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  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] A belly full of GOP, Donkey Valyoos
  • Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 12:38:15 -0700




*A Quiet Crisis*


The capital of need

*Cleveland's rise to top of census bureau's poverty rankings is the culmination of 50 years of decline and abandonment *
Sunday, August 29, 2004

Cleveland is now America's poorest big city. So says the U.S. Census Bu reau.

Based on its most recent surveys, the bureau estimates that nearly one in three Clevelanders lives below the poverty line. For children, the numbers are even worse: Almost every second youngster in this city is poor. Those shocking numbers have pushed Cleveland slightly ahead of Newark, N.J., in both categories.

In human terms, those numbers mean that too many of our neighbors go hungry, cannot maintain their homes, cannot honestly pay their bills. It means that many Clevelanders work at jobs that will not support a family at more than subsistence level. It means that too many children here grow up without the examples of even modest success that might help encourage them to stay in school, to abstain from drugs and premarital sex, to imagine a better life.

Cleveland's sad rankings should surprise no one. The bureau's 2001 American Community Survey identified Cleveland as the second-poorest city in the land. A year later, it ranked third. Layer on a lingering recession - a depression in many city neighborhoods - with its attendant loss of manufacturing jobs, and Cleveland's ascent to No. 1 was probably inevitable.

Nor is this prevalence of poverty a recent phenomenon. The city has been in decline for half a century, bleeding population and wealth first to suburban Cuyahoga County and more recently to adjacent counties. Middle-class flight, fueled by racial tensions and an understandable desire to escape the problems of city life, has been a defining characteristic of Cleveland for as long as most can remember. A glaring lack of educational achievement means that many residents here are unable to compete in a demanding global economy.

Anyone who has bothered to walk around this city already knows it has been growing ever older and poorer. And yet it is a little shocking to wake up one morning and see it made official across the top of Page One:

"Cleveland No. 1 in big-city poverty."

No one wants that distinction. And yet, this sad reality ought to inject a sense of urgency into every discussion about this city and this region's economic future.

It ought to force foundations and educational institutions, churches and corporations, government officials and private-sector leaders to open their eyes and ask what they can do to change the status quo. It ought to encourage every one of us, haves and have-nots alike, to consider what individual responsibility we can take to raise the boats in which all of us - from Old Brooklyn to Twinsburg, from Kinsman to Avon Lake, from Glenville to Mentor - sail together.

Make no mistake: The tide of poverty is rising throughout the country. The census bureau's new report estimates that 1.3 million Americans fell into poverty in 2003, nudging the poverty rate from 12.1 percent to 12.5 percent. Recent job growth may have capped that trend, but the persistence of poverty for one American in eight ought to be an issue in this fall's presidential campaign.

Both President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry talk endlessly about their values. A dedication to alleviating poverty amid America's enormous wealth ought to be among them.

The federal government could help Cleveland - and the other urban centers where poverty flourishes - reverse the effects of decades of abandonment by offering incentives to clean up old industrial, commercial and residential properties. Cleveland alone has hundreds of these brownfields. They lie unused and ugly, even as potential employers leave the city or bypass it because they cannot find the right space to do business.

This cycle of abandonment drives development ever farther from the core city. Farm land and wetlands are devoured; small communities lose their character. The state of Ohio often underwrites this sprawl with highway and infrastructure decisions rather than encouraging redevelopment of existing communities.

Meanwhile, the state's inability to create a new system of funding public education forces Cleveland and other urban centers to impose ever-higher taxes on a populace that is increasingly poor. Urban schools suffer, parents and children lose hope, employers cannot find the human capital they need and poverty grows more concentrated.

It is worth noting this new census report's statistics for the eight counties of Greater Cleveland. Poverty in the city went from 24.3 percent in 2000 to 31.3 percent last year. Poverty for the entire region rose only slightly, from 11.8 percent to 12.5 percent. Median household income in the region actually grew during this recession.

Some who live far from city will draw comfort from those numbers. They may even congratulate themselves on being wise enough to live where they do. But that is a fool's complacency.

One study after another has shown that regions with weak central cities do not enjoy the prosperity that those with vibrant cores do. Cleveland's woes hurt everyone in Northeast Ohio. That's why it is in everyone's interest here to aid the city's revival.

Of course the city's leaders - notably the mayor and council president - have to understand that, too. They have to be willing to work as partners with suburban officials and to finally understand the obvious: that the tighter they cling to their piece of the pie, the smaller it will become.

We have had lots of summits of late. County commissioners have gotten together to talk about economic development. So have foundation leaders. The business community is trying a more regional approach. They now need to come together and commit to a plan of action.

No one wants to live in the poorest city in America. But without concerted effort, the distinction will be hard for Cleveland to lose.


Copyright 2004 cleveland.com. All Rights Reserved.






  • [Homestead] A belly full of GOP, Donkey Valyoos, Tvoivozhd, 08/29/2004

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