In a Rust Wire blog post titled “Questioning Cleveland’s Undying Faith in Development,” local writer Angie Schmitt discusses the appropriation of funding for public projects all in the name of “development.”

“We’re just emerging from the biggest real estate bust in a generation, but the lust for development doesn’t seem to have abated. Economic development officials have taken to touting how downtown Cleveland, or Cleveland, is currently seeing $5 ($7, $12?) billion -- as if that were indisputable evidence the city is rebounding.”

The story goes on to highlight one argument that public funds could be better used to help the communities this “development” is most affecting while shedding light on different trains of thought.

“I was complaining about this on Twitter recently and one of my followers asked: Is Cleveland growing? To which I replied: Ha! His response was: If Cleveland isn’t growing, it’s not really development, “but a spatial change in active/abandoned land distribution.” Which I thought was a pretty compelling point.”

Check out the full piece here.