Problems in Cleveland, TN???? (rent, crime rate, new house)

[leonard]

In checking some of the crime stats in Cleveland, I see that aggravated assault is very high in Cleveland. Far higher than comparable cities and even though many other crime stats are low.

What is the problem in Cleveland????

[MikieBH]

The police don't like to file reports in the area that I live (around Lee University) b/c it affects crime rate which affects enrollment, so they sweep a lot of crimes under the rug (lots of thefts--at least 20 break-ins in my neighborhood in the past 3 years). You can't even get in to see the Mayor (Tom Rowland). He will have you escorted out if you come to him to complain. I emailed the city manager 6 months ago b/c of the break ins in our area and never got a response back--it was a very respectful email btw.
They love to arrest the homeless for pi though. They are quick to arrest people that are easy targets, but they won't do crap if your home is broken into. They have a new jail that they are paying for, so they love to fill it up and get that state money coming in!
Tom Rowland--has been the mayor for 22 years. Dude! GET ANOTHER JOB AND LET SOMEONE WHO IS NOT AFRAID OF ITS CITIZENS TAKE OVER. I work for a mayor in a neighboring city and he has an open door policy and lots of people come to see him every day with complaints about this or that and he always sees them. Cleveland is the worst place I've ever lived!!!!

[Fortoggie]

Well for once, someone who doesn't think that Cleveland is the center of the universe. Cleveland has many problems including about 15,000 very poor people, many of whom are third or fourth generation poor. Much of the city east of the railroad is crumbling and the leaders just ignore them and try to pretend that they do not exist. Probably more people per capita believe in miracles in the Cleveland area than any place I know.
While over on the northwest side of town there is an ever expanding, upper middle class; it's over there where the miracles are happening, it's over there where they have built a 27 million church, right during the recession and another 7 million church was built right on the edge of the slum district.

[Mobilemom52]

Our daughter and SIL just moved to Cleveland while she completes a doctoral externship. I helped them look for a place to live, and discovered there were some pretty disreputable looking areas of town - east or southeast, I believe. They rented a house in an established neighborhood off Keith St., near Mouse Creek Rd. in the NW section of town.

I've been up there 3 or 4 times, but don't know enough about city management to comment, except that, like virtually everywhere, there are some great places and not-so-great. So far they are loving it there - so much to do within half an hour, wonderful greenway, nice neighbors.

[Clevelandcitygirl]

I have read all of the above comments and I have lived on Cleveland all of my life. All of the comments seem to be very accurate. Yes, 3rd and 4th generations of poor people, yes, the cops love to focus on the poor and homeless that live primarily in the southeast part of town. The North west part of town continues to grow and the rich become richer as in most communities. The homeless shelter, of course in the southeast part of town, is rundown and needs major improvements. The people at the homeless shelter have to be in by 9:00 pm and out by around 7:00 am, therefore, the homeless have nothing to do other than roam the streets and seek shelter until the doors open again. However, you will never see anything like this happening on the North end of town. You will also see police officers primarily in the southeast part of town and very rarely on the North end but for the most part, rich, poor, no matter the area they live in, Cleveland is home to some of the nicest, kindest people.

[Rick26]

leonard, et. al.....

Geeze.....come on! Did you guys think Cleveland was the "perfect" town?!

All the comments you've made could apply to 99.9% of all cities of this population. Even "statistics" are susceptible to all kinds of interpretations. Yes, Cleveland has crime; yes, Cleveland has slums; yes, Cleveland has "poor" people...and so does everywhere else!

I bet other towns also have government officials/politicians that don't respond well to citizens with an "attitude". I'm 100% sure I can get an appointment with ANY local official if I approach it correctly.

Get off your soapbox and go out and do something positive!
(Yes, I live in Cleveland, and it's a great place for me...and 1000's of others!)

[ClevelandBrown2023]

As far as miracles happening in the wealthier parts of town I don't believe those are miracles but instead people who work hard to afford nice homes in nice areas.As far as the area east of the tracks or whatever what is the city supposed to do if those people can't afford or don't work enough to keep their homes from falling into a dilapidated state,pay to fix them up?The city doesn't own them and it's not the taxpayers responsibility anyway,it's the homeowners responsibility.Why put money into fixing the roads over there if the area looks the way it does?The money goes to the areas where taxes are being paid so if an area pays less in taxes they get less tax dollars spent in that area,that's how it works and how it should work.There is already government housing in that area that drains our tax dollars via upkeep ,paid utilities, free or reduced rent ,and a higher police presence due to higher crime rates.Why would the people who I commented on first ,the ones who work hard to afford nice homes in nice areas and pay more taxes,not want their taxes to go into bettering their own neighborhoods? Nobody is going to go in and build those people nice new houses they have to do it themselves.Why would a huge church invest in building in an area like that?A church is a business and like every other business has to have revenue to sirvive so if they build in a rundown area they will not have wealthy or middle class donors in attendance but instead would have a poor congregation who expect the church to provide for them more than they give.As far as people being poor for generations you would expect they would get tired of it and attend some college courses to break that cycle as lower class people have every opportunity to get basically a free education unlike most others.Thats just how it is.

[ClevelandBrown2023]

I worked at a community kitchen/shelter and they are kicked out for a reason and that reason isn't so they can wonder the streets with nothing to do but in hopes they will find jobs and start contributing to society.Not a lot of money is put into beautification of shelters because it's expensive for the taxpayers,which isn't fair to those who work,and if shelters were nice people wouldn't mind being in that position and wouldn't try to get into a better situation so it would further the problem.

[GoHerd1]

Originally Posted by Rick26

leonard, et. al.....

Geeze.....come on! Did you guys think Cleveland was the "perfect" town?!

All the comments you've made could apply to 99.9% of all cities of this population. Even "statistics" are susceptible to all kinds of interpretations. Yes, Cleveland has crime; yes, Cleveland has slums; yes, Cleveland has "poor" people...and so does everywhere else!

I bet other towns also have government officials/politicians that don't respond well to citizens with an "attitude". I'm 100% sure I can get an appointment with ANY local official if I approach it correctly.

Get off your soapbox and go out and do something positive!
(Yes, I live in Cleveland, and it's a great place for me...and 1000's of others!)

^^^ This. We moved to Cleveland a year and a half ago. I had spreadsheets upon spreadsheets of data of everything I valued in a place to raise our family. The data lead me to Cleveland, TN. I truly think this is one of the best places in the world, yes THE WORLD, to live. It's been everything and more than I expected. There is not a place on earth that doesn't have problems. Cleveland, TN doesn't have 10% of the problems as the place we moved from and 1000's of other cities and towns. There is a reason the town and this area are growing...people WANT to be here and are coming here from all over the country.

I live on the Southside of town (what many people think is the LEAST desirable part of town), just barely in the county (by a block or two). I don't lock my car doors at night. The person who owned the house before us...his front door didn't even lock (it was broke - and knowing the way they took care of the house I am sure it was broke for years). Our kids play in the yard and I worry about nothing. No one turns their porch light on on our street. I thought that was odd. Our street seems to try to keep things as dark as possible at night...we're not living in fear here. I tell my wife every week...I'm so glad we are here.

P.S. I will also add I can't tell you the amount of times I see a post on Facebook where someone has lost their wallet and it gets turned in. I left my phone in a cart at Food City in the SOUTHSIDE and it was turned in to the front desk - I got it back. My wife dropped her debit card in the southside and it was turned back into the bank. This would never happen where we were from.

[shinestx]

I had an emergency that required me to be sent to the Tennova (Cleveland) Medical Center. The staff in the ER were amazingly knowledgeable and tuned into everyone there. The ER was packed (no rooms available in the whole hospital) and yet the staff was professional and hustling. The RN/LPN staff were so knowledgeable. And it's a beautiful facility; I guess it hasn't been able to keep up with the growth in Bradley County.