Chicago is alive - Cleveland is dead (and should be deader for it's own sake)

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 18:29.

2 two prudential plaza chicago skyscraper at night image jeff buster July 2011

Rahm Emanuel, recently in Mr. Obama's employ, is the Mayor of Chicago.  

But Mr. Emanuel wasn't the leader who got ChiTown's Groove back.   The Chicago leaders before Mr. Emanuel took office put Chicago in the fast lane...keeping people in the center of the city, and keeping the buildings full of tenants. 

How does that happen?   

Does intelligent leadership have anything to do with it?

Cleveland has not had intelligent leadership for a number of generations (I won't mention any names).  And Cleveland get's emptier and emptier.  

Is it just coincedence?

Is it corruption mixed with gross mis-management?

Check it out yourself.  Take the Greyhound from Cleveland to Chicago and back, and then tell me what your personal impressions are.  Greyhound is a very good way to get to Chicago.   Reasonable, convenient, and very American.

More on the Cleveland Greyhound station soon....

Image: Two Prudential Plaza lighted at night completed in 2006 view from Fairmont Hotel

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Pittsburgh example

Chicago is in a different league than CLE. It got this way by happenstance of many railroads leading to Chicago from many places, and industry following suite. Pittsburgh is a better comparison. It's metro area is about the same size as CLE's, and it's industrial base crumbled away like CLE's. Pittsburgh has an advantage in two universities with a long history of quality edu and numerous smaller schools. Pittsburgh may be a case where the leadership figured out how to accepted change and work with it before leaders of Cleveland saw what was coming.