New Cleveland signs being installed

New Cleveland signs in locations including Edgewater Park encourage people visiting the city to stop and take snapshots. (Marvin Fong/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Morale isn't too shabby in Greater Cleveland, on the heels of an NBA championship win and the city's starring turn as host of the Republican National Convention.

Three-quarters of us would consider telling a friend to move to Cleveland. More than 60 percent of us expect to stay here for a long time. But we're not all wearing rose-colored glasses.

We want better public schools. Many of us think local institutions - public and private - have stale or unremarkable ideas for approaching the region's challenges. And two-thirds of the people who responded to a recent survey about the region believe that the economic recovery here is uneven. Some neighborhoods and communities are benefitting. Others are missing out.

Those are headline findings from Cleveland-centric research conducted for the Renewal Project, a news-and-marketing hybrid initiative formed by insurer Allstate Corp. and Atlantic Media Strategies, the creative agency and consulting arm of The Atlantic media group.

On Allstate's dime, a company called FTI Consulting conducted a telephone survey of 400 adults in Greater Cleveland in late August. The poll focused on the Cleveland area's image, assets, economy and challenges. The questions - about everything from residents' favorite sports teams to changes they'd embrace at Cleveland's West Side Market - were somewhat eclectic.

(The first answer, just in case you're wondering: The Cleveland Cavaliers. The second: Global cuisine nights with international food tastings. Closely followed by later evening hours.)

"We look for cities who embody the spirit of renewal," said Stacy Drumtra, director of corporate relations for Allstate, a publicly traded company based in Illinois. "We look for cities who have good things going on, who have tackled some pretty difficult challenges for residents, whether it's in the school systems or housing opportunities or work programs."

Greater Cleveland is the seventh metropolitan area highlighted by the Allstate project, which started roughly two years ago. Allstate and The Atlantic previously touched down in Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Denver, Detroit and Orlando. The partners typically host an event after the survey findings are released.

An invitation-only program in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood on Tuesday evening will feature Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson; Dr. Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, chief executive officer of the Cleveland Clinic; Michele Campbell of the LeBron James Family Foundation; Sylvia Perez of the Cleveland Foundation; and local chef and investor Jonathon Sawyer.

Both the surveys and the follow-up discussions aim to pinpoint successful approaches to community renewal, said Bill Vainisi, Allstate's senior vice president of government relations. He acknowledged that getting Allstate's name out there could help the insurer pick up clients, but he said that the project is about research and education - not the company's bottom line.

"I wouldn't say that Allstate's business goals are the key drivers for the cities that we select," Drumtra said.

Allstate came up with the survey questions through conversations with local contacts and collaboration with The Atlantic and FTI. The polling consultant reached out to residents in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties - the footprint of the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is home to more than 2 million people.

"We're very confident that the results line up with how Clevelanders would feel," said Megan McNally, an FTI director responsible for the poll design, process and analysis.

Here are some of the findings:

* Almost 70 percent of people said local morale is moderately high or very high.

* When it comes to pitching Cleveland to outsiders, based on work-related qualities, 94 percent of residents would highlight the region's medical centers, including the Clinic. Only 53 percent would point to accolades for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's HealthLine rapid-transit bus line, on Euclid Avenue.

* When it comes to selling visitors and potential residents on Cleveland's quality of life, 93 percent of respondents said they'd showcase the cultural scene, including Playhouse Square, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Orchestra. The same number of people would boast about outdoor recreation. Only 77 percent of people said they would focus on affordability, based on a recent Forbes report that ranked Cleveland among the top cities where a paycheck will stretch the most.

* Thirty-eight percent of respondents said the Cleveland Museum of Art was their favorite local museum, followed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

* Based on a short list of pop-culture trivia, 40 percent of people would mention that the house from the film "A Christmas Story" is located in Cleveland, in the Tremont neighborhood. Only 9 percent of people would tout that the city was the setting for "The Drew Carey Show."

* The recent Cavs win was the most-cited reason for Cleveland's changed national image. Only 9 percent of people credited the Republican National Convention for any perception shift.

* Forty-seven percent of respondents said collaboration between elected officials, businesses and residents has been the biggest driver of local economic growth and revival. Twenty-two percent pointed to businesses, on their own. Seventeen percent gave the credit to residents. Only 5 percent gave the bulk of the credit to politicians.

*Improving public schools is the most important thing the Cleveland area could do to support economic growth, 35 percent of people said.

* Fifty-seven percent of people believe they or their communities have benefited from the Evergreen Cooperatives, businesses in Cleveland that hire workers living in low-income neighborhoods and pay them a living wage. The Cleveland Foundation, Case Western Reserve University, the Clinic, University Hospitals and the city of Cleveland launched the cooperatives initiative in 2008.

*Locals said "diverse" and "resilient" are the best words to describe Cleveland, with "tough" coming in third. We're less "creative," "innovative," and "entrepreneurial," based on this survey. And very few people - only 6 percent - picked "adventurous."

The margin of error on the poll results is just shy of 5 percent.

McNally, the polling director, and Vainisi, of Allstate, both said they were surprised by how many people would recommend living in Greater Cleveland to a friend, despite the area's much-publicized hardships, from population loss to foreclosures to industrial decline.

"Even after the experiences they've had in the past, they're still saying it's a great city to come to," McNally said. "They see that there are still places to improve on, and that they're not completely there. But they're ready to fight for it."