Cleveland's 2 Leadership Challenges

(The substance of this post appeared as a comment on Brewed Fresh Daily [1].)

In economic development, Cleveland faces two leadership challenges.

The first involves understanding its role in the region. The second involves understanding its role in economic development.

When we talk about regional issues -- sprawl, for example -- we are slowed by the Cleve-centrism of our Cleveland leadership. There is a common perception outside Cleveland that the Cleveland leadership is insular and out of touch with the region.

(I've pointed out before that people outside Cleveland joke that GCP -- Greater Cleveland Partnership -- refers to God's Chosen People.)

An example: The GCP is preparing a marketing strategy in which the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance is developing a regional brand. Read more [2].

Developing a brand for Greater Cleveland and developing a brand for the region are two are very different tasks. Confusing the two illustrates "Cleve-centrism".

Now to the second leadership challenge: Cleveland's economic development efforts stalled in the early 1990's, as the city's leadership failed to make the transition from a strategy of public investments to a strategy of private investments.

In my view, for nearly a decade, the private sector has droped the ball. The prime evidence: The failure of Tower City. (Compare Indianapolis, where the private sector worked hard to build the residential base of downtown.)

A second piece of evidence, the per capita income growth between Cleveland and Pittsburgh appeared in the early 1990's and has been widening ever since.

Although there are some promising indication lately that the private sector understands its role in the development process, the private sector leadership is still looking largely to public investments -- a casino, a convention center -- to bail out Cleveland. This strategy will not work.

As the Cleveland economic base continues to erode, services are tougher to maintain. Upward pressure on tax rates continues. With the deterioration of services, the hollowing out process continues. It's a dangerous cycle that feeds on itself.

We can reverse the decline by leveraging the assets of CSU, setting aggressive residential development goals, and creating an ambitious economic development strategy for the Euclid Corridor.

The proposed design district is an impressive start.