Taking back the streets of Cleveland: a movement worth building

Joyce Prozynski, Mark Didonato, Art McKoy, Bob Shores and Sam McNulty want everyone in Cleveland to hear their message.

But they have no advertising budget. Heck, they don’t even have a website. And they certainly don’t have a PR agency pushing their agenda (ok, well maybe they have a copywriter trying to garner them some attention).

What they do have is a purpose: to take back the streets of Cleveland.

Across the city, Clevelanders are downright fed up with the sorry state of things. The record-setting murder rate. The armed robberies and drugs. The prostitution and graffiti-covered vacant houses. And a group of city officials (save a couple) that talk a lot of talk without taking action.

So ordinary people like 66 year-old Prozynski from Slavic Village have taken things into their own hands. Or should I say, onto their own two feet. One street, block and neighborhood at a time, Cleveland citizens are building a movement. They’re forming citizens brigades and neighborhood patrols. Sick and tired of the thugs, brutes and misanthropes that would otherwise drive them from the city they love, they’re banding together to reclaim their streets and fight for their neighborhoods. Read more about their story here.

Others have tried warm and fuzzy ad campaigns like “Believe in Cleveland” to promote Cleveland’s friendly business environment. But with the state of affairs so unfriendly in the city itself, perhaps we should fix some other things first. Problems that are just too big for any image-based campaign.

While I applaud efforts to create a more picturesque Cleveland, it seems that the folks organizing the neighborhood patrols are the only ones who understand that bullet-ridden pictures aren’t pretty.

So why am I conspicuously touting Prozynski and Company’s story? Because I’ve lived here for 26 years and I want to see change. For too long, this city has been going in the wrong direction. Anyone who actually lives in Cleveland (sorry, Westlake doesn’t count) knows that I’m not being pessimistic—this is the reality of the situation.

The matches for a large-scale, much-needed fiery movement have already been lit. And my hope is that the creative community cares enough about this city to do something. Enough to help the people at the grassroots level. Enough to offer their brains and creative resources as they’ve done in the past. And enough to do more than just read another blog.

Any takers?