3 ms·

Born and raised in Ohio, not even in one of the 3 big cities. Child of a non-white immigrant. Grew up being friends with many other children of immigrants who h

by qwerpy 4y ago

Born and raised in Ohio, not even in one of the 3 big cities. Child of a non-white immigrant. Grew up being friends with many other children of immigrants who have willingly stayed there. I left because the good tech jobs were on the west coast, not because I felt unwelcome. With crime and homelessness disproportionately increasing in the major coastal cities, I'd seriously consider a move back to the midwest at this point. I think this whole west coast trope of the midwest being a bunch of insular unwelcoming old white people is overblown.

pwthornton 4y ago
Well, I am a white guy from the Cleveland area. I do have a good sense of what northeast Ohio is like. I haven't lived there in 15 years, but I do visit several times a year. The amount of negative change in Ohio in that time is staggering. Columbus and a few other parts of the state may be doing well, but much of the state is in decay. I don't think Ohio is unwelcoming from a people perspective, although around where I grew up is MAGA central, so I am not sure that it is super welcoming to immigrants or people who aren't white and straight. The people are generally friendly when they know you. The politicians, however, are fairly insane, and since I left the state, they have allowed guns in preschools, outlawed abortion, blocked intracity rail to connect to their major cities (and don't invest in infrastructure beyond sprawl), have continued to hollow out their cities for almost exclusively sprawl building, etc. There is very little emphasis from Ohio policymakers on creating policy and infrastructure to attract people. One big area that Ohio has cut in recent decades is higher education funding. What is a great way to attract immigrants and startups? Higher education spending. Research universities, in particular, foster and help create startups. This is one of California's secrets. An elite state research university in or near Cleveland would probably be a much better way to invest in the state than what policymakers have been doing. In short, the people of Ohio are generally friendly if they know you, but the state isn't doing anything to attract immigrants or people from other parts of the country.

by qwerpy 4y ago

pwthornton 4y ago

Well, I am a white guy from the Cleveland area. I do have a good sense of what northeast Ohio is like. I haven't lived there in 15 years, but I do visit several times a year. The amount of negative change in Ohio in that time is staggering. Columbus and a few other parts of the state may be doing well, but much of the state is in decay. I don't think Ohio is unwelcoming from a people perspective, although around where I grew up is MAGA central, so I am not sure that it is super welcoming to immigrants or people who aren't white and straight. The people are generally friendly when they know you. The politicians, however, are fairly insane, and since I left the state, they have allowed guns in preschools, outlawed abortion, blocked intracity rail to connect to their major cities (and don't invest in infrastructure beyond sprawl), have continued to hollow out their cities for almost exclusively sprawl building, etc. There is very little emphasis from Ohio policymakers on creating policy and infrastructure to attract people. One big area that Ohio has cut in recent decades is higher education funding. What is a great way to attract immigrants and startups? Higher education spending. Research universities, in particular, foster and help create startups. This is one of California's secrets. An elite state research university in or near Cleveland would probably be a much better way to invest in the state than what policymakers have been doing. In short, the people of Ohio are generally friendly if they know you, but the state isn't doing anything to attract immigrants or people from other parts of the country.