The story of Cleveland, as with many other Rust Belt cities, is a story of falling from grace. How is “grace” measured? Population rankings, mostly. Cleveland was America’s 5th biggest city in 1920, beneath only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit. By 1950 it was 7th. By 1980, 20th. Then down to 45th by 2010. And so on.
So, Cleveland shrinks. Shrinking cities are not what successful cities “look” like. They look funny. Cleveland has a “man boobs” problem.
Let me explain.
In 2006 the NBA’s Houston Rockets hired Daryl Morey to be their GM. The intent was to bring sabermetrics from baseball to basketball, or to systematize the likelihood of a given player’s success. To do this, Morey developed a basic algorithm. In 2007 his model really liked European prospect Marc Gasol, who eventually became a multi-year All-Star. But they passed on him. So did every other team. Why?
[For more of this story, written by Richey Piiparinan, go to https://www.citylab.com/politi...-grow-a-city/526653/]
Comments (0)