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Wikipedia - Cleveland, Ohio

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City of Cleveland
Flag of City of Cleveland
Flag
Official seal of City of Cleveland
Seal
Nickname: The Forest City
Motto: Progress & Prosperity
Location in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA
Location in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA
Coordinates: 41°28'56?N 81°40'11?W? / ?41.48222, -81.66972
Country United States
State Ohio
County Cuyahoga
Founded 1796
Incorporated 1814 (village)
  1836 (city)
Government
 - Mayor Frank G. Jackson (D)
Area [1]
 - City 82.4 sq mi (213.4 km²)
 - Land 77.6 sq mi (200.9 km²)
 - Water 4.8 sq mi (12.5 km²)
Elevation [2] 653 ft (199 m)
Population (2000)[1]
 - City 478,403
 - Density 6,166.5/sq mi (2,380.9/km²)
 - Metro 2,250,871
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s) 216
FIPS code 39-16000[3]
GNIS feature ID 1066654[4]
Website: www.city.cleveland.oh.us

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles (100 km) west of the Pennsylvania border. It was founded in 1796 near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and became a manufacturing center owing to its location at the head of numerous canals and railroad lines. With the decline of heavy manufacturing, Cleveland's businesses have diversified into the service economy, including the financial services, insurance, and healthcare sectors. Cleveland is also noted for its association with rock music; the city is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5]

As of the 2000 Census, the city proper had a total population of 478,403, and was then the 33rd largest city in the nation[6] and the second largest city in Ohio. It is the center of Greater Cleveland, the largest metropolitan area in Ohio, which spans several counties and is defined in several different ways by the Census Bureau. The Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area which in 2000 ranked as the 23rd largest in the United States with 2,250,871 people. Cleveland is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area, which in 2000 had a population of 2,945,831, and ranked as the country's 14th largest.[7]

In studies conducted by The Economist in 2005, Cleveland and Pittsburgh were ranked as the most livable cities in the United States,[8] and the city was ranked as the best city for business meetings in the continental U.S.[9] The city faces continuing challenges, in particular from concentrated poverty in some neighborhoods and difficulties in the funding and delivery of high-quality public education.[10]

Residents of Cleveland are usually referred to as "Clevelanders". Nicknames used for the city include "The Forest City", "The Cleve," "The Land," "Metropolis of the Western Reserve",[11] "The New American City",[12] "America's North Coast",[13] "Sixth City",[14] "Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World" (because of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,)[15] and "C-Town".[16]

Contents

[edit] History

Map of Cleveland in 1904
Map of Cleveland in 1904

Cleveland obtained its name on July 22, 1796 when surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company laid out Connecticut's Western Reserve into townships and a capital city they named "Cleaveland" after their leader, General Moses Cleaveland. Cleaveland oversaw the plan for the modern downtown area, centered on the Public Square, before returning home, never again to visit Ohio. The first settler in Cleaveland was Lorenzo Carter, who built a cabin on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The Village of Cleaveland was incorporated on December 23, 1814. The spelling of the city's name was later changed to "Cleveland" when, in 1831, an "a" was dropped so the name could fit a newspaper's masthead.[17]

In spite of the nearby swampy lowlands and harsh winters, its waterfront location proved providential. The area began rapid growth after the 1832 completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal. This key link between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes connected the city to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. Growth continued with added railroad links.[18] Cleveland incorporated as a city in 1836.[17]

In 1836, the city, then located only on the eastern banks of the Cuyahoga River, nearly erupted into open warfare with neighboring Ohio City over a bridge connecting the two.[19] Ohio City remained an independent municipality until it was annexed by Cleveland in 1854.[17] The site flourished as a halfway point for iron ore from Minnesota shipped across the Great Lakes and other raw materials (coal) carried by rail from the south. Cleveland emerged as a major American manufacturing center, home to numerous major steel producers, as well as a number of carmakers, including gasoline cars Peerless, People's,[20] Jordan, Winton (first car driven across the U.S.),[21] steam car builders White and Gaeth, and electric car company Baker. By 1920, Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller had made his fortune and Cleveland had become the fifth largest city in the country.[17] The city was a center for the national progressive movement, headed locally by Mayor Tom L. Johnson. Many Clevelanders of this era are buried in the historic Lake View Cemetery, along with James A. Garfield, the twentieth U.S. President.[22]

The Cuyahoga River winds through the Flats in a December 1937 aerial view of downtown Cleveland.
The Cuyahoga River winds through the Flats in a December 1937 aerial view of downtown Cleveland.

In commemoration of the centennial of Cleveland's incorporation as a city, the Great Lakes Exposition debuted in June 1936 along the Lake Erie shore north of downtown. Conceived as a way to energize a city hit hard by the Great Depression, it drew 4 million visitors in its first season, and 7 million by the end of its second and final season in September 1937.[23] The exposition was housed on grounds that are now used by the Great Lakes Science Center, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Burke Lakefront Airport, among others.[24]

Immediately after World War II, the city experienced a brief boom. In sports, the Indians won the 1948 World Series and the Browns dominated professional football in the 1950s. Businesses proclaimed that Cleveland was the "best location in the nation".[25] The city's population reached its peak of 914,808, and in 1949 Cleveland was named an All-America City for the first time.[26] By the 1960s, however, heavy industries began to slump, and residents sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of white flight and urban sprawl. Like other major American cities, Cleveland also began witnessing racial unrest, culminating in the Hough Riots from July 18, 1966July 23, 1966 and the Glenville Shootout on July 23, 1968July 25, 1968. The city's nadir is often considered to be its default on its loans on December 15, 1978, when under Mayor Dennis Kucinich it became the first major American city to enter default since the Great Depression.[17] National media began referring to Cleveland as "the mistake on the lake" around this time, in reference to the city's financial difficulties, a notorious 1969 fire on the Cuyahoga River (where industrial waste on the river's surface caught on fire), and its struggling professional sports teams.[27] The city has worked to shed this nickname ever since, though in recent times the national media have been much kinder to the city, using it as an exemplar for public-private partnerships, downtown revitalization, and urban renaissance.[28]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland skyline
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland skyline

The metropolitan area began recovery thereafter under Mayors George Voinovich and Michael R. White. Redevelopment within the city limits has been strongest in the downtown area near the Gateway complex—consisting of Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena, and near North Coast Harbor—including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland Browns Stadium, and the Great Lakes Science Center. Although Cleveland was hailed by the media as the "Comeback City,"[29] many of the inner-city residential neighborhoods remain troubled, and the public school system continues to experience serious problems. Economic development, retention of young professionals, and capitalizing upon its waterfront are current municipal priorities.[30] In 1999, Cleveland was identified as an emerging global city.[31]

[edit] Geography

[edit] Topography

Panorama of Public Square in 1912
Panorama of Public Square in 1912

Cleveland is located at 41°28'56?N, 81°40'11?W.[32] According to the United States Census Bureau,[1] the city has a total area of 82.4 square miles (213.5 km²), of which, 77.6 square miles (201.0 km²) is land and 4.8 square miles (12.5 km²) is water. The total area is 5.87% water.

The shore of Lake Erie is 569 feet (173 m) above sea level; however, the city lies on a series of irregular bluffs lying roughly parallel to the lake. In Cleveland these bluffs are cut principally by the Cuyahoga River, Big Creek, and Euclid Creek. The land rises quickly from the lakeshore. Public Square, less than a mile (2 km) inland, sits at an elevation of 650 feet (198 m), and Hopkins Airport, only five miles (8 km) inland from the lake, is at an elevation of 791 feet (241 m).[33]

[edit] Climate

Monthly normal and record high and low temperatures[34]
Mon. Avg.
High
Avg.
Low
Avg. Rec.
High
Rec.
Low

Jan 33 °F 19 °F 26 °F 73 °F -20 °F
Feb 36 °F 21 °F 29 °F 74 °F -16 °F
Mar 46 °F 29 °F 38 °F 83 °F -5 °F
Apr 57 °F 38 °F 48 °F 88 °F 10 °F
May 69 °F 48 °F 59 °F 92 °F 25 °F
Jun 77 °F 58 °F 68 °F 104 °F 31 °F
Jul 81 °F 62 °F 72 °F 103 °F 41 °F
Aug 79 °F 61 °F 70 °F 102 °F 38 °F
Sep 72 °F 54 °F 63 °F 101 °F 32 °F
Oct 61 °F 44 °F 52 °F 90 °F 19 °F
Nov 49 °F 35 °F 42 °F 82 °F 3 °F
Dec 37 °F 25 °F 31 °F 77 °F -15 °F

Cleveland possesses a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), typical of much of the central United States, with very warm, humid summers and cold, snowy winters. The Lake Erie shoreline is very close to due east-west from the mouth of the Cuyahoga west to Sandusky, but at the mouth of the Cuyahoga it turns sharply northeast. This feature is the principal contributor to the lake effect snow that is typical in Cleveland (especially east side) weather from mid-November until the surface of Lake Erie freezes, usually in late January or early February. The lake effect causes snowfall totals to range greatly across the city: while Hopkins Airport has only reached 100 inches (254 cm) of snowfall in a given season three times since 1968,[35] seasonal totals approaching or exceeding 100 inches (2,500 mm) are not uncommon in an area known as the "Snow Belt", extending from the east side of Cleveland proper through the eastern suburbs and up the Lake Erie shore as far as Buffalo, New York. Despite its reputation as a cold, snowy place in winter mild spells often break winter's grip with temperatures sometimes soaring above 70 °F (21 °C).

The all-time record high in Cleveland of 104 °F (40 °C) was established on June 25, 1988, and the all-time record low of -20 °F (-29 °C) was set on January 19, 1994.[34] On average, July is the warmest month with a mean temperature of 71.9 °F (22.2 °C), and January, with a mean temperature of 25.7 °F (-3.5 °C), is the coldest. Normal yearly precipitation based on the 30-year average from 1971 to 2000 is 38.7 inches (930 mm).[36]

[edit] Cityscape

Downtown Cleveland's skyline
Downtown Cleveland's skyline

[edit] Architecture

See also: List of tallest buildings in Cleveland

Cleveland's downtown architecture is diverse. Many of the city's government and civic buildings, including City Hall, the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, the Cleveland Public Library, and Public Auditorium, are clustered around an open mall and share a common neoclassical architecture. Built in the early 20th century, they are the result of the 1903 Group Plan, and constitute one of the most complete examples of City Beautiful design in the United States.[37] The Terminal Tower, dedicated in 1930, was the tallest building in the United States between New York City and Chicago until 1967 and the tallest in the city until 1991.[38] It is a prototypical Beaux-Arts skyscraper. The two newer skyscrapers on Public Square, Key Tower (currently the tallest building in Ohio) and the BP Building, combine elements of Art Deco architecture with postmodern designs. Another of Cleveland's architectural treasures is The Arcade (sometimes called the Old Arcade), a five-story arcade built in 1890 and renovated in 2001 as a Hyatt Regency Hotel.[39] Cleveland's landmark ecclesiastical architecture includes the historic Old Stone Church in downtown Cleveland and the onion domed St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Tremont.[40]

Running east from Public Square through University Circle is Euclid Avenue, which was known for its prestige and elegance. In the late 1880s, writer Bayard Taylor described it as "the most beautiful street in the world."[41] Known as "Millionaire's Row", Euclid Avenue was world-renowned as the home of such internationally-known names as Rockefeller, Hanna, and Hay.[42]

Cleveland Downtown from Voinovich Park
Cleveland Downtown from Voinovich Park

Cleveland is home to four parks in the countywide Cleveland Metroparks system, the "Emerald Necklace" of Olmsted-inspired parks that encircles the region. In the Big Creek valley sits the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, which contains the largest collection of primates of any zoo in the United States. The other three parks are Brookside Park and parts of the Rocky River and Washington Reservations. Apart from the Metroparks is Cleveland Lakefront State Park, which provides public access to Lake Erie. Among its six parks are Edgewater Park, located between the Shoreway and Lake Erie just west of downtown, and Euclid Beach Park and Gordon Park on the east side. The City of Cleveland's Rockefeller Park, with its many Cultural Gardens[43] honoring the city's ethnic groups, follows Doan Brook across the city's east side.

[edit] Neighborhoods

Downtown Cleveland includes mixed-use neighborhoods such as the Flats and the Warehouse District, which are occupied by industrial and office buildings and also by restaurants and bars. The number of downtown housing units in the form of condominiums, lofts, and apartments has increased over the past ten years. This trend looks to continue with the recent revival of the Flats. The apartment and condominium project that was recently completed on the West Bank, Stonebridge Apartments, has been highly successful. The East Bank has its own redevelopment project underway orchestrated by Scott Wolstein of Developers Diversified Realty, Inc that looks only to enhance the Flats recent success.

The west bank of the Flats and the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland
The west bank of the Flats and the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland

Cleveland residents often define themselves in terms of whether they live on the east side or the west side of the Cuyahoga River.[44] The east side comprises the following neighborhoods: Buckeye-Shaker Square, Central, Collinwood, Corlett, Euclid-Green, Fairfax, Forest Hills, Glenville, Payne/Goodrich-Kirtland Park, Hough, Kinsman, Lee Harvard/Seville-Miles, Mount Pleasant, Nottingham, St. Clair-Superior, Union-Miles Park, University Circle, Little Italy, and Woodland Hills. The west side of the city includes the following neighborhoods: Brooklyn Centre, Clark-Fulton, Detroit-Shoreway, Cudell, Edgewater, Ohio City, Old Brooklyn, Stockyards, West Boulevard, and the four neighborhoods colloquially known as West Park: Kamm's Corners, Jefferson, Puritas-Longmead, and Riverside. Three neighborhoods in the Cuyahoga Valley are sometimes referred to as the south side: Industrial Valley/Duck Island, Slavic Village (North and South Broadway), and Tremont.

Satellite photograph of Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs
Satellite photograph of Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs

Several inner-city neighborhoods have begun to gentrify in recent years. Areas on both the west side (Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, and Edgewater) and the east side (Collinwood, Hough, Fairfax, and Little Italy) have been successful in attracting increasing numbers of creative class members, which in turn is spurring new residential development.[45] Furthermore, a live-work zoning overlay for the city's near east side has facilitated the transformation of old industrial buildings into loft spaces for artists.[46]

[edit] Suburbs

Main article: Greater Cleveland

Cleveland's older inner-ring or "first" suburbs include Bedford, Bedford Heights, Brook Park, Brooklyn, Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga Heights, East Cleveland, Euclid, Fairview Park, Garfield Heights, Lakewood, Maple Heights, Parma, Shaker Heights, South Euclid, University Heights, and Warrensville Heights. All are members of the Northeast Ohio First Suburbs Consortium.[47]

[edit] Culture

[edit] Entertainment and performing arts

Cleveland is home to Playhouse Square Center, the second largest performing arts center in the United States behind New York's Lincoln Center.[48] Playhouse Square includes the State, Palace, Allen, Hanna, and Ohio theaters within what is known as the Theater District of Downtown Cleveland.[49] Playhouse Square's resident performing arts companies include the Cleveland Opera, the Ohio Ballet, and the Great Lakes Theater Festival.[50] The center also hosts various Broadway musicals, special concerts, speaking engagements, and other events throughout the year. One Playhouse Square, now the headquarters for Cleveland's public broadcasters, was originally used as the broadcast studios of WJW Radio, where disc jockey Alan Freed first popularized the term "rock and roll".[51] Located between Playhouse Square and University Circle are the Cleveland Play House and Karamu House, a well-known African American performing and fine arts center, both founded in the 1920s.[52]

Cleveland is also home to the Cleveland Orchestra, widely considered one of the finest orchestras in the world, and often referred to as the finest in the United States.[53] It is one of the "Big Five" major orchestras in the United States. The Orchestra plays in Severance Hall during the winter and at Blossom Music Center during the summer.[54]

There are two main art museums in Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art is a major American art museum,[55] with a collection that includes more than 40,000 works of art ranging over 6,000 years, from ancient masterpieces to contemporary pieces. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland showcases established and emerging artists, particularly from the Cleveland area, through hosting and producing temporary exhibitions.[56]

Cleveland has served as the filming location for several noteworthy movies, including The Fortune Cookie (1967) with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, the Academy Award-winning Deer Hunter (1978), Antwone Fisher (2002), and the holiday favorite A Christmas Story (1983).[57] Scenes for Spider-Man 3 were filmed in Cleveland in April 2006.[58] Cleveland is the lifelong home of writer Harvey Pekar and the setting for most of his autobiographical comic books. The city was also the setting for the popular sitcom, The Drew Carey Show which starred Cleveland native Drew Carey.

Cleveland was the home of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, who created the comic book character Superman in 1932. Both attended Glenville High School, and their early collaborations resulted in the creation of "The Man of Steel".[59]

Cleveland is the home of the heavy metal music groups Chimaira and Mushroomhead, alternative rock groups Nine Inch Nails and Filter, hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Eric Carmen and his band, The Raspberries,[60] singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman, and Benjamin Orr of The Cars. R&B singer Bobby Womack, James Ingram, Gerald Levert also was a lifelong resident of Cleveland, and it was the hometown of R&B groups the Dazz Band and The Rude Boys, as well as R&B singer Avant. It was also home to protopunk bands Pere Ubu, Rocket From the Tombs, and Electric Eels.[61]

[edit] Cuisine

Cleveland's many immigrant groups have long played an important role in defining the regional cuisine. German and Eastern European foods, such as beer, pierogi, and kielbasa are popular in and around the city, as are foods associated with Cleveland's Irish and Italian immigrants. Residents like Hector Boiardi (Chef Boyardee) and Michael Ruhlman have been noted for their contributions in the culinary world. The West Side Market is home to vendors selling many kinds of ethnic food, as well as fresh produce, and ethnic restaurants can be found in the Little Italy, Slavic Village, and Tremont neighborhoods, among others.

[edit] Culinary scene

Beginning in 2007, Cleveland's culinary scene began to receive international attention. In early 2008, the Chicago Tribune called Cleveland America's "hot new dining city".[62] The national food press—Gourmet, Food & Wine, Esquire and Playboy.com—heaped praise on several Cleveland spots this year for best new restaurant, best steakhouse, best farm-to-table programs and great new neighborhood eateries.[63]

On November 11, 2007, Cleveland chef Michael Symon helped brighten the spotlight on Cleveland's culinary scene when he was named "The Next Iron Chef" on the Food Network reality TV show by the same name. Anthony Bourdain highlighted the city's food scene on a 2007 episode of his Travel Channel show "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations".

Cleveland's Baricelli Inn has long been an internationally recognized restaurant under the direction of world-renowned Cleveland Chef Paul Minnillo.[citation needed]

[edit] Tourism

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on the shores of Lake Erie

Five miles (8 km) east of downtown Cleveland is University Circle, a 550-acre (2.2 km²) concentration of cultural, educational, and medical institutions, including the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, Severance Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Western Reserve Historical Society. Cleveland is also home to the I. M. Pei-designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the Lake Erie waterfront at North Coast Harbor downtown. Neighboring attractions include Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center, the Steamship Mather Museum, and the USS Cod, a World War II submarine.[64]

Cleveland is home to many festivals throughout the year. Cultural festivals such as the annual Feast of the Assumption in the Little Italy neighborhood, the Greek Orthodox Festival in the Tremont neighborhood, and the Harvest Festival in the Slavic Village neighborhood are popular events. Vendors at the West Side Market in Ohio City offer many different ethnic foods for sale. Cleveland hosts an annual parade on Saint Patrick's Day that brings hundreds of thousands to the streets of downtown.[65]

Fashion Week Cleveland, the city's annual fashion event, is one of the few internationally-recognized fashion industry happenings in North America.[66] The show is considered by many to be the best in the Midwest—perhaps second only to New York for fashion weeks in the US.

Oldenburg and van Bruggen's Free Stamp, located in Willard Park to the east of City Hall
Oldenburg and van Bruggen's Free Stamp, located in Willard Park to the east of City Hall

In addition to the cultural festivals, Cleveland hosted the CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest, which featured national and local acts, including both established artists and up-and-coming acts, but the festival was discontinued in 2007 due to financial and manpower costs to the Rock Hall.[67] The annual Ingenuity Festival and Notacon conference focus on the combination of art and technology. The Cleveland International Film Festival has been held annually since 1977, and its eleven day run drew a record 52,753 people in 2007.[68] Cleveland also hosts an annual holiday display lighting and celebration, dubbed Winterfest, which is held downtown at the city's historic hub, Public Square.[69]

[edit] Sports

See also: List of Cleveland sports teams

Quicken Loans Arena

Cleveland's professional sports teams include the Cleveland Indians (Major League Baseball), Cleveland Browns (National Football League), Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association), Cleveland City Stars (United Soccer Leagues), Lake Erie Monsters (American Hockey League), and the Cleveland Gladiators (Arena Football League). Annual sporting events held in Cleveland include the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, the Cleveland Marathon, the Mid-American Conference college basketball tournament and the Ohio Classic college football game.[70] The city hosted the Gravity Games, an extreme sports series, from 2002 to 2004, and the Dew Action Sports Tour Right Guard Open in 2007. Local sporting facilities include Progressive Field, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Quicken Loans Arena, and the CSU Wolstein Center.

The Cleveland Browns dominated the NFL from 1950 to 1955. The city's franchise is one of the most storied in football, though it last won an NFL championship in 1964 and has never appeared in the Super Bowl. The Cleveland Indians last reached the World Series in 1997, losing to the Florida Marlins, and have not won the series since 1948. Between 1995 and 2001, Jacobs Field sold out 455 consecutive games, a Major League Baseball record.[71] The Cleveland Cavaliers are experiencing a renaissance with Cleveland fans due to LeBron James, a native of nearby Akron and the number one overall draft pick of 2003. The Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference in 2007, but were defeated in the NBA Finals by the San Antonio Spurs. The city's recent lack of success in sports has earned it a reputation of being a cursed sports city, which ESPN validated by proclaiming Cleveland as its "most tortured sports city" in 2004.[72]

The tradition of professional hockey in Cleveland started with the original Cleveland Barons in 1937.[73] Cleveland fielded an NHL team, also called the Cleveland Barons, from 1976 to 1978, which was later merged into the Minnesota North Stars. Cleveland's current hockey team is the minor-league Lake Erie Monsters, which began play in 2007.[74] The city has had other major and minor-league hockey teams in the past including the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League and the Cleveland Crusaders of the WHA. Cleveland was also home to the Cleveland Rockers, one of the original eight teams[75] in the WNBA in 1997. However, in 2003, the team folded after owner Gordon Gund dropped the team from operation.

In 2005, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced that Cleveland was one of several top areas in contention for an expansion team in 2007.[76] Delays in securing a soccer-only stadium have now prevented any such team from beginning play until the 2009 season, but the Cleveland area is still a contender for expansion. The city's current soccer team, the Cleveland City Stars, play in the USL Second Division.

Cleveland also fielded two indoor soccer teams, the original Cleveland Force of the MISL. This team folded in 1988. They were replaced by the Cleveland Crunch of the NPSL, but the team ceased operations in 2005 after having won three league championships in the 90s.

[edit] Media

Cleveland is served in print by The Plain Dealer, the city's sole remaining daily newspaper. The competing Cleveland Press ceased publication on June 17, 1982, and the Cleveland News ended its run in 1960. Cleveland also supports several alternative weekly publications, including the Free Times and Cleveland Scene.

Cleveland, combined with nearby Akron, was ranked in 2006–2007 as the 17th largest television market by Nielsen Media Research.[77] The market is served by stations affiliated with major American networks including: WKYC-TV (channel 3, NBC), WEWS (channel 5, ABC), WJW-TV (channel 8, Fox), WOIO (channel 19, CBS), WUAB (channel 43, MNTV), and WBNX (channel 55, The CW). Cleveland is also served by WVPX (channel 23, ION) and Spanish-language channel WQHS-TV (channel 61, Univision). WVIZ (channel 25) and WEAO (channel 49) are members of PBS. A Cleveland first in television was The Morning Exchange program on WEWS, which defined the morning show format, and served as the inspiration for Good Morning America.[78]

Cleveland is also served by over 43 AM and FM radio stations directly, and dozens of other stations are heard from elsewhere in