By Richey Piiparinen
“I come from that society and there is a common thread, specifically family values – the idea that you do anything for your family, and the unconditional love for one’s children.”—Ednita Nazario
“I never did quite fit the glamour mode. It is life with my husband and family that is my high now.”—Patti Duke
Knowing where a city’s residents are coming and going is immensely important, and this is particularly true with an area’s young- and middle-age adults—as these generations are the future. A new study I did charts area migration patterns. There are a lot of findings (go ahead and read it, it’s easy to consume and short), including:
–young adults are re-populating many inner-ring neighborhoods, in effect going against the grain of outmigration;
–middle-age adults—or the family-rearing group—are continuing the long-standing pattern of outmigration into the suburban fringe and neighboring counties;
–young African Americans are exiting the East Side at an alarming rate, going to the inner-ring suburbs, the Near West Side, but also leaving the region altogether, with the South and the Southwest likely destinations; and
–emerging national demographic groups such as young Hispanics and Asian Americans are slowly budding locally as well.
In all, the study asks how can we increase the nascent “green flows” of human capital that are arriving in an otherwise shrinking region. This is important. People develop cities. So for those folks arriving, let’s try to find out why as opposed to constantly bemoaning all that has left.
Also, while young blood is needed, so is the re-emergence of an inner-city middle class, one not only based on “the young and the restless” as it were, but one based on families. After all, there is probably nothing more “cool” than re-creating Cleveland as a place for kids. Now that is an attraction strategy worth investing in.
Richey Piiparinen is a Clevelander, a writer, and a city strategist. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Atlantic Cities, New Geography, Huffington Post, and Next American City. Richey is co-editor of the book Rust Belt Chic: A Cleveland Anthology. His musings and work can be found at richeypiiparinen.wordpress.com and rustbeltchic.com.
10 Responses to “New Study Shows Where Young- and Middle-Age Clevelanders Are Living”
IndyCA35
I keep hearing about the growth of some “inner city middle class” but it never amounts to anything. To make one, you need a few things:
1. Decent schools. We keep hearing about the new plan of the month but facts are, unless you want your kid to grow up uneducated or are willing to spend a fortune on private schools, you don’t want to live in Cleveland if you have kids.
2. Grocery stores, and other shopping.
3. Places of employment. These have increasingly fled to the suburbs.
4. A police force that actually responds. Enough said.
Richey
You are living in the failure of the past Indy CA35. Good luck with that.
bob
HERE is an idea…A LITTLE outside the box… THINK of all the *$*@&&^6 ever dealt with or read about… EXAMPLE.. PD..that FRONT page article concerning works comp,lawsuits,etc. that poo THYSSEN KRUPP warehouse worker ( I THINK it was them…SOME steel storage warehouse) who got crushed but SURVIVED that horror of being squeezed tween HUGE storage racks and a loader…
IN THIS day n age of all this fancy GPS tracker stuff, cyborg info suites and all the rest of it THAT should NOT happen…heck…ARE $100 RETAIL tracker kits much less stuff hospitals,etc.use to find THEIR ‘stuff’…. GOT ALL this fancy can near do it all PDA software,etc. let alone rest of techie wunderland and THIS horror happens…
DEAR software writers,etc. IF ANYONE can AddRESS ANY of that ….I know not a glam field,etc. BUT… TRANSFERABLE to LOT of biz were have LOT of this kind of work going on…. I REALIZE PROPRIETARY software,etc. via the BIG NAMES,etc. BUT… HALF shocked NO one hasnt come up with some firm to do said…MAYBE IS ONE and just havent found out about it YET…. if ANYONE can do anything to alleviate all this….
CONSIDERING WE ARE CHASING TECHIE stuff MAYBE an IDEA here…just saying…
bob
Indy above MORe or less right… PERCEPTION…more or less deserved…SHOPPING IS bettER then wha it USED to be… EMPLOYMENT…a real grabbag… push,pull thing..
YOUNG singles or singles…Yeahhh I CAN understand the allure TO a POINT of certain Cleveland hoods….if love botanical gardens, a WRHS,etc.etc. Yeah sure U dont want to be tied up on roadways,burning up gas,etc.etc. CAN appreciate that…
bob
ON my FIRST comment…I KNOW FAR AFIELD…but…IF trying to create employment,etc. A LOT of stuff can happen in work places,shops,etc. that cant do much about…BUT… I SEE wha military uses,and the research stuff THEY finance,encourage let alone isolated news events and its like WHY dont we have THAT or LIGHTER easier version of said…. if “THAT” ATLANTA Mall mr.security guard (who was web sensation for tasing that one gal who HE felt was disruptive to mall) can wear this MINI chest RadioStack looking jobbie webcam among other things to protect his tail THEN wha gives with our crew constantly being in danger… Yeahh SOME guyz hate BigBro thing,etc.which to point can understand…and MAYBE fear get lacksaidsical thinking techie gonna save em…OR cost them via lost WC earnings cuz OF… I dont know THAT for sure..(Ok so SOME TRY n go off n sleep or whutever…ALWAYS a ‘few dogs’ out there).
MILITARY HAD messed around with ALL kinds of ways to TRACK INDIVIDUAL soldiers via it all….
Let u decide ramifications of all that..
bob
PUT it this way…SEE these articles by or IN a PlainDealer bout SPECIFIC individuals,entities like ……… TURNING TECHNOLOGIES… and sure gonna see MORE of THOSE kinds of articles… HOW much money,energy,etc.poured into these students,future leaders,biz,etc.in effort to remake area… PUT this another way… SURE ONE of the great hopes of MedMart…. written,unwritten or otherwise…. maybe I am reading or inferring toooo much into all this but HEY…
bob
IF I had a dime,or $ for EVERY time NO one could find anything in a store…THE FEW huge firms SEEM bettER at it or very shortly will be MASTERS of ‘said’… RFID chips among other things are gonna become more pervasive in time and something of a FIELD to LANDFILL type tracking thing is arriving… and if that helps rest of us get our stuff,save LOT of time,effort while doing said,etc.all to the good… SAVE lot of mindnumbing mindless driving,etc. which gets old real fast…A REAL potential IS out there…. which could be good for shoppers to BIZ… I dont know THAT for sure but…
bob
On Indy… TIME will tell on CMSD… soo FAR a REAL mixed bag AT best… NO idea if Breakthrough school clone knockoff will be THEE TICKET or not or this semi lastgaspgrasp…COP thing… A real whutever… USUALLY AFTER the fact with THAT thou in some areas AHEAD of the curve..just gotta be careful,etc. the STEELYARDS,etc ? IN a sense DO bring LOT more variety,etc.into the mix…AND instant credit,etc. TIME will tell on THAT dynamic…
Jobs thing…. A REAL mixed bag… THOU technically HE is or was right…STILL sorta sprawling out across county lines…NOT as fast thou..to tell truth I THINK unless REALLY have a compelling reason,etc.its HARD,EXPENSIVE,etc.to uproot a biz location..or expand… NOT a flippant decision by any stretch…. SAD thou need this semi army of tax attornies and rest of it to be PART of biz decision crew…. every angle …hey…
bob
SCHOOL thing… HOW many single moms were TRYING to do what to keep the whole thing going…JUST the THOUGHT OF ALL THAT would make ONE PAUSE before having one…and so far SEEMS teenybooper moms in CERTAIN areas,etc. SEEM to be filling babymaker role… while OVERALL teen rates dropping… AFTER DEALING with System ONE or 3 IS about ENOUGH… THAT whole thing ONLY gonna get tighter….
and QUITE frankly SOME REAL soul searching needs to be done far as housing…Yeahh ALWAYS a FEW ROACH housing type underground deals that house X with a few $s or SOMETHING but FINALLY… this poo demographic can hold up when applying for Fed $ or SOMETHING… if willing to deal with all the fallout…I DO feel for THAT crew…and maybe I sound as whutever as IndyCA35 but HOW avoid it..its RIGHT there having all their issues as waiting their turn for time with parole officer,social worker,etc.
bob
GONNA have CERTAIN FORTRESS areas..OTHERS up for grabs…TIME will tell on SLAVIC VILLAGE efforts…aka that PD story…while got whutever small outfits doing their thing and carrying on….