NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams comes to Cleveland

NBC Nightly News has been my news program of choice for many years. I grew up on Huntley and Brinkley, and I suppose it just carried on from there.

Monday night’s show (November 12) was from Cleveland, Ohio. I was born in Cleveland and have lived in the area all my life. (For those of you who understand the area, I was born a west sider but lived most of my life as an east sider.) It’s a great city and metro area, but is often the target of jokes. So I was happy to see Brian Williams and the NBC news team do a show from Cleveland, featuring its issues and people.

The backdrop was a very rainy Cleveland skyline, and even included one large flash of lightning. (We were getting hit with a very heavy storm at the time. So what else is new?) The show covered the mortgage foreclosure problem in the Slavic Village area of Cleveland and in the suburb of Maple Heights, the push for healthier food choices (and healthier people) at the Cleveland Clinic, and featured a Cleveland fireman who is also a veteran with a Bronze Star. The focus on city stories was brief, but since the show is only 30 minutes long, one can’t expect too much. I have to admit that I was shocked at how badly the mortgage foreclosure problem has impacted some local communities.

Despite the very quick coverage, I was happy for the attention. Cleveland is a very misunderstood place. Before the national newscast, Brian spoke with the local news anchors and recalled how, as a child, he came to Cleveland for summer vacations from his home in Elmira, NY. He said that for him, it was like coming to the Riviera. While now in some areas it’s far from being like the Riviera, the city and the metropolitan area has a lot to offer. It is a great place to have fun, be entertained, enjoy the shores of Lake Erie, and be immersed in various cultural diversions.

So this is just a big THANK YOU to Brian and the NBC News team for coming here and putting the spotlight, albeit a short one, on a town that needs all the attention it can get. (Sorry we couldn’t get you some better weather.)

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