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Urban Policy

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Erich T. Hoffman-Issue Paper-Recommendations Draft 22APR15

As the City of Cleveland is left with no positive increase in population, what can the city do to affect a net positive increase in overall population? In examining the efforts made by the city in earlier portions of this paper, the conclusion could possibly be, much more. Leaving the development of neighborhoods to the various neighborhood community development corporations does have a improvement in those neighborhoods and also could potentially generate an “us vs. them” mentality among the multiple, unique neighborhoods that make up the City of Cleveland.

The issue is not that people do not want to live in urban areas, on the contrary, the World Health Organization has concluded that only 48% of the world’s population does not live in an urban landscape which is a increase of 18% since the 1960’s. Moreover, urban areas are expected to have a near 2% increase in overall world population in the next 5 years (W.H.O., pg. 1). So that means that not only will people want to call a city like Cleveland home, but it is also competing with other municipalities and regions for citizens. Cleveland’s plan has to be vibrant and take elements of many different approaches to population attraction and retention. In looking at the regional rival, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cleveland could find some cues.

As Cleveland is content to let the community development corporations do the work it sees fit to do, Pittsburgh is as well. However, it seems they are more effective. The city’s East Liberty Development Incorporation, a nonprofit community development corporation focused on the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh had a novel idea at the beginning of the 2008 housing crisis. To simplify the idea, they were determined to combat blight and neighborhood crime by purchasing homes from “slumlords” and repurpose them for mixed income use to include purchase and rental. This led to not only reduced crime in the area but also further development in the neighborhood (Jones, 2015). This is evidence of the simple fact that people will move and stay to areas that are safe. This is reinforced by data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report, which states that for 2012 the city of Pittsburgh had violent crime rate under half of what Cleveland’s was for the same year. Cleveland and Pittsburgh have comparable populations as well and while Cleveland has 80,000 more residents, Pittsburgh is still gaining citizens (US Census, pg.1). Making neighborhoods safer without the direct involvement of increased policing or zero tolerance policies is a novel effective way of creating a safer environment. That same safer environment with mixed income quality housing would be attractive to any resident of any city.

In surveying what is offered by various cities the same general population size of Cleveland, you would be harder pressed to find a better idea that increases a neighborhoods population and improving that neighborhood at the same time. Some community development corporations in Cleveland have done this to a certain extent but it needs to be done to the degree it is in the East Liberty neighborhood. Purchasing or refurbishing only a handful of properties throughout a vast neighborhood will not bring about the positive change Cleveland so desperately needs.

Works Cited
Jones, D. (2015, March 29). How did East Liberty become safer? Buying out homes that housed criminals. Retrieved April 23, 2015, from http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/diana-nelson-jones/2015/03/29/How-did-Pittsburgh-East-Liberty-become-safer-Buying-out-homes-that-housed-criminals/stories/201503220034

United States Census Bureau. (2015, March 31). Retrieved April 18, 2015, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42/4261000.html

World Health Organization: Urban population growth. (2015). Retrieved April 17, 2015, from http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/

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