Tag Archives: Chagrin Falls

Make Cleveland Chagrin Falls on the Lake?

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Now, it might seem that I’ve been down on Chagrin Falls lately, what with my pointing out that the CF Schools dropped the ball vis-a-vis the Obama speech to students. To the contrary, one makes those kinds of arguments when you want to see change for the better. Its called partaking in civil society, and I actually think that Chagrin works pretty well.

Thus, I was not surprised a couple weeks back when I saw this nugget in the paper; Cleveland port redevelopment plan: Chagrin Falls on the lake – cleveland.com. Now, there are lots of reasons this is a good idea, but in practice it might be a bit of a pipe dream. Among the pipe dream reasons are the relative affluence of Chagrin Falls, as well as relative population density. The lakefront would need both of those things to generate the functioning district being sought. But perhaps most of all, it would need a spirit of engagement and investment, not just cash but real human cultural investment. I am not sure that this sort of thing is possible without transforming how we live our lives, meaning re-centering people’s lives in the center city.

Either way, I would recommend, for a historical perspectives on downtown, reading Alison Isenberg’s Downtown America or Robert Fogelson’s Downtown. Both are superb and do what historians often do really well–show that things are more complex than you might think.

George H. W. Bush “Indoctrinated” Children in Address to Schoolchildren 21790-1 : C-SPAN Video Library | Created by Cable. Offered as a Public Service.

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I checked (very quickly) on Lexus/Nexus today. I found no evidence of parents demanding the right to opt out of this event, no evidence that the school district felt it necessary to allow (actively) such opting out, nor any evidence that it was viewed by local students.

So, what’s the difference? Is it that George H. W. Bush was a Republican, a white man, a scion of an old political family, that the Internet has changed the discourse that dramatically, or perhaps the left is eminently more reasonable than the right. Probably, its a combination of all the above. And, don’t tell me that the social and political environment has changed, ’cause I still show the George H. W. Bush’s “Willy Horton” advertisements in my US history course when we discuss post-World War II politics. Of course, the crazy zealots on the right would have a cow, claiming I am “indoctrinating” their kids. That said, I also show the “daisy ad,” Reagan’s “morning in America” ad, Hilary Clinton’s “3am” ad, and part of Obama’s 30-minute infomercial.  But, I digress.

George H. W. Bush Address to Schoolchildren 21790-1 : C-SPAN Video Library | Created by Cable. Offered as a Public Service.

This should remind you just how pathetic the current crop of right-wing zealots are as people and citizens.