Skip to main content

The Mistake by the Lake

In light of Forbes naming Cleveland the #1 Most Miserable City in America (something to do with brutal winters and high crime) we return to an interview we did last year with Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson to find out why his city gets such a bum rap.

GQ: How do most people perceive Cleveland?

**Frank Jackson: **Well, what do you think of Cleveland?

GQ: Midwestern? Lake? LeBron.

**FJ: **You need to visit. I think people who haven’t been here think of it as a Rust Belt city, not much going on, dead. Just...Cleveland.

GQ: So if I say "flyover," you say...

FJ: Visit. We have more things in Cleveland than many other cities that are larger.

GQ: Like what?

FJ: We have culture--we have a world-renowned orchestra, we have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Often when plays leave Broadway, they come to Cleveland before Chicago. We’re a sports city.

**GQ: **How is Cleveland handling the recession?

FJ: Cleveland was an old industrial city that a lot of people came to from Southern or Eastern Europe or the Balkans. Those people are not strangers to adversity and have found ways to overcome. We’ll overcome this one, too.

GQ: How important is LeBron to the city?

FJ: It’s important that he doesn’t go to New York.