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10 Responses to “Forbes rates four Ohio cities ‘fastest-dying’”

1. John Ettorre Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 7:42 pm

   Easy: they have a century-plus-old, world-class public research university in the middle of town, and have had the same (largely non-corrupt) mayor for nearly 20 years. Amazing how many good things radiate out from just those two factors alone.

2. Bill Callahan Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

   John, the city of Akron was already pulling ahead of Cleveland, Youngstown and Canton in the late ’70s, when I lived there and Don Plusquellic was just a Kenmore Councilman. I agree about Akron U’s role (again, long before Proenza). But here are two other important differences:

   * The shrinkage of the tire industry and other plants, while really rough, was never as complete and devastating as the collapse of steel in Youngstown and Canton or steel+auto+machining in Cleveland. In part this was because the rubber industry grew some of its own new-tech replacement jobs (credit Akron U circa the 1980s for helping this happen).

   * As a neighborhood organizer there from 1976-80, I can tell you with some authority that Akron’s pre-manufacturing-collapse poverty situation was far less dire than Cleveland’s. There are doubtless lots of historic reasons for this, but I’m pretty sure one of them was a higher proportion of minority residents employed in union factories.

   I also think the culture of government services and community leadership was generally healthier, in a small-townish kind of way. Plusquellic now gets credit for being at the top of a city government that was pretty functional (compared to Cleveland) before he got there.

   P.S. The Forbes “dying cities” comparison is about metropolitan regions, not just the central cities. And it’s pretty old stuff except for the local GDP growth comparisons.

3. Bill Callahan Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

   Whoops, sorry, I apparently failed to close my italics html markup after “pre-manufacturing-collapse” in the last comment. It never pays to get too fancy.

4. John Ettorre Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

   Yes, Bill, you keyed in precisely on what I meant by Akron U’s key role in helping them transition from tires to polymers and plastics. At the same time, I think the Cleveland region was far more diversified beyond steel and auto (and auto parts) than Akron and its once dominant rubber industry. We also had a huge assortment of coatings industries (paint and things like coatings and sealants that companies like RPM produce), largely a chemical derivatives legacy of the world’s oil industry once having been HQ’ed here. We also had the world’s biggest concentration of companies in the fastener industry (of all things) not so long ago.

   Yes, Akron’s civic culture is just plain healthier, and you’re right that it didn’t necessarily have that much to do with the current mayor. It certainly precedes him.

5. Douglas Craver Says:
   August 10th, 2008 at 1:51 am

   Cleveland public and private leadership has sucked and simply done things for personal gain and Akron’s leadership has been light-years ahead and stronger, doing things for the betterment of the city.

   There is another key factor: collaboration. Come on, Cleveland is a city for years that couldn’t do anything unless it has the blessing of Richard Pogue. PLEASE!

6. Ed Morrison Says:
   August 10th, 2008 at 11:57 am

   Regions with a more open civic process — thicker collaborative networks — are more agile, responsive and competitive. They will learn faster and spot opportunities faster.

   In a complex world, transparency and civility become key strategic assets for a simple reason: speed.

   In Cleveland, there’s a long history of trying to privatize the public’s business. We see an extreme form in the convention Center confusion that is slowly unfolding over the past few months.

   After 15 years of study, the business community still does not have a clear idea of what it is building or how much it will cost. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Forest City was making changes to its design for Tower City.

   They’ve come up with a design that the leading architecture critic for the Plain Dealer panned.

   And no wonder.

   No architects or planners were involved in the process.

   What’s even worse, after 15 years we still don’t know how much this convention center will cost. Budget estimates vary widely.

   So, a breakdown of civic discourse in Cleveland has its consequences. The business leadership in Cleveland takes 15 years to design a 30-year-old strategy that’s 10 years late… and they still don’t know quite what they’re doing.

7. Diane DiPiero Says:
   August 10th, 2008 at 12:38 pm

   I’ve done some stories recently on Akron’s growing downtown scene, including the many residential sites being built or renovated. (http://crainscleveland.com/article/20080707/MOBPRINT/51766341/1086) What I’ve heard from developers leads me to believe that city leaders are on the same page with those who want to revitalize the city. Developers and others aren’t working alone or beating their heads against a wall. Also, the University of Akron is a strong partner in the development of Downtown Akron. The local corporations and healthcare providers seem to be supporting the city’s efforts as well. Unfortunately, you don’t see this type of unity in Cleveland, and that really hurts the city.

8. Ed Morrison Says:
   August 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

   Diane:

   Your observations are very helpful. Thanks!

   In my view, your insights go to the importance of civility, transparency, collaboration, and alignment. These are strategic factors which have largely been ignored (or undermined) in Cleveland.

   The result: Cleveland has fallen behind Akron as a center of economic growth.

   When we talk about innovation in regional economic development, we are talking about open innovation. Sadly, the “command and control” style of Cleveland’s civic leadership works against it.

9. Sharon McMillan Says:
   August 12th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

   Bill’s comments really helped to shed some light on this issue for me, particularly what he has to say about the impact of having a higher percentage of minority residents employed by union factories.

   My only research isn’t scientific but if I can use my my husband’s family as an example… a majority of the men from his father’s generation (brothers and cousins) were employed in these union positions in Akron. That stability provided for college education and general better quality of life for subsequent generations. They seem to be doing better than their demographic counterparts in the Cleveland area.

   Interesting point…

10. Ron McDaniel Says:
    August 13th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    This is really interesting. I have a business in Kent (just outside Akron) and for many years spent most of my time driving to network in Cleveland.

    Partially gas costs, and partially just a loss of interest, I have cut that back drastically on going to Cleveland events and have opted to stay closer to home.

    Akron not only benefits from Akron U but Kent as well, since Akron is only a few miles away. Take out OSU, and you have two of the larger Ohio Universities.