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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > May > 31 > Entry
Ellen Belcher: Dragging down Dayton gets region nowhere
I’ve been in too many conversations lately where there’s an anti-Dayton subtext.
Two weeks ago, I criticized the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force for not promoting Dayton’s Wright brothers’ National Park Service sites. Some of the push back I got was: Why should the Air Force museum promote Dayton?
Prior to that, I wrote a piece about Children’s Medical Center objecting to Kettering Medical Center creating an intensive care unit for sick newborns.
Again, there was an undercurrent in some people’s complaints that the expensive facility is needed because suburban women don’t want to deliver at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. (It has a neonatal intensive care unit, as does Children’s.)
Then there’s the debate about the regional 911 dispatching center. Some critics argue that, with Dayton being part of the venture, calls from the city will suck up resources. It’s, of course, not news that Dayton isn’t beloved by all.
Some people who have been around a long time will trace those feelings to the veto Dayton exercised (for a while) over the construction of I-675, thereby infuriating the suburbs.
Though most of the players in that controversy are dead, this wouldn’t be the first time historical animosities have lived on past the point when people can remember what they’re supposed to be mad about.
Others will say the disdain is rooted in racism, and the fact that the city has become increasingly black and poor over several decades.
Without a doubt, the quality of Dayton’s schools has made the city a target — for some good and some horribly unfair reasons.
Also, once upon a time, Dayton couldn’t be dismissed because so many companies and jobs were located downtown. It was a hub — economically and politically in a way it’s just not today.
Here’s the thing, though. The animus toward Dayton — covert and overt, conscious and unconscious — is poisonous.
Is anybody better off if — borrowing from the Rush Limbaugh school of politics — Dayton fails?
Ned Hill, an urban affairs professor at Cleveland State University, said that sourness about cities isn’t “just self-defeating. It’s self-fulfilling. That’s why it has to be fought.”
An adviser to the Ohio Department of Development, Hill said that when he hears others outside the region talk about Dayton, the community isn’t seen as fractured as it might seem to people living here.
In fact, when it comes to recruiting new businesses, the Columbus area is perceived as more willing to cannibalize itself, he said.
On the other hand, that region also has a reputation for rallying around that city when, say, there’s a possibility of it creating an amenity that improves quality of life for everyone.
Hill said that he also believes that the sport of running down Cleveland — long a pastime of the locals as well as late-night comedians — has “calmed down.”
Dayton, however, Hill said, can’t not focus on the city’s well-being. “You’re in danger of becoming an exit ramp community.” Without Dayton, there’s no core and no brand.
Hill is quick to insist that Dayton, or any struggling city, won’t be revived by putting a guilt trip on its suburban neighbors or through boosterism. Rather, meaningful, distinctive selling points — walkable streets, a green culture, eclectic arts, historic homes, good restaurants and bars — have to be leveraged and created.
Carol Coletta, the president of CEOs for Cities, agrees, adding cities must play to their strengths in a counter-intuitive way.
“If you’re in a downward spiral, you have to invest in assets. … You have to intensify and magnify the good things,” Coletta said. That approach, she concedes, bumps up against the political reality that politicians are elected to fix what’s wrong, not improve what’s working.
“I think we’re at a moment in time where all the trends are moving in the direction of cities,” said Coletta, whose nonprofit organization advocates for, and does research on, urban issues.
“We can’t spend infinitely on infrastructure. We’re undermining our ability to be innovative in the way we spread people out over too much land,” she said. Meanwhile, young people are saying in “pretty strong numbers” that they prefer central cities.
Nobody denies Dayton has problems. But those who can’t see its strengths and possibilities, those who don’t recognize its importance to the region’s success, might want to ask themselves if maybe they’re too quick to judge or even uninformed.
Or they could consider if they’re shooting themselves in the foot.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Columns, Ellen Belcher, Miami Valley Politics, Montgomery County
Comments
By tg
May 31, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
Cities are like the hearts of regions - if the heart isn’t strong, it creates problems for the extremities. And you can’t survive by cutting out the heart. We’re all in this together.
By Rick
May 31, 2009 12:14 PM | Link to this
The biggest problem Dayton has is its schools. However, the DPS refuses to discipline its student in anything close to what other big city schools in Ohio do. The result is very poor results. DPS needs to address the discipline problem.
By Mark
May 31, 2009 2:42 PM | Link to this
By shooting down Dayton, you are pointing the gun at your own head. Outsiders could care less if you’re from Oakwood, Beavercreek, or Centerville. To them, you are a Daytonian. It’s time we all rallied behind the city and began promoting Dayton as a wonderful place to live. Remember, we are Dayton.
By Bill
May 31, 2009 11:27 PM | Link to this
I grew up in the suburbs, but moved into Dayton as an adult to start a family. I couldn’t be happier. I live in a beautiful home, most of our best friends are our neighbors, I have a short commute to work, and my family loves living here. People are missing out on a great city.
By Bob540
June 1, 2009 1:19 PM | Link to this
The problem is not just Dayton. The Great Lakes area is down. Ohio is down. And Dayton is down lower. Without jobs, people don’t come or stay in Dayton. Educated young people leave for careers. The drugs/violence frighten good people and they leave or want to. I don’t know how to lift Dayton out of this downward spiral.
By hopeful
June 1, 2009 2:20 PM | Link to this
ellen, i feel you have misread the responses to your columns, in particular the one about the usaf museum. the museum is a huge plus and our only real destination attraction. to ask it to promote what is in truth a very incomplete experience seems to me to be naive. instead, concentrate on what we have here —those things that just might attract new mid to upper level jobs. we have three trump cards—great public and private higher education, a high quality, diverse arts and culture scene and an abundance of groundwater. while we must preserve the core city, dayton is more than that. it is a region with a good story to tell — one that i wish would be told more often.
By Mick
June 1, 2009 3:09 PM | Link to this
I agree - there’s just too much bashing and lack of pride in Dayton. Now if only the Dayton Daily News had not moved out of town…
By Washington Township
June 1, 2009 8:47 PM | Link to this
If you go by the comments to the various stories at the DDN website, yes things are pretty sour and poisonous. Yet how much of this is coming from malcontents with various political and social axes to grind vs. perhaps a silent majority who are mostly indifferent at best or maybe more reasonable about the situation?
By andy
June 2, 2009 3:15 PM | Link to this
Will the DDN review the policy about comments and start requesting real email and home addresses so the toxic uninformed “commentari” might self-edit or cease? Businesses considering a location will always look to the newspaper on the web and read citizen input. Before there were web sites, a letter to the Editor by snail mail wouldn’t be published anonymously, why now? Or is this a methodology to get web hits, call them “circulation” and sell more ads?
By gary
June 2, 2009 9:29 PM | Link to this
Dayton is like all the othe gm towns! We ca’tcorrect the problems in the schools or in city government. We hire the same people to keep educate our children and run the city
By Ярослав Карасев
July 15, 2009 6:03 AM | Link to this
Пока успел прочитать только эту одну статью, если и все остальное точно также хорошо, то автору респект :)
By Наум
October 23, 2009 8:39 AM | Link to this
Даа… Но, как говорится, а воз и ныне там :)