Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The Splash

As we all come back to Earth, it's still hard to believe that, in less than a week, we, as a city, earned the Republican Convention in 2016 and the rights to hundreds of millions of dollars in our economy, just because another person from North East Ohio decided he couldn't bear to be away any longer. 

About two years ago, I wrote about how I couldn't blame LeBron for leaving if I wasn't going to blame everyone else who left Cleveland to find success- for 50 years, it's been the thing to do.  It hasn't just been about getting out to that nice home in the suburbs: it's been about getting out of the city, the county, the region, even, often, the state.    It's not white-flight or gentrification when it's a mass exodus (though let's be real, there are plenty of both in Cleveland). 

But LeBron is coming back to the place that, in his own words, made him who he is.  I don't know if other people give this part of the world that sort of credit most of the time.  There's a running line about millienials/hipsters/lazy post grads, that they pick rust belt cities because a modicum of success makes you a king and high roller in places like Detroit and Cleveland.  But I haven't seen that.  There are plenty of those types around here, but they're almost always from here.  They're just determined to not make the same leaving-home mistakes the past generation made.  For those of us/them that aren't from these places (and I'm kind of one- Cleveland, as much as its my home, is not where I'm "from") the line is typically about investing in places that need it most- you know, making decisions for the benefit of something much bigger than themselves or their immediate family.  That, and there are plenty of people my age who have made the trek to New York.  Some are doing fine, some aren't.  I'm in Cleveland almost by accident if you look at it in some ways (or else divine intervention).  What brought me here, and what brings/keeps everyone here is and will be secondary to what we're actually doing here.

It's been something of a constant euphoria around most Cleveland haunts since last Friday.  Even if you don't care about sports, it's hard to deny how big of a deal "The Return" is.  But LeBron said it himself- "there's not going to be a party: it's time to get to work."  At least in his essay, as contrived or not as it is or isn't, he made it clear that getting here is only the beginning.  We need people to visit Cleveland, to realize that it isn't what they think.  But we need a lot more than good thoughts out there.  We still need investment.  We need as much good will as we can get, but we need jobs and infrastructure more. 

The scads of millenials making Cleveland home right now, for all their good will in coming here, are much more useful for their life-long investment here, if they make it.  Maybe it is easier to get established and thrive in Cleveland.  LeBron himself acknowledges that getting one championship here will be like surpassing Jordan's 6 elsewhere.  But Cleveland isn't starting from the same place.  50 years of bad karma or whatever you'd like to call it, doesn't die easily. 

But I'm starting to come around to the belief that a Cavs (or otherwise, but let's be realistic) championship might do more than just give us all some warm feelings for awhile.  Maybe, just maybe, it would be the point at which we all know Cleveland's a legitimate place again, in more than just our own minds.  Maybe it would be the impetus for creativity and investment that really does change something here. 

We're all just trying to do our part, for good or for ill, what more can we do?

I don't know.  But there's the hope there, that the light is coming.  And no matter how far along we get, no matter how much money pours into Cleveland, hope will always be our greatest asset. 

-Zack

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