Introduction
Carey (2010) describes Cleveland as a city in the United States of America at the Ohio state. It has the highest population compared to all other states. Cleveland city is located on the Northeastern side of Ohio, and on the south of Lake Erie. This city is bordered by the Pennsylvania.
The economy of this city is of a diversified nature. The key economic sectors include manufacturing, financial sector services, health sector and medicals. Its’ estimated to have a population of more than 396,815 thus making it to be ranked number forty five in America. The largest population of this city consists of the locals who are known as Clevenders.
Problems in this city
There are many problems facing this city which have been known for a long period. The city is known for defaulting debts because of depression that has hit the city in the recent past. In some instances, it was ranked as one of the miserable cities in America.
The city has been greatly mentioned for its high unemployment rate, high rate of taxes, extreme weather conditions, and grand corruption by many government officials (Carey, 2010). It also has very weak sports teams. Most of these problems have been increasing in the past years. In addition, people have been moving to urban centers at a high rate.
Contaminated land also poses as a major problem in the city. Other serious problems that have been experienced are foreclosures and bankruptcy filings in the law courts. On the hand, the ever increasing housing prices continued to aggravate the situation.
In fact, the rate of unemployment and inflation in the year 2009 was 12.7% as indicated by annual statistics. Pollution problems are also experienced in this city. Corruption is evidenced by the number of convictions witnessed in this city. Good evidence on the rate of crime is shown by statistics (Carey, 2010).
According to Carey (2010), 309 public officials have been convicted of bribery related charges according to the judicial records. There is also abandonment of homes in this city although there is an improvement in this situation. The relevant authorities have been trying to develop ways of reducing the problem of housing in this city.
Nevertheless, there are some major achievements that have been made. For example, there are three sports venues in Ohio that are classified as the best the city. Another main achievement is the construction of Cleveland clinic, which is considered to be the largest medical center in the country. It is the largest employer in Ohio. The rate of violent crimes is another serious problem that is experienced in this city.
There has been an increase in the number of convicts because of participation in violent crimes. The state of education in this city is terrible. The public schools in this city are failing to prepare the young students for their future. This has made children and parents to flee from the suburbs of the city (Restoring Prosperity, 2010). They move to the cities to look for security and quiet environment.
The leaders of this city have to be actively involved in dealing with these problems. They have to participate aggressively in the process of eradicating the problems through the use of preventive and corrective measures. When vying for civic seats in the city, there are some key things that need to be implemented to improve the condition.
There is a need for Cleveland city to be developed and planned in order to ensure the challenges are countered. Planning will entail developing a framework that will help in addressing these challenges. The plan should include location of retail businesses and their operations at strategic places. This will ensure better use of industrial and commercial land, as well as the development of residential areas (Carey and Gillespie, 2010).
In addition, it will encourage the development of design issues in the city. Physical development will be an integral part of the plan, and will ensure Cleveland becomes a lively city. The social need can be addressed by architects and planners who are mandated to develop a good planning system. This will be done by creating these industries through the national laboratory (Restoring Prosperity, 2010).
The self organized group of manufactures should be given grants by city authorities. This will be done at the national or regional levels. The established Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) will be expanded, and get supported fully by the authorities.
The government will put in place research and development in order to ensure the right technology is adopted and that there are improvements in the production of green products. As a leader, I will ensure there is great promotion of green oriented sources of energy. There will be support of the services export industry through the global export.
This will be done through expanding the presence of the services globally as well as the attraction of the talents globally. There will be support of the community to translate to entrepreneurs and help them develop into entrepreneurs. According to Restoring Prosperity (2010), this will be done by providing training and supporting them, the existing companies will be helped to develop new products lines and provision of capital.
There will be better land reconfiguration as well as the right sizing of the land. There will also be strategies to help establish better reconfiguration and repurposing of land. Processes to ensure better use of water and clean up efforts will be put in place. This will ensure reduced water pollution.
There is also a need for the reformation of its K-12 education system. This will ensure they compete with other forms of education systems in this country. It will also enhance competitiveness (Carey and Gillespie, 2010).
The policies are not necessarily the one which will benefit the residents of Cleveland city only. In short, some will help the residents of this city while others will cut across in the whole state as well as the country. One of the Examples is the policy to reduce water pollution is the policy on the land use. The use of new land bank law will apply to every county in this state.
This law will recognize the long term challenges that fit the local land market. The establishment of new state planning processes will allow new types of land uses. This will not only be useful to the dwellers of the city but to all people including those in surrounding areas (Carey and Gillespie, 2010).
The introduction and support of competitive infrastructure agenda will not only help the people of this city but all the people of the entire country. This policy will be taken in collaboration with the states and federal authorities. Established fright and rail industry will develop a good transportation plan that will ensure easier movement of goods across the Great Lakes region.
It will also simplify the movement of goods across the US-Canadian border. The process of shifting K-12 dollars to classrooms will be beneficial to many people. The larger Ohio was ranked forty seven in terms of secondary education. There will be a school district consolidation which will ensure more aggressive shared services, not between the locals but to all the people of the surrounding areas.
It will not for the benefit of Ohio’s localities but also to the state government. This will be achieved through the establishment of multiple programs and delivery systems. The policies on building of the workforce and infrastructure will not only help the neighborhood but also will immensely help the residents of Cleveland.
It will help the residents move from the low income earning position to middle class earning class. Provision of funds to the people by the federal government will greatly help the residents of Cleveland city together with the economy of the country. The process of educating the people of this area which is being done through peer-to-peer workshop will help them learn the skills of becoming entrepreneurs.
This is being enhanced by the local organizations and leaders. These summits will equipped the locals with the knowledge on better utilization of the funds available for their utilization in running and expanding businesses. It has also resulted to reduced unemployment rates (Carey, 2010).
Incentives
The City of Cleveland is relatively invested in bringing residents into the City limits to work and play. In an attempt to help neighborhoods suggest a greater variety of affordable, updated housing stock, the city has put together an incentive plan to make buying a house in Cleveland a very attractive opportunity (Gillespie, 2010). The main element of the incentive package is tax abatement.
Tax abatement is the short-term elimination of bigger real estate taxes for prospective and existing developers and homeowners. Tax abatement is open as a way of inspiring new expansion and redevelopment, and it is running to bring new inhabitants into new life and Cleveland neighborhoods (Mallach and Brachman, 2010).
These need qualifications for a new building of single-family homes, new structure of multifamily investor owned properties, conversion of nonresidential buildings to residential units, rehabilitation of multifamily houses. The City of Cleveland offers housing tax abatement on recently constructed and reformed homes throughout its thirty six neighborhoods.
Currently, a newly constructed home in Cleveland receives 100%, fifteen year tax abatement for construction of the residence, but owners are still responsible for the raise in value of the land. Rehabilitated properties receive a 100 %; ten year abatement on the increased value of their possessions after the work has been completed.
In the year 2009, all projects seeking public subsidy and incentives shall meet the necessities set forth by the Cleveland Green Standard. At the start of year 2010, to be eligible for housing tax abatement in Cleveland’s CRA program, all new structure and projects will need to meet Energy Star Standards.
Other Incentives include land bank lots incentives which involve buildable lots to be available at low-priced prices, which currently average $100, from the City of Cleveland (Mallach and Brachman, 2010). The second mortgage assistance incentives, whereby the City of Cleveland funds a second mortgage overdue loan program for new houses.
This program offers a maximum of $10,000 in the term of a deferred mortgage that assist at a fair cost. The loan is made at a zero percent interest rate for thirty year tenure. The loan is payable and due to the City upon the rent, sale, transfer, termination of occupancy, or refinance of the mortgaged assets during the loan period.
Another incentive is mortgage financing options which involves several financial agencies that lend in the City of Cleveland towards home ownership. According to Gillespie (2010), incentives range from no to low deposit necessities, short interest rates, and cheap closing costs.
In addition, home repair programs incentives in the City of Cleveland and various nonprofit organizations offer low-interest home refurbish and improvement loans to help Cleveland people. Interest rates range from 0-6%, with many programs having no proceeds margins (Reviving cities, 1996).
There are also business incentives whereby the Cleveland department of planning and development works with expanding city businesses to encourage their growth and expansion. Some of the programs offered by the City include Community Reinvestment Area Program. The City of Cleveland has four Community Reinvestment areas located in the Office, Commerce and Technology District.
The City has created several taxes increasing financing Districts as economic expansion gear that allow the City to pay back the debt for infrastructure improvements. Cleveland will employ specialist to appraise the City’s zoning system and other rules to remove barriers and support environmental practices in land expansion and house construction.
The appraise process will include a plan to engage the community (Restoring Prosperity, 2010). The whole objectives of the sustainability appraisal will include lessening water consumption, reducing unyielding surfaces, growing tree and vegetation coverage, rising biodiversity, decreasing landfill dumping and encouraging power effectiveness and good modes of transportation.
Consultants will review common zoning requirements as well as specific requirements for large-scale developments.
The city staff and a consultant will carry an extensive development process to develop planned expansion to incorporate sustainable payback; persuade energy efficient buildings, protection easements, modern water management, municipal infrastructure improvements, public open places, civic plazas, accessible compliant units, and proper solar direction (Restoring Prosperity, 2010).
The residential districts will be at better lot exposure to reduce impermeable surface, and decrease parking necessities. Business districts will encourage pedestrian oriented, solid design, transparency along lane frontages, bicycle way in and storage, connections to nearby areas, high quality, sustainable structure materials, and proper landscape.
The accessory structures and uses will give confidence alternative energy production, water and energy efficiency, and local food production (Restoring Prosperity, 2010). Adjusting of the parking standards will be done to include the maximum number of parking places (Reviving cities,1996).
The landscape and water preservation will cater for minimum installation sizes for all plant types, allow for naturalized lawns, native landscapes and gardens, species diversity requirement, require native plant species, establish recommended and prohibited plant lists. The region will maintain investments in its anchor institutions like Ohio University.
This will be a source of technical assistance and a higher education for the Ohio community. The community will engage in economic activities in order to attract outside investors. Provision of investment opportunities and location incentives in Ohio will enhance its transformation to a new economy (Carey and Gillespie 2010).
Government policies
The objective of these efforts is to enlarge economic prosperity through job creation and better way in to job and business tenure by all sections of the Cleveland community. The Connecting Cleveland 2020 Plan consequently puts onward a complete set of cost-effective development policies (Restoring Prosperity, 2010). These policies are focused on certain strategies.
The government capitalizes on the presence of well known medical and learning institutions to produce businesses concerned in health care measures and products. At the same time they attract patients and guests from outside the city. For instance, develop health industries teaching program to advance the fit between this business and the skills of Clevelanders (Mallach and Brachman, 2010).
The government needs to support product design, product originality and productivity procedure improvements to assist industry move from customary production to higher value and focused output in sectors where Cleveland can build viable advantages. For example, promote the renewal of the most appropriate existing construction supply for modern manufacturing uses.
The government needs to make stronger the facilities, attractions, businesses and housing surroundings in the central city and its business district as a basis for area economic expansion. An example is like capitalizing on Cleveland’s network and extra technology infrastructure. This will reinforce its responsibility as area technology center and replicate successes of know-how centers.
Strengthen municipal learning and access to enduring workforce education opportunities as a base for building a worldwide aggressive economy and private wealth for Cleveland people. The government should make sure that all Clevelanders have the chance to benefit from neighboring economic expansion activity (Gillespie, 2010). For instance, improve transport options for people to work places and focus efforts on locating businesses in neighboring cities with higher rates of joblessness.
This will involve seeking ways to improve the worth of property and buildings through recycle. Government should encourage the region’s wide range of industry assets in competing together to draw businesses from outside the local economy. Another policy is the use of public economic incentives.
The government should utilize the arts and literary gifts to draw highly able and expert to live and secure job in the Cleveland city (Reviving cities, 1996).
Conclusion
The city of Cleveland is a famous city in America. However, there are numerous problems facing this city as discussed in the essay. There is a need to address these problems facing the city. The success in dealing with these problems will depend with the involvement of the local leaders and their commitments towards the laid down strategies.
The policies discussed above in dealing with the problem should be implemented (BIMPP, 2010). They should be aimed at substantially helping the residents of the city of Cleveland as well as the outsiders.
References List
Carey, D. (2010). Reason Foundation, Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey. Web.
Carey, D. & Gillespie, N. (2010). Meet with the Cleveland City Council. Web.
Gillespie, N. (2010). How to save Cleveland: Reasons. Web.
Mallach, A. & Brachman, L. (2010). Ohio’s Cities at a Turning Point: Finding the way forward, Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program. Web.
Reviving Cities (1996). Has Cleveland mortgaged its tomorrows? Web.
The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program (BIMPP) (2010). Restoring Prosperity. (2010). Web.