Another string of positive media stories on Cleveland (Columbus, Forest: hotel, university)

[theurbanfiles]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

Shaker Square?! What am I supposedly missing?

Balaton, Fire, Edwin's and others are all highly critically acclaimed, at least so I've been told.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Edwin's and Fire are great. Balaton is very good -- if you like Eastern European food, you'll love it. Sasa and Zanzibar are very good also. If only Sarava was still there... (RIP, Sergio).

[Kamms]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

Shaker Square?! What am I supposedly missing?

Look for Shaker Square to be the next or soon to be areas to take-off. It has all the infrastructure, high-density and two light rail lines, in place already. Plus, as you know, access to Little Italy and University Circle as well as Coventry etc.

[usaf_1832]

I ate at Edwin's the last time I was back in Cleveland...probably the best Cleveland meal I've had in a while. That restaurant alone can hold down Shaker Square.

[WRnative]

Balaton IMO, and in the opinion of others, has much better food than Sterle's or the new Hofbrauhaus.

Zanzibar Soul Fusion on Shaker Square also is on the Plain Dealer's A-list of 100 best restaurants in Greater Cleveland.

[theurbanfiles]

Clevelanders (finally) hot on their hometown: Survey shows a majority of residents would recommend the city to outsiders | cleveland.com

"If you don't like what people are saying, then change the conversation." Unfortunately, I can't help but think that a decent amount of this 20 percent is coming from the fact that LeBron is back (even still, I'll take it.) I'm doing what I can, and I think that some of the conversations are actually starting to change nationally and locally.

America

Cleveland checking in at Number 7.

Now, obviously, I won't go into per capita stuff and the fact that this is sort of a popularity contest (not sure how NYC, Portland, San Fran and New Orleans wound up behind us on the list, or Houston/Providence as the top 2), but even if you just look at the fact that Cleveland is considered among the best foodie cities in the US (which food being sort of open to your own opinion type of subject, I think is fair). There are very, very few cities that offer more bang for your buck and diversity of quality, than Cleveland as far as food is concerned. I'm not sure I can think of a better eating experience than Sokolowski's with Polka playing, or sitting in the balcony at the Market, and I'm somewhat well traveled.

10 Most Visited National Parks -- National Geographic

Cleveland coming in as 10th most visited National Park, and one of the Top 5 "Urban Escapes in America".

Obviously it doesn't have the jaw-dropping splendor of some of the national parks, although I would say that the Ledges are an exceptionally unique feature, and the amount of trees and waterfalls within the area is high. It really is a people's national park and it has easy user access and allows people to get out into nature without having everything laid out exactly before them (some parks take the hunt out of it to some degree). I would say tourist-wise this might be the best asset for the region (among good assets). Maybe I take for granted that not everyone constantly has wanderlust and then pulls out/reads a National Park book from cover to cover, but (for example) I have to say that I never even would've thought of stopping in Columbia, SC (driving between Ohio and Florida), had I not stumbled upon the somewhat unremarkable (and mosquito filled) Congaree National Park. I have to think that has helped significantly with area tourism (coupled between the HOFs). Also, I believe that CVNP is the only one of the 58 NPs which is within 30 minutes (or an hour for that matter) of a metro area with pop. that exceeds 1 Million (Miami DT is over an hour from there's with traffic, and Tuscon (Saguaro) and Columbia (Congaree) are close but not quite at 1 Million yet.

[costello_musicman]

Some love from Boston:

Cleveland rocks! City makes a comeback - Travel - The Boston Globe

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by costello_musicman

Some love from Boston:

Cleveland rocks! City makes a comeback - Travel - The Boston Globe

Great to see in the globe. Thank you!

[WRnative]

Moderator cut: orphaned, quoted troll post removed

This thread is simply an enjoyable collection of articles about what others are saying about Cleveland, and, wonderfully, Cleveland's reviews are very good. Often these articles provide even residents with a new way to look at and enjoy Cleveland's attributes.

A long-timer such as me well appreciates how much Cleveland's appeal as a destination has increased unimaginably greatly over the last four decades.

University Circle is far superior, with Case Western even emerging as a top-40 national university, the highest ranked in Ohio. Severance Hall, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art have experienced remarkable physical transformations and enhancements, at a cost of about half a billion current dollars. The Museum of Contemporary Art now has a wonderful building, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History soon will undergo a similar transformation. The Cultural Gardens have been saved and rebuilt and Uptown has launched a well-reviewed expansion of UC to the east. Both the main campuses of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals have been greatly expanded and residential housing has been much improved in UC.

Downtown now has three major pro sports venues within walking distance, somewhat uniquely in the U.S. and certainly for the first time in Cleveland history. The Rock Hall is an international tourist destination. PlayhouseSquare has risen like a beautiful phoenix, literally from the ashes, to become one of the nation's most dynamic theater districts. This critical mass has supported Cleveland's mass of new restaurants and entertainment venues, not only downtown, but in nearby Ohio City, Tremont and Gordon Square.

Cleveland State has matured well, adding a mass of residential accommodations.

All of this has led to an unprecedented downtown residential boom and in surrounding neighborhoods.

The mass transit has vastly improved, with the Healthline bus rapid connecting downtown with University Circle and points in between 24/7. Free bus trolleys have added even an additional layer of glue. The Water Front line is gaining a critical mass with the resurrection of the East Flats.

Cleveland now has a downtown casino, helping support the resurrection of Tower City. The Terminal Tower observation deck once again is open to the public.

Edgewater Park has been rescued from the state of Ohio, especially the recent neglect of the Kasich administration.

For a biker, Cleveland's downtown and lakefront actually already is accessible from the Towpath that runs through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, greatly due to the new bike/pedestrian path on the Hope Memorial Bridge, which offers wonderful views of the downtown skyline and the Flats and provides a connection between the West Side Market and Progressive Field.

The new appeal of Cleveland as a destination has been decades in the making, but most importantly for most of us, these improvements have made Cleveland a much more enjoyable place to call home.

Unfortunately, I don't believe the Cleveland economy is as remotely as robust, especially the downtown economy, especially relative to other places in the country and certainly the world. And certainly, the downtown retail experience is a shadow of what it was a half century ago, when it rivaled even NYC and Chicago.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by costello_musicman

Some love from Boston:

Cleveland rocks! City makes a comeback - Travel - The Boston Globe

Did anybody notice that the Boston Globe wrongfully attributed Andrew Carnegie to Cleveland?

This is an unimaginable error. It likely means that the author has never been to Pittsburgh, where the great philanthropist's munificence is widely evidenced in his hometown.

Not mentioned were the likes of the Hanna (Leonard Hanna's monstrous bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art largely lifted the museum to world class status), Severance and Wade families, and most recently the Smith family of Lubrizol wealth who largely funded the resurgence of Case Western.

The Cleveland Museum of Art's transformation required the biggest cash infusion since 1958 Hanna bequest: CMA 2014 | cleveland.com

Also, what's the deal with the free bus trolleys dropping visitors off at Sweet Moses, which is located in Gordon Square, far from the downtown bus trolleys? Does Sweet Moses now have a downtown location of which I'm not aware? In defense of the author, during East 78th St. Third Friday events, which the author apparently attended, free trolleys do operate in the Gordon Square Arts District, obviously very different than the permanent downtown free bus trolley routes.

The author's e-mail address suggests the author is a freelance travel writer based in MD.