Even walkable suburbs with grand Victorians, classy Tudors and committed citizens -- even Cleveland Heights and Lakewood, to be specific -- almost inevitably face decay, because houses in old cities get old and need repair. So do streets and sewers. Shopping districts struggle to keep tenants, to feel vibrant, to get buzz.

If this entropy weren't problematic enough, it is exacerbated by the pull of new suburbs with eye-catching retail, savvy chain restaurants and so-called lifestyle districts that mimic the very things that once drew residents to the inner rings - except they're newer. Newer schools boasting high test scores and community prosperity become magnets, drawing families out to cookie-cutter Colonials. A move to newer suburbs is nearly as old as the American dream, academic studies show, and in many cases so is the decline of communities left behind.

But older communities don't have to accept decline. Some soldier on with a spirit and pride unmatched by America's newer suburbs. Ask experts about these communities and you'll hear names like University City outside of St. Louis; Chevy Chase, Maryland; Grosse Point, Michigan; Shaker Heights - and yes, Cleveland Heights and Lakewood.

What do they have in common? Some of the nation's top authorities on older communities, suburbs and migration patterns say there is no magic potion that renders one inner-ring community successful and another less so. But there are common elements.

Let's look at them.

It's the plight of the suburbs, the struggle to compete with sprawl.

By Stephen Koff

July 11, 2016

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Residents move farther and farther, in search of more space. Strip malls begin to look dated, and chain stores abandon big boxes and weed-pocked parking lots in a quest for new. Inner-ring suburbs have different strengths and struggles, as well as different approaches to combat the slide.

As part of the Inner-ring Divide series examining Lakewood and Cleveland Heights, we talked to suburban experts about the common elements of success.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

Next slide: These aren't your cookie-cutter communities.

Don't Edit

This home on West Forest Road in Lakewood was built in 1924 for the founders of the Stouffer restaurant chain.

These are not your average starter suburbs

Let's start with a distinction. Most studies of aging inner-ring suburbs focus on communities developed in the late 1940s and early '50s, when soldiers fresh from World War II and the Korean War came home to start families and enjoy veterans benefits.

Many of these Levittown-type communities were lined with bungalows or similar starter homes. Families inevitably outgrew them, and many of the homes were built fast, not solid enough for the long haul. Disrepair was bound to occur.

That's not the story of Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and similar older, more substantial suburbs. Developed earlier and with grand architecture -- Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical -- the homes were larger and more solid from the start. Both Cleveland suburbs were incorporated as villages in 1903. And they had a kind of classic appeal – the kind that many suburbs built after 1945 lacked, says John Rennie Short, a University of Maryland professor who studies urban issues and public policy. A family, often on the cusp of affluence, could move in and stay put.

The characteristics and criteria that follow could apply to any neighborhood staving off decline. But they particularly apply to those that have succeeded.

(Julie E. Washington, The Plain Dealer)

Next slide: With age comes challenges

Don't Edit

You've got to keep things up

At a supremely simple level, this is obvious: A community fighting the natural forces of aging housing has to maintain its standards with robust, if not nagging, code enforcement. Otherwise, it may as well shout, "Get out now!"

Cleveland Heights inspects home exteriors on a five-year rotation. It also requires detailed inspections and repairs before a home can be sold. Lakewood has similar standards, with rules for when garbage cans can be placed out front (not before 6 p.m. the evening before pickup) and how tall grass can grow (6 inches) before a citation is issued. Shaker Heights and similar communities are sticklers for this.

The theory behind strict enforcement is like the broken-windows model of policing: By attending to the small things, a larger degree of disorder is avoided. And if all your neighbors are motivated to improve their homes, you probably will be, too. It's called "clustering," and it makes sense, "because you're not going to invest in your house if all the houses around you are falling part," says Bernadette Hanlon, an Ohio State University professor whose books and work in planning and suburbs are often cited by peers.

Problem is, not everyone can afford to keep up their homes. And when homes fall into foreclosure, the banks that own them may not care about code enforcement.

("Landscaper - Cleveland Heights" by Tim Evanson is licensed under CC By-SA 2.0)

Next slide: Desire comes first

Don't Edit

It helps to have inherent assets

Most people have a choice of where to live. Housing styles are one factor, and they come with trade-offs: Old or new construction? Built-in shelves and crown moldings or clean lines? Plaster or drywall? Old boiler with steam radiators or central heat and air conditioning?

These choices play clearly into home-buying and neighborhood-upkeep decisions in older neighborhoods. Residents of older suburbs will cite charm and character when they discuss desirability. But charm can be found in Chagrin Falls and other far-out suburbs, so there's got to be more, as experts and real estate agents say: Location.

Lakewood is on the shore of Lake Erie, and while not everyone can afford a lakefront home, they can drive down Lake Avenue any time and stop by Lakewood Park. Downtown Cleveland is an easy commute. A Lakewood home and a Cleveland job can make life uncomplicated.

Cleveland Heights lacks the lake. But with Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals just down the hill, Cleveland Heights has long been a natural residential choice for professors and doctors who make their livings at these institutions. Proximity to Little Italy and University Circle extend close-by availability of museums, Severance Hall and restaurants.

Neither community is at risk of losing these locational assets. But location isn't enough, either.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland,com)

Next slide: Do residents support the institutions?

Don't Edit

Tend to the community's soul

OK, so you've done your part by buying a great house, keeping it up and going to the park. But why does a neighborhood feel less civic-spirited than before? How do you maintain the soul of your city?

Great communities have residents who believe and invest in them, and that doesn’t just mean their homes. What about libraries? Schools? Do residents interact with one another, form networks, support local levies? If not, is it because they've lost faith in their institutions or leaders?

One failed tax levy doesn't spell doom, especially if residents stay engaged in healthy debate. But if this results in cut after cut, a community risks losing its way.

Lakewood faced this in the 1990s, when the real estate market turned rocky, interest in home ownership dropped and decisions by schools made parents question their academic rigor, said Ned Hill, the former dean of the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University and now a professor at Ohio State University. Lakewood residents turned down a school tax increase four times, triggering further cuts to academics. Even the New York Times noticed, writing in 1995 that the "grand mansions along Lake Erie here are still splendid, and the modest homes farther from the lakefront still neat and well kept. ... But all is not as stable as it seems."

The fifth tax levy passed. It took a lot of work and commitment. But Lakewood turned things around.

Cleveland Heights residents in November approved an income tax increase, though the combined Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district defeated a property tax increase last May.

(Dale Omori, The Plain Dealer)

Next slide: Speaking of investing...

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Keep up public appearances

Your community wants you to keep up your curb appeal. But does the town keep up its own?

Aesthetics matter. To compete for residents and businesses, and to maintain a viable tax base, successful suburbs invest in themselves, with help from taxpayers elsewhere. They use federal community development money as well as their own taxes to pay for signage, street improvements, landscaping, bus-stop shelters and even retail development, for the same reasons a shopping center owner invests in a new façade: If it looks well-kept and welcoming, it'll be good for business, which means not only boosting local retail but also keeping and attracting residents.

Lakewood has been particularly effective at this, Hill says. This, too, goes back to facing its problems from the 1990s. What then-Mayor David Harbarger told the New York Times in 1995 is equally true today: People deciding where to live are equally interested in schools, safety and city services, and it any one area is in decay, "the others can't hold it up."

Such investments raise political questions, though, especially if some of the money must comes from residents because the city has few businesses. This can force a lifestyle-and-politics discussion about the role of government in the evolution of communities.

Hanlon, of Ohio state, says she doesn't buy into the belief that decline is an inevitable part of a community's life cycle. But decline will happen, she says, "if no one is putting money back into these communities."

Others in her field agree. Thomas Vicino, a Northeastern University professor who studies metropolitan and suburban development, said "there are some best practices" that can be applied to maintain or stabilize older suburbs, "but my bias would be a big-government approach."

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

Next slide: Something to do besides sleep

Don't Edit

Get a life

A safe bet is that hardly a soul has moved within a mile of Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights without soon taking a stroll to Big Fun, a store of toys and collectibles; drinking a milkshake at Tommy's, and, back in the day, getting coffee at Arabica. With a mix of large homes and apartments nearby, the area was a model for walkability, community and vibrancy.

People were drawn there, and the mix of businesses played a role. Middle-age residents might not have played hacky sack on the sidewalks, but they sure enjoyed being part of a community that felt positively alive.

Lakewood is catching that energy now with new bars and restaurants. Success can be fleeting, but authorities say that older suburbs with a smattering of popular restaurants and bars, especially in districts that make for a pleasant stroll, are better able to attract and keep residents.

This poses a challenge for Cleveland Heights in a way. It had a "cool" factor first. But as Dennis Keating, an emeritus professor of urban studies at Cleveland State University notes, it is no longer unique. That doesn't spell doom. But there is pressure to keep up or fall behind.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

Next slide: About those young people

Don't Edit

Invite all ages

We noted at the start that Lakewood and Cleveland Heights are communities where people came to stay. But who begins adulthood in need of a four-bedroom, center-hall-entry brick classic? And who wants to live in a place where all you ever see are the well-settled adults? Or you have to pay a hefty property tax bill?

Academics say that a mark of successful inner-ring suburbs is a dynamic mix of ages and families. That’s where apartments come in for young adults, who in turn can lend a quotient of hipness that, the University of Maryland's Short says, can attract new retail or coffee shops.

Both Lakewood and Cleveland Heights were developed to accommodate such a range. But do those younger residents stay, moving up to houses if they're ready? This is another ingredient: stability of residents, from young adulthood on. A university community expects steady turnover, as does a community of starter homes, but turnover otherwise can signal that residents are no longer satisfied – and that the town needs to go deeper into its cache of tools to turn itself around.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

Next slide: The answer

Don't Edit

So the answer is...

Many of the criteria listed here can be influenced, if not controlled, by a community's leaders. Other variables are tougher, especially real or perceived safety issues and school decline. Cleveland Heights is next to a bankrupt city, East Cleveland, with high foreclosure and home vacancy rates. That’s not its fault, as Hill notes. But it nevertheless gets stuck with perceptions and fallout based on proximity.

A community need not reach an irreversible tipping point -- but when things stop going a community's way, it can be hard to regain its bearings, Short said.

"If you're not constantly reinventing, you quickly go out of fashion," he said.

How well do Cleveland Heights and Lakewood handle the variables – the ingredients in the sauce – that they can control or reinvent?

Stories in this series will seek to find out.

("Magician" by ihave3kids, licensed under CC By-NC-ND 2.0)