Anotated links from a Cleveland area obsessive coffee drinker, avid quotation collector, voracious internet content consumer, amatuer social network analyzer, and armchair economic developer. Recently referred to as a "web activist".
I almost lost it when Jack mentioned this article to me last night.
"I want to get this convention center done," says Mayor Jane Campbell.
WTF? Which millennium is she living in? Cleveland is named the most impoverished city in the country and her answer is same as it's been since her husband floated it back in the 1980's... let's build a convention center. Only this time, we'll get some casinos built along side of it.
Christ. No wonder Peter B. Lewis is all pissed off about the lack of innovation in this area. I am too.
Here's an idea. Why don't we actually study the market demand for convention centers and casinos today?
Last time I checked, the supply of convention centers was totally overbuilt, and my guess is the casino industry in this region is fairly close as well. What's their strategy? To take business away from the Canadians and the Native Americans?
That's real economic development.
Isn't it about time we stopped trying to copy the economic development strategies of other cities and started transforming the local economy into something that has a positive effect on the next generation of Clevelanders? I want to hear what the mayorial candidates are doing for the future, not what they're doing to make up for mistakes made in the past.
I remember going to Campbell's State of the City speech in 2003. She presented what was probably Tim Mueller's strategic plan for the city. Not once was there any mention of a convention center or casinos or even attracting some "anchor retail chain" like NikeTown. So where has all this stuff come from? Here's the
'03 and
'04 versions of her State of the City speeches.
What Campbell talked about doing in 2003 what
focusing on five red hot initiatives: Attract major research centers, Establish 'lighted' schoolhouses as working neighborhood resources, raise community literacy rates, build economically vibrant neighborhoods with strong services, and Change the pattern of community re-entry.
What's happened to those things? I guess someone's going to have to explain it to me...
