This Midwestern life

So after revisiting one of my old stomping grounds in Cleveland, I became flooded with old memories from childhood and my early teens. I took the 6 bus along Euclid Ave to University Circle. Ahhh, the Cleveland Clinic campus. The building that looks like an Aztec pyramid and the douchey "we're ranked number one in everything" signs still remain. Case has a wonderful campus with new modern buildings. Beautiful Severance Hall is very nearby. The biggest knock on Case, in fact, is that it's located in Cleveland, Ohio. When I was a kid, we only lived in dicey Cleveland and Euclid for a little bit. Most of the childhood I can remember was spent in much nicer Mayfield Heights and Solon. The suburbs of Cleveland are nice and clean. Beachwood and Shaker Heights are comparable to the North Shore suburbs of Chicago.

The city of Cleveland itself? It's a model of urban blight. I knew it was going to bad when I stepped out of the RTA station into Tower City. Tower City is billed as one of the major shopping attractions downtown. Oh yes, FYE and Rave are really going to bring in the tourists. The mall is a joke. It doesn't even have anchor stores; it's only redeeming points are that the Ritz and Bice Restaurant are there. I saw not one, but TWO altercations at the mall. One guy getting in a scuffle with a guard for bringing his bike in and a kid stealing from the FYE.

Once I got out, I started walking towards my hotel in downtown Cleveland. Sure, there's some downtown revitalization. Gund Arena and the Jake, for example, but the city still looks dirty and dingy. This is your downtown area. Where are the trendy restaurants and people walking around? It's even more barren and depressing once the clock hits 5. Not to mention unsafe. I heard downtown Cleveland had improved and shed it's Rust Belt image. If anything, it seems that things have gotten marginally worse since I was last there. One positive: I don't remember the RTA being so good. The seats are cushioned and it's relatively fast. Take a cue from Chicago and have value added fare cards, please.

It's funny how Indy has taken a widely divergent route from Cleveland. Indianapolis was also a manufacturing-based mid-sized city. That's where the similarities seem to end though. There's actual development in Indianapolis' downtown. The new stadium and condos are being constructed. Circle Centre is a decent shopping place and there are a number of hip eating establishments with outside seating during the warmer months. It's genuinely surprising to see how clean everything is in a city of about a million.

The point is that the vitality of the city isn't in the suburbs or the outer-reaches, but rather downtown. Indy can be boring though. You have to try harder sometimes to find fun. It's not like Chicago where the sky's the limit in terms of what you can do. Plus, Indy has PATHETIC public transportation. A couple of buses and that's it. At the very least, there should be a light rail system downtown and around the IUPUI campus. If they wanted to be more ambitious, connect to the Broad Ripple neighborhood and around 86th st. Still, not bad for the dreary Midwest. Chicago remains the gold standard, especially when considering a city like Cleveland. But I think towns like Indy and, hell, Minneapolis have enough to offer too (with cheaper housing).