Crain's: Personal View: Yes, I moved to Cleveland. Here's why.
I am a millennial born in Manhattan and raised in Long Island. I'm told I speak too quickly and sound like a New Yorker. I am slowly trying to fix those problems. Some of my favorite childhood memories were at Madison Square Garden, watching New York Knicks games with my family. We occasionally saw Broadway shows, and because my father was in the restaurant supply business, we got to eat at some of the city's trendiest restaurants. They were my dad's customers.
Growing up, family and friends fully expected me to live, work and raise my own family there. It came as a surprise when I told people I was moving to Cleveland. Friends and family looked puzzled. One asked if I meant Cleveland, Ohio, before asking if I was feeling OK. Another wondered if I had "really thought about what it means to live in Cleveland," as if to suggest there was no place for me other than New York City.
Cleveland — yes — Cleveland, Ohio, may not have been the expected choice, but it is the right one. I went to school at Case Western Reserve University, where I first experienced Cleveland. I loved it. The people, the culture, the sports teams, restaurants and world-class aspects like Playhouse Square and the Cleveland Clinic.