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'Best location' really hasn't left
(by Barbara Christian - July 07, 2011)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
'Best location' really hasn't left
If you have lived around here for a while, then you probably remember the slogan, "Best location in the nation." It was proffered by the old Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. and gave pride to Northeast Ohio for many reasons, including its livability, moderate weather and successful business climate.
"Best location in the nation" was coined before our current climate-change issues, a series of recessions and Cleveland-based companies that have since fled for -- gasp -- better locations, taking the economy and livability with them. We were the best location in the nation before Rocky Colavito was traded, the river burned and the mayor's hair caught on fire. But I digress.
Before all of that, back while we were still basking in the glow of being the "best," there were those in our family who, out of necessity, fled to other parts of the country.
My grandparents moved to California in the 1920s for his health. Grandpa was a tuberculosis sufferer and needed sunshine and even more fresh air than blew off the shores of Lake Erie. So they moved to sunny, clean-air Los Angeles. Like I said, it was a long time ago. California's famous air pollution followed, and soon that clean, fresh air was so thick you could almost cup it in your hands.
Meanwhile, the other half of the family had gone off to Pittsburgh, where my uncle took a job with the Bureau of Mines. At the time, Pittsburgh was the another place where you could see the air you were breathing.
We'd visit there a few times each year, and, when we did, my cousins and I would play on their big front porch. In no time, our faces, hands and clothes were as dirty as the coal dust settling over the city.
But we contented ourselves knowing we could always escape back to the best location in the nation, leaving those family members quite literally in the dust.
I remember my mother reminding us of our good fortune. We lived in a "moderate" climate. Unlike Pittsburgh, we had clean air.
Traffic was also a breeze, Mom said. The latter boast was in response to the West Coast relatives whose letters would arrive recounting the goings on in their lives. Goings on that seemed to consist of endless traffic jams, daily freeway travels, missed exits and near-death highway experiences.
Mom's return letter suggested they could avoid the frustration by returning to the best location in the nation, where -- ta-da -- we also had four distinct seasons.
The return letter from my aunt stated California also had four distinct seasons too. They were "earthquake, wildfire, landslide and flood."
If there is a point here, it is that, in spite of all the problems that beset our Rust Belt hometown, we are still pretty lucky to live where we do. I suppose I would be tempting fate to point out we do not have 7.0 magnitude earthquakes, our forests do not burn uncontrollably, if at all, our floods do not take lives, and landslides are rare.
For those and a lot of other reasons, we still live in the best location in the nation, even though we don't hear the local electric company touting it as such anymore. With our region-wide inferiority complex at an all-time high, perhaps it's time they do.
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