Has Cleveland Lost Its Edge?

Time for an unpopular but honest opinion, Cleveland.

We're losing our edge (Queue LCD Soundsystem).

While Detroit embraces its raw, motor city grit and Pittsburgh has leveraged its industrial past into a burgeoning tech hub, we seem content to aim for the middle. We're on a fast track to becoming "Every City, USA," a milder, less distinct version of ourselves, more similar to Columbus or Charlotte, lost in an identity crisis than the vibrant, unique city we once were.

There was a time when Cleveland truly stood out, an industrial titan whose skyline was defined by stunning art deco architecture. I mean, come on, a Rockefeller is even buried here! But now, it feels like we're sanitizing that image away, buffing out the rough edges that once made us unique. Where's the fearless celebration of our industrial heritage, the acknowledgment of the very foundations that built this city? Instead, we seem to be in a perpetual quest for a polished, palatable aesthetic.

Our local media outlets, bless their little hearts, aren't helping either. Cleveland.com, Cleveland Scene and Cleveland Magazine, while undoubtedly well-intentioned, are just as complicit in furthering this narrative as it often feel like they're peddling carefully curated propaganda. How many more times do we need to see that same picture of the Cleveland script sign against a picturesque sunset? And yes, I'm guilty of taking that photo too. But it's become a tired trope, a visual shorthand for a city that's trying too hard to be something it's not. Frankly, the most interesting thing about that composition is usually the sky behind it.

The consistent gatekeeping of our visual narrative, the reluctance to showcase anything beyond the most aesthetically pleasing angles, is a willful endorsement of this slide into mediocrity. It's a disservice to the real Cleveland, the one with character, with history etched into its brick and steel, the one that isn't always picture-perfect but is undeniably ours.

If we truly want to reclaim our identity, we need to show all of Cleveland. The grit, the resilience, the unvarnished reality, and yes, the beauty too. But that beauty isn't just static buildings against an interesting sky from the perspective of only a few. This narrow lens isn’t a representation of the whole; it’s a limiting factor.

Cleveland is the aging factories, the diverse and bustling neighborhoods, and the people who call this city home. It's time to drop the pretense and embrace the whole, complicated, messy, and utterly compelling truth of who we are. Otherwise, we're just another city vying for a spot in the middle of the pack, indistinguishable from the rest. And frankly, Cleveland deserves better than that.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Cleveland is losing its edge?