Cleveland Real Estate News

Take it with a grain of salt, like everything else we read, but still worth reading. It’s been 11 years since Allegheny County in Pittsburgh switched to a Co. Executive/Council form of government. If nothing else, Jim Nichols’ PD article  interviews a cross section of people who were in the trenches in Pittsburgh when the system changed.  I liked reading their perspectives. One suggestion from Pittsburgh sounded particularly good.  Get a group of 500 people together, not a measly 15 or 30  person committee to review the implementation (I said measly, not the article). I love that idea. Let everyone work around the table, so to speak,  and I know good ideas would present themselves.

The second thing I took away was not a new idea.  Focusing on why some areas are experiencing growth because of a focus on attracting immigrants. For us (as it was for Pittsburgh) this a renewed effort, not a new one, as we know from our history. Here is a quote from the article:

Aim low, as well as high, with economic development. Pittsburgh and Cleveland must regain their lost status as giant magnets for poor but entrepreneurial immigrants, said Michael Madison, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who writes a civic-criticism blog called Pittsblog 2.0. Newcomers from the Far East and India are streaming to Milwaukee, Des Moines and Minneapolis-St. Paul, saving money in crummy jobs, then starting businesses, he said. The cultural diversity, in turn, makes a city even more appealing to the educated creative classes. Strong, united and welcoming leadership should actively court foreign laborers, Madison said.

Peace Out – 3C