posted 01-17-2007 07:15 PM                       

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Andrew,
Typically vague and wasteful NDP crap, that slogan and logo sux!
How about "Winnipeg - Mosquito Capital Of The World!"

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posted 01-18-2007 04:48 AM                       

quote: Jim Bedford

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THE TOWN WITHOUT A BELLYACHE

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posted 01-18-2007 10:26 AM                       

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Immediately after World War II, the city experienced a brief boom. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series and the Browns dominated professional football in the 1950s. Businesses proclaimed that Cleveland was the "best location in the nation". The city's population reached its peak of 914,808, and in 1949 Cleveland was named an All-America City for the first time. By the 1960s, however, heavy industries began to slump and residents sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of white flight and urban sprawl. Like other major U.S. cities, Cleveland also began witnessing racial unrest, culminating in the Hough Riots on July 18–July 23, 1966 and the Glenville Shootout on July 23–July 25, 1968. The city's nadir is often considered to be its default on its loans on December 15, 1978, when under Mayor Dennis Kucinich it became the first major American city to enter default since the Great Depression. National media began referring to Cleveland as "the mistake by the lake" around this time in reference to the city's financial difficulties, a notorious 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River (where industrial waste on the river's surface caught on fire) and its struggling professional sports teams. The city has worked to shed this nickname ever since, though in recent times the national media have been much kinder to the city, using it as an exemplar for public-private partnerships, downtown revitalization and urban renaissance.

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The CUYAHOGA RIVER FIRE (22 June 1969) dramatized the extent of the river's pollution and the ineffectiveness of the city's lagging pollution abatement program. The fire, which witnesses reported reached as high as 5 stories, began at 12 P.M. and lasted about 20 minutes before it was brought under control. A fireboat battled the blaze on the water while units from 3 fire battalions brought the flames on the railroad trestles under control. The bridge belonging to the Norfolk & Western Railway Co. sustained $45,000 in damage, forcing the company to close it to rail traffic. The other trestle, belonging to the NEWBURGH & SOUTH SHORE RAILWAY, incurred damages estimated at $5,000 but remained open. The blaze apparently was caused by an accumulation of oily wastes and debris on the river under 2 wooden trestles at the foot of Campbell Rd. hill, SE, in Cleveland. According to a subsequent investigation by Cleveland's Bureau of Industrial Wastes, the fire probably came from a discharge of highly volatile petroleum derivatives with a sufficiently low flash point to be ignited by a chance occurrence at the site of the railroad bridges.

Cleveland's reputation was severely damaged by the fire because at the time there was national concern about the pollution of Lake Erie and the rivers and streams that fed into it--particularly the Cuyahoga River, which was among the most polluted in the country. Ironically, another oil slick burned on the Cuyahoga River in 1952 causing an estimated $1.5 million damage without attracting national attention.

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"FOREST CITY" Cleveland's long-time nickname, has murky origins. An obituary of TIMOTHY SMEAD† claims that "while in an editorial capacity Mr. Smead gave to Cleveland the name of Forest City" (PLAIN DEALER, 4 Jan. 1890). Credit for inspiring the name, however, is generally given to WM. CASE†, secretary of the Cleveland Horticultural Society in the 1840s and mayor (1850-51), who encouraged the planting of shade and fruit trees. The Forest City Race Track, opened in 1850, is the earliest-known business use of the name. It was followed in 1851 by the Forest City Agricultural Warehouse, Bank, Bath House, Cricket Club, and Lyceum. A hotel using the name, the Forest City House, was incorporated in Mar. 1851. A city Dept. of Forestry & Nurseries was established in 1897, as the city launched a new effort to save trees. In the late 1930s, with Works Progress (later Work Projects) Admin. aid, the city's Bureau of Horticulture planted more than 13,000 trees in city parks. A count in 1940 found 221,198 trees in the city in addition to 100,000 others in the parks. "Forest City" was still the name of some 30 large and small firms in Greater Cleveland in 1994.

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"The Comeback City"

By the time Voinovich was elected, Cleveland had long been the butt of late night comedians' jokes. At President Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball, comedian Rich Little quipped that that if the Soviets started to invade Poland, "I'd change the name to Cleveland. No one ever goes there." Clevelanders, with encouragement of politicians, newspaper columnists, and disc jockeys, began sending off angry letters to Little's agent, NBC, and newspapers. Little was surprised and later stated to UPI columnist Vernon Scott: "I guess the people of Cleveland have become a little touchy."

"I am totally fed up with everyone taking a shot at our city, and am not going to accept it meekly anymore," a letter to The Plain Dealer stated. The Cleveland Press caught Willard Scott making a disparaging remark about the city while The Plain Dealer found an insult in the Hollywood Reporter. When Boston mayor Kevin White remarked that the city's finances had gone from "Camelot to Cleveland," Voinovich protested. White responded by saying that Boston had survived facetious remarks from a wide range of jokesters, from Mark Twain to Johnny Carson. "I am sure Cleveland will also," he said.

Voinovich highlights Cleveland's misspent bond funds at a November 1980 press conference.

The defensive attitude projected from the Cleveland media and Voinovich began to make inhabitants of other cities look twice at Cleveland. The Smythe-Cramer Co. especially helped restore the city's former glory by running a series of ads with photographs of downtown Cleveland captioned "Take Another Look. It's Cleveland!" In May, The Plain Dealer sent its Sunday subscribers bumper stickers saying, "New York's the Big Apple, but Cleveland's a Plum." The paper also passed out thousands of "Cleveland's a Plum" buttons and also ran a huge picture of Publisher Thomas Vail, with a smiling Voinovich beside him, throwing out the first plum at a Yankees-Indians game. Sportscaster Howard Cosell hailed the city during a baseball game and Voinovich subsequently presented him with a key to the city. A survey showed 65 percent of the residents of Greater Cleveland were very satisfied with their life in the city and even 57 percent claimed to be very satisfied, even in 1978, the year of default. Also, a national poll rated Detroit as the city with the worst image, with New York City second. Cleveland was fifth-worst.

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Dennis Eckart: A few years ago Cleveland’s bumper sticker was Cleveland’s a Plum and then we followed it with the North Coast. In the early 90's we were the Comeback City. I think what it underscores with me is that your theme really might change from year to year depending on what your newest assets are as well as what your competitors are doing.

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posted 01-18-2007 01:51 PM                       

• Eugene: Reality Ends Here
• Eugene: Gateway to the Gateway area. [Referring to a rapidly-growing commercial area in neighboring Springfield]
• Eugene: We may be downstream from Glenwood, but we're upstream from Harrisburg.
• Eugene: Stumptown on the Willamette storm drain.
• Eugene: Not just another Exit-South-on-I-5 City.
• Eugene: More lesbians per capita than any other U.S. city
• Eugene: As diverse as a bunch of white people can be