Cleveland, OH
‘What are you doing here?’ Cleveland transplants say why they stay in Northeast Ohio – The Land
On Felton Thomas Jr.’s first day of work at the Cleveland Public Library, the temperature was eight degrees below zero.
“I walked down here in my Las Vegas coat,” Thomas recalls, “and everybody waiting for me said, ‘Oh, this is a normal winter day.’”
The library’s new leader was relieved to learn that his colleagues were kidding, sort of. And he’s become one of Cleveland’s many converts: people who come, stay and praise a town that many lifers pan.
So, over his 17 years here, has Thomas acclimated? “Acclimated? That’s not a word in my vocabulary,” he retorts. “When we have those super-cold days, I’m ‘Omigod!’ And three months of no sunshine drives me crazy.”
And he still hasn’t adjusted to Cleveland’s hours, either. “In Vegas, all the supermarkets are open 24 hours.”
So why has Thomas stuck around? Because of our library, of course, and lots more. “I love Las Vegas, but there’s an inauthenticity to the people. Here, people are who they are.”
And most have roots here. In Vegas, “Everybody came from somewhere else. Here, everyone wanted to know what high school I’d gone to.”
When they find out, they marvel that Thomas has come and stayed. He replies by extolling the library, the Rock Hall and the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he’s on the board. He also tells them that Superior Pho beats every restaurant he’s tried in Vietnam.
But some locals still don’t understand. “A lot of times,” he says, “folks don’t want to talk about the good things in the city of Cleveland.”
Love that Cleveland climate
It might surprise locals, especially this time of year, but President David Sharkey of Progressive Urban Real Estate says that plenty of people move to Cleveland for the weather. “People like the seasons. A young guy moved here from San Diego because he couldn’t stand the sun anymore. And I get quite a bit of people who love seeing storms come over the lake.”
Jen Ferger from Illinois finds our weather at least interesting. She’s a meteorologist who studies weather risks for insurers. “I love watching the radar here. It’s so true that the East Side gets more lake effect than the West Side, like six inches versus a dusting. That’s fascinating to me.”
She also calls Cleveland “ a mini-Chicago” without the traffic or prices. She lives near our lake and says she could never afford to live near Chicago’s coast.
From Down Under to Up Over
Most Cleveland newbies echo Thomas about being welcomed with wonder by natives. Craig Hassall, a native Australian who leads Playhouse Square, says, “I get that all the time from locals, not from other transplants: ‘What on earth are you doing here?’”
Not surprisingly, Hassall replies by praising our arts. “Cleveland punches above its weight in its presentation and consumption of culture.” He also talks up the West Side Market, Wade Chapel at Lake View Cemetery, and the Cleveland Metroparks. “I walk every day to Edgewater Park.”
Any complaints about Cleveland? “I don’t understand why Cleveland hasn’t leveraged the asset that is Lake Erie. I went out to Sandusky and took a boat out onto the lake. There were almost no boats on the water. In Sidney or Vancouver, you’d be cheek to jowl with other watercraft.”
From transplant to ambassador
Allison Newsome from Montgomery, Ala., came here to study law at Case Western Reserve University. “A lot of people who grew up in Cleveland have constantly heard it put down,” she says. “So everybody kind of had a tour guide hat on and told me lists of fun activities.”
Newsome was happily surprised by Cleveland’s green spaces, Cultural Gardens and Playhouse Square. She also found that “it was easy to make friends. People were very inviting.”
She likes it here so much, she volunteers as a resident ambassador for the Cleveland Talent Alliance, advising prospective and recent arrivals.
Ties of love
Bob Kimmelfield from suburban New York City followed a girlfriend to her native Cleveland. They broke up, but he stayed, married another woman and fell hard for the town. Now he plays in a band at local contra dances and leads jaunts for the Cleveland Hiking Club on our streets and our “incredible park system.”
Ivan Muzyka came from Ukraine with his mother to join relatives here. “It was lucky to move to a city with a big, strong Ukrainian community,” he says. “I was lucky to find a Ukrainian boyfriend.”
Some people want to be near family but not too near. Marjorie Preston likes being two hours away from relatives back home in Bowling Green. She chose Cleveland partly because it’s Democratic but regrets its grip by state and federal Republicans.
Boomeranging
Many locals boomerang. They go off to see the world, then come back, often with spouses from elsewhere.
Jerome Sheriff from Chicago followed his wife to her native Cleveland. He loves downtown’s wealth of parking spaces, mostly free on weekends. He just wishes our drivers wouldn’t stop and rubberneck so much.
Jay Dumaswala from Cincinnati also followed his wife to her native Cleveland. Now he’s another Talent Alliance ambassador. “I love the Cavs,” he says. “I love the Guardians. The Browns? I don’t understand a team that abuses its fans, and people still show up.”
Louis Gideon, an ambassador too, brought his pregnant wife from New York City to his native Cleveland, partly so his family could help with the baby. Now the couple pays less rent for a place 10 times bigger in Westlake than their apartment in New York.
Gideon likes Cleveland’s few degrees of separation. He met someone downtown who turned out to live a few doors away from him in Westlake, with kids of similar ages. “We are close friends now.”
Coming without connections
Many people move for work, school or family. But Cat Mohar and her husband moved to escape the buzzing mosquitoes and soaring home prices of Durham, N.C. After reading about Cleveland and scoping it out, they settled in Lakewood. “It’s like stuck in a 90s movie about Halloween,” she says, “where kids run freely trick-or-treating.”
Kate Smith and her future husband came here in 2018 from Truth or Consequences, N.M., with no ties. “We fell in love with the city long-distance,” she says. “The more businesses and arts organizations I began to follow, the more we began to see how unique and scrappy and proud the Cleveland vibe is.”
Since moving, “We have felt so welcome. The first Easter, neighbors invited us over who’d fostered over 50 kids.”
She also loves the zoo. “My husband proposed to me on the carousel.”
Stefanie and Mike English came from Albuquerque to Cleveland without connections. “We were a little tired of the desert,” she says. They chose Cleveland for its culture, lake and opportunities. They rehab homes and love our architecture. They’ve had trouble, though, finding good contractors and getting loans for properties in struggling neighborhoods.
Stephanie loves our many festivals. She loves our schnitzel. But “I don’t understand pierogies.”
Gain some, lose some
Of course, Cleveland has plenty of outflow as well as influx.
Rick Putka left his native Cleveland for Europe this year to flee what he sees as America’s fading economy and democracy. Michael Baron moved to New York City to enjoy its progressive politics, its energy, its diversity and his grandchildren.
Ronald Stubblefield from Baltimore came and went twice. He liked the area’s affordability, culture and strong neighborhoods. But he says, “Cleveland kept looking backward.” He saw institutions competing instead of cooperating. And “Cleveland struggles to retain ambitious Black talent that other regions readily embrace.”
Some departees still tout the town they gave up. Debbie Stone moved to California for her late husband’s career in tech law, but misses Cleveland’s art museum, orchestra and more. “I even miss the roaming deer.”
Many celebrities from Cleveland talk it up from afar. Drew Carey popularized “Cleveland Rocks.” Tom Hanks shouted “Go Tribe!” during “Saturday Night Live.” Filmmaker Joe Russo told cleveland.com that he “grew up with a real work ethic and that kind of tough-nosed Cleveland attitude… that stick-to-itiveness.”
In Juneau, Alaska, Jeff Smith runs one of the world’s many chapters of Browns Backers. He says, “I miss the restaurants in Cleveland, live music and sports, and some of my favorite places like the West Side Market, Lake View Cemetery, etc. [But] one thing I don’t miss about Cleveland is how much people complain about the weather in winter. In Alaska, people look forward to each new season.”
CLEVELAND — A line of storms blew through northern Ohio Tuesday night, spurring Tornado Warnings, especially in the Cleveland area.
Gusts of 74 miles per hour were recorded hitting the region, and many are waking up without power on Wednesday morning, with some debris to clean up.
The storms prompted a Flood Warning overnight, and high water remains to be an issue in some areas.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 30,000 people were without power, mostly in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake counties. Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced some schools are closed due to power outages as well.
In an update early Wednesday, Cleveland Public Power said it has worked through the night and restored power to approximately 75% of customers.
“Our crews are facing challenges such as uprooted trees and aluminum siding as well other debris blown into powerlines. We appreciate your patience as they work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power,” Cleveland Public Power wrote in a post on Facebook.
The National Weather Service reported multiple trees down, including a tree that went through a house in Wayne County. There are also massive trees blocking sidewalks and roadways, including in Shaker Heights.
Over in Willoughby Hills, fire and police warned of high water from the Chagrin River, creating flood hazards. Some roads were closed in the area, including Bishop Road and White Road. Flooding was also reported along SOM Center Road. The river crested at about 15 feet at 4 a.m. Wednesday.
“Police, Fire and Service Departments are actively working to address these issues and assist residents,” Willoughby Hills Police said. “Please use extreme caution while driving. Do NOT attempt to drive through water of unknown depth.”
(Willoughby Hills Fire Department)
To the western side of the state, Toledo also faced some damage from the strong storms.
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CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — Tuesday night’s storm ravaged various parts of Cuyahoga County, including Shaker Heights, Cleveland and North Olmsted.
Tornado Warning issued for 3 Northeast Ohio counties
During our travels throughout the county, we saw a massive tree uprooted out of a field near Woodbury Elementary.
The tree stood inches from South Woodland Road and luckily snapped in the direction of the field rather than the residential homes on the other side.
Over in Cleveland on West 54th Street and Courtland Avenue, police blocked off a section of that intersection due to a downed tree that fell near a playground.
There was also a telephone pole that snapped and was hanging over the top of the road.
In North Olmsted on Birch Circle, there were several downed trees in front yards.
“Oh, it was a mess the second, I mean, coming down and seeing those four trees lying up. There’s three in the front here just lying on their side all over the driveway, and all the neighbors outside, wondering what to do, you know, where to start,” Taylor Wright told me.
Wright wasn’t home at the time of the storm. Neither was his partner, Candace Kepler.
Kepler said she was down the street at Target when the store started making announcements to take shelter.
“They made an announcement saying that everybody needed to be escorted to the tornado hall, and they made us all just leave our shopping carts and everything. We all went to the back of the store and huddled in this little metal hall in the back of Target,” Kepler said.
For 35 minutes, Kepler said she was stuck inside the store, worrying about her teenage daughter who was home alone.
“She was pretty scared because she saw the trees come down,” Kepler said. “I wanted to leave, but they wouldn’t let me leave, so I just kept her on FaceTime and tried to see if our neighbors… they came over and grabbed her, so that was good. Just keeping her safe was really just a priority.”
Luckily, their daughter is safe and sound, and so are they.
“Had you seen anything like it before?” I asked Wright.
He said, “Not this bad, especially not around here. This was the worst I’ve seen it over here with trees for sure.”
As of 8:30 p.m., Kepler and Wright were without power.
They were anticipating that it would come back on by 9:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, neighbors are already acting fast to chop the downed trees into pieces.
“They were in the neighbor’s driveway, so I grabbed my chainsaw, and then Sam, our neighbor, his kid came over with one, and we just got them all picked up, chopped them all up, and put them all in the tree lawn,” Wright said.
Stick with News 5 as we continue to monitor the latest on storm damage.
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Keagan Smith gives you a preview, prediction and pick for today’s game between the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday’s MLB slate.
The opening days of the 2026 MLB season have been an absolute blast to watch, and as we roll into the second week of action on the diamond, there are plenty of games for fans and bettors alike to choose from.
On Monday night in the late window, the Cleveland Guardians (2-2) head to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers (3-0). It’s a story of David vs. Goliath that certainly favors one team over the other given the nature of both lineups and their respective payrolls, but the beauty of this sport is that anything can happen on any given night.
Come fight the Monday blues with us! Here’s a betting prediction and pick for tonight’s Guardians vs. Dodgers matchup courtesy of MLB odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Guardians vs. Dodgers prediction, preview
The Guardians made the postseason in 2025 with a surge over the second half of the campaign, and now they look to get back to the playoffs once again. They split the opening series of 2026 2-2 with the Seattle Mariners, and while an ugly 8-0 shutout did ruin the vibes to close things out, there were a couple of positives to glean. The biggest storyline by far was Chase DeLauter, the 24-year-old who debuted last postseason and has now started his first regular season by going 6-for-17 with four home runs. He’s been at the center of the production for a lineup with 13 runs in its four matchups, with the team slashing a combined .195/.262/.338. The biggest weakness of the Guardians thus far? A 32.4% K% that ranks third worst in the MLB, but obviously, it’s very early. Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan are bound to get rolling eventually though, so there’s no reason to panic while the bats heat up. The pitching staff has more reason to worry though, giving up eight home runs in four games with a high K% at 28.6%, but also an elevated BB% at 13.6%. Not a great way to start the year, now is it?
Out in the National League, the Dodgers went a perfect 3-0 to open their own season after taking all three games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. That was expected given the massive payroll of the back-to-back World Series champs, especially after adding Kyle Tucker to their embarrassment of riches over the offseason. They’re scoring over five runs a game through the first three outings with a slash line of .222/.320/.422, but the interesting part is a .200 ISO that ranks fifth in the MLB after hammering five deep balls along with a league-high hard-hit rate of 46.7%. The Dodgers are driving the baseball already, which doesn’t come as a shock to anyone. However, an 0.73 K/BB ratio ranks third best in the sport and is a little more surprising. Oh, and did we mention that Shohei Ohtani is just 1-for-8 at the plate to start the season? The pitching staff holds a 2.67 ERA that ranks sixth to go along with the fourth-best WHIP at 0.89 and the second-lowest BB% at just 5.0%. Los Angeles is scary so far.
On the mound for Cleveland is lefty Parker Messick, who threw just seven starts in his debut campaign last season. He amassed an impressive 2.72 ERA with a 1.31 WHIP, punching out 38 hitters in 39.2 innings. While he didn’t qualify for most grades per Baseball Savant’s advanced metrics due to sample size, he would’ve been in very high percentiles for BB%, barrel rate, hard-hit rate and more.
The Dodgers will roll out righty Roki Sasaki, who threw just 10 games for Los Angeles last season with eight starts. He ended with a 4.46 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, striking out 28 hitters in 36.1 innings of work. it was a pretty uninspiring result, all things considered, but he brings nice velocity with a 96.1 MPH average on the fastball. He had some serious command issues in Spring Training though, which we’ll work with for out best bet.
Guardians vs. Dodgers pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Dodgers as -199 Moneyline favorites at home this evening, while the Guardians hold +163 odds to win outright. The run total sits at an even nine.
Best Bet: Roki Sasaki over 1.5 walks allowed (-174)
The odds probably won’t do much for you at -174 unless you use this pick as a builder in a parlay, but there’s a ton of reason to feel bullish about a cash tonight. Sasaki allowed 15 walks in Spring Training. Now guess how many innings he pitched. Don’t look it up! No, it wasn’t 15-20 as you probably expected. It was 8.2. Again, he gave up 15 walks in 8.2 innings of work. The recent form is capital B Bad. You get it, but for the record, he had a 13.7% BB% last season as well. Command is not his strong suit.
Strong Lean: CLE Guardians +1.5 (-126)
Maybe things get dangerous for Cleveland with a young pitcher out there against such a star-studded lineup, but Los Angeles’ hurler isn’t particularly formidable. After the Guardians competed with the Mariners in their last series with two wins and a cover at +1.5, I like their chances to keep things feisty this evening on the road.
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