Cleveland: a model for urban revitalization.Brian Hall
n. The quantity that a truck can hold. truckload n → camión m lleno and freight-hauling business to Detroit from Cleveland several times. After all, 60% of the $9 million in annual sales rom Industrial Transport Inc. and its subsidiary, Intrans Inc., is generated in the Motor City. But Hall, 35, a Cleveland resident who serves as president of both companies, sticks around because he believes Cleveland's business potential will soon rival Detroit's. "Everyone here is realizing that for the community to grow, all parts of the community have to grow," says Hall, who is also part owner (Law) one of several owners or tenants in common. See See also: Part of a Fuddruckers restaurant in Tower City, Cleveland's downtown showplace mall. "The things that are happening here are outstanding." What's happening is that Cleveland--once referred to as "The Mistake on the Lake"--has become a model for urban revitalization, and hard-fought political battles have ensured that African-American businesses share in the prosperity. Cleveland wasn't immune to the manufacturing and industrial job losses of recent years. But local leaders seem to be reinventing the city, focusing on its strengths, which include a medical community that boasts the internationally renowned Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic (formally known as the Cleveland Clinic Foundation) is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Cleveland Clinic was established in 1921 by four physicians for the purpose of providing patient care, research, and medical , a strong legal community and major employers such as BP America and National City Corp. In addition, black entrepreneurs have started reaching out to help each other. "It's an excellent place to start a business because we have a group of professionals who have come together to be supportive so the businesses can be successful," says Kevin Carter, vice president and director of diversity and business development at McDonald & Co. Securities. Carter also heads the African-American Business Consortium, which offers consulting services to new businesses. Historically, Cleveland has had a strong black business base. That was supplemented in the early 1990s by downsized corporate executives who started their own local businesses, says Hilton O. Smith, vice president of business development and director of EEO EEO Equal Employment Opportunity EEO Equal Employment Office EEO Eastern European Outreach (Murrieta, CA) EEO Extremely Elliptical Orbit EEO Exotic Electro-Optics, Inc. at Cleveland's Turner Corporation. The result, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Smith: "Cleveland has some of the best black businesses in the country." While that may be true, African-American entrepreneurs have not always been courted by city and state governments. "It's becoming a great place now because we have focus," says Michael A. Mobley, a former vice president of the Marriott Corp., who now directs the Minority Economic Opportunity Center. Not so long ago, he says, "there were significant barriers here." As Mobley notes, although the area is home to two BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 companies--food distributor Anderson-Dubose Co. (No. 5) and Ozanne Construction Co. Inc. (No. 79)--"when you look at the top black businesses in the U.S., very few are in CIeveland. For that level of minority business to exist is criminal." Yet, signs of real progress abound. Mobley has been charged with creating a strategic plan that includes aiding in the development of minority businesses and creating jobs and youth job training programs. Already, Cleveland has a business center that assists minority companies. It has a bidding process that gives certified minority businesses a 5% edge against majority companies, and majority companies using minority firms an edge over majority companies that don't. The city also has a set-aside program that restricts bidding on contracts of $50,000 or less to certified minority-and women-owned businesses. MAYOR MICHAEL R. WHITE Michael R. White (born August 13, 1951) is an American politician of the Democratic party and the 55th and longest-serving mayor of Cleveland, Ohio encompassing three four-year terms, from 1990 to 2002. Few people thought Michael R. White had any chance of winning Cleveland's 1989 mayoral race when he campaigned opposite powerful former City Council President George L. Forbes George Lawrence Forbes (born April 4, 1931) is an African American politician of the Democratic Party. From 1974 to 1989, Forbes served as one of the most powerful presidents of Cleveland City Council. In 1961, he passed the Ohio bar exam and began practing law. . Even when White defeated his former mentor, critics doubted he'd be able to reunite re·u·nite tr. & intr.v. re·u·nit·ed, re·u·nit·ing, re·u·nites To bring or come together again. reunite Verb [-niting, -nited Cleveland, which has traditionally been split by race: whites west of the Cuyahoga River Cuyahoga River River, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It flows past Akron, where it drops into a deep valley and turns north, emptying into Lake Erie at Cleveland. It is navigable for lake freighters for only about 5 mi (8 km) of its total length of about 80 mi (130 km). and blacks east of it. But the city's 54th mayor, who in 1993 easily won reelection re·e·lect also re-e·lect tr.v. re·e·lect·ed, re·e·lect·ing, re·e·lects To elect again. re , has been able to revitalize his native town by building a multiracial mul·ti·ra·cial adj. 1. Made up of, involving, or acting on behalf of various races: a multiracial society. 2. Having ancestors of several or various races. coalition. Even White's most adamant critics in the black community--who had accused him of selling out to white business interests--concede the mayor has brought new life to this city. White hails from Cleveland's predominantly black Glenville section, where he was raised in a working-class family. He was elected to the city council in 1977 and appointed to a vacant seat in the Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house in Ohio's bicameral legislature, the Ohio General Assembly; the lower house is the Ohio House of Representatives. Both were established in the state constitution of 1851. The 127th General Assembly convened in January 2007. in 1984. Following his runoff Runoff The procedure of printing the end-of-day prices for every stock on an exchange onto ticker tape. Notes: If the "tape is late" then it can take a long time to print off all the closing prices. victory against Forbes, White set out to rebuild Cleveland's neighborhoods, make its streets safer and reverse the trend of downtown businesses fleeing to the suburbs. His approach was as straightforward as the March 1990 ad he placed in Fortune magazine, which read: "Cleveland--Open for Business." In large part, it worked. That year, White conviced voters to approve a cigarette and tobacco tax to finance the $365 million Gateway sports complex, and he raised the bulk of the $92 million needed for the Rock and Roll hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the music industry, particularly in from corporations. His administration has built more houses than any since that of Carl Stokes (whose term ended in 1971). And, White persuaded local banks to earmark earmark taking a piece out of the edge or center of the ear with a punch as an identification mark. The shape of the mark may be registerable under local legislation. $1 billion over several years for neighborhood development. While he can't claim sole credit for Cleveland's revitalization, White has set a tone of inclusion. In 1993, a whopping $96 million, representing 38% of all city business, was spent with minority and female businesses, up from $30 million, or 21%, in 1989, the year he took office. CLEVELAND AT A GLANCE POPULATION Total 505,616 Black 235,405 % Black 46.6% FAMILIES Total Families 124,176 Total Black Families 57,350 Ratio (Black:Total) 1:2 THE MIDDLE CLASS 62.9% of Cleveland's families are in the middle class 38.4% of Cleveland's middle class families are black 52.4% of all black families in Cleveland are in the middle class Middle class = Family pretax-income range is $25,000 to $74,999 INCOME Average Income $26,710 Black Average Income $22,771 SCHOOLS Annual Estimated Expenditure $477,183,000 Expenditure Per student $6,533 OFFICE PHYSICIANS General Practitioners 516 Specialist 3,070 CRIME Total 8,945 Violent Major Crimes 1,832 Property Crimes 7,113 COST OF LIVING Composite index Composite Index A grouping of equities, indexes or other factors combined in a standardized way, providing a useful statistical measure of overall market or sector performance over time. Also known simply as a "composite". 110.1 PROCUREMENT Government dollars spent purchasing goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. Total $247,104,379 Minority/Women $96,301,578 FORTUNE 500 HEADQUARTERS Number 12 Sales $30.7 billion Staffs 253,225 BE 100S HEADQUARTERS Company Sales Staff Anderson-Dubose $110 million 80 Ozanne Construction $ 17 million 130 Total $127 million 210 UNEMPLOYMENT Overall 7.9% Black Average 13.1% HOUSING Median Monthly Rent $540 Median Home Value $80,600 BLACK BUSINESSES Number of firms 4,755 Sales $218,004,000 Staff 2,729 |
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