturdays, when everyone and his great-uncle is lumbering through the aisles, pointing at all the sundry innards and telling their kids about the good old days.

Now don't get me wrong -- I love that the Market is full on Saturdays. I love that so many past and present Clevelanders still include it as one of their favorite family traditions and stuff. But so many of the people who shop there on Saturdays aren't really shopping -- they're day-tripping, and it's unpleasant to negotiate your way through them.

So I end up staying in my apartment on Saturdays, wracked with guilt for not shopping at the Market. And then on Sunday, I go to Dave's.

It's sad and difficult because frankly, if I were forced to distill my reasons for moving back to Cleveland down to one specific thing about Cleveland, it would be the West Side Market.

I just wish it was open late one day a week, so I could shop there without so much of the crush. And I suspect other people -- particularly in the neighborhood -- feel the same way.