Introduction

Hi - I'm Caitlin. I used to be a journalist. I hope I still am. But right now, I have made a career detour and find myself back in school at Cleveland State's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. I'm working towards my Masters in Public Administration and meanwhile, I'm working here at the college doing research. Today I am charged with researching the feasibility of building an aerotropolis around Cleveland Hopkins Airport. What is an aerotropolis you ask? Well, according to University of North Carolina professor John D. Kasarda it is an “aviation-oriented businesses cluster around these airports and along transportation corridors radiating from them…stretching up to 20 miles (25 kilometers) outward from the airports…the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses.”

I will discuss aerotropolises later. It's pretty interesting.

I'm back in school because I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the work I did as a journalist both at WCPN/WVIZ ideastream and at NOW on PBS. Before those two gigs I was harassing Lindsay Lohan's publicist, wondering why her client showed up in public sans panties AGAIN! I am not sure if I will continue in journalism once my degree is done or if I will join the public sector. We'll just have to see what opportunities arise. In the meantime, I must keep writing so I don't lose it.

Coming up with an appropriate name for this blog was difficult. I was going to go with "City Was Gone," but it's sort of negative and there is enough negativity in this town. I hope people easily recognize that I pilfered the title from a song by The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone." Everyone probably knows this line: "I went back to Ohio and my city was gone." These words really aren’t applicable to me – but I do think they would resonate with my mother, if she ever listened to decent music. I took the liberty to replace "was" with "not" because I really believe that Cleveland is going to make it. We're going to figure this thing out.

I grew up in Boston and am a typical East Coaster. My higher education took place exclusively (until now) in New York universities. I always loved Cleveland mostly because I love my mom's family – an expansive Irish clan from the West Side. My mom moved to Boston to attend Boston College. She met my dad and stayed there for about 40 years. Five years ago, she retired and they decided to move back to Cleveland. She cannot stop talking about the changes that have occurred since her youth. Most of them negative. When she was a kid, Cleveland had 900,000 people and it was the country's 7th or 8th largest city. Through a painful process of industrial attrition, the population has dwindled to around 400,000. We all know about the rampant foreclosures, poverty, on and on and on. So my mother is often frustrated and mystified by what she sees her.

At the same time however, I don't know many other cities with the same sense of community and heart. Maybe that's why I love Cleveland and why I want to stay here. I'm hoping my studies at Levin will better help me to understand the issues causing the decline of Cleveland's (and Detroit's, and Buffalo's and Youngstown's...) economy and maybe I can someday do something to help. I also really love my friends here and am always having a lot of fun.

I hope you enjoy my blog. I am going to do my best to keep up with it and write thoughtful things. Thanks!
-Caitlin

PS - Thank you to my dear friend Kate O'Mara Chandler for letting me use her awesome photo in my header.