I "browsed" Cleveland in 1963 and didn't think it was particularly bad back then. Of course the only other cities of any size I had to compare it with at that time was St. Louis, Missouri and Washington, D.C.
I've seen people on this forum say there was a time when D.C. was "not that bad", all I can say is they must have been on this mortal coil longer than I have. In my experience it's always been a cess pool.............Probably gotten progressively worse over the years.
That neighborhood was pretty bad back when I was a meter reader, circa 1980. Not absolutely terrible, but definitely on the wrong side of the tracks.
Cleveland, today, is not as decrepit as Deetroit, but it's gaining rapidly. There is NO foot traffic to speak of in the night-time hours, except in well-lit, well-policed pockets such as the theatre District, the Flats area, and around the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. From downtown to 100 blocks East, it's a warzone. Nearly ALL businesses have left, and the taxbase is nearly non-existent. Of course, this means it's a corrupt mecca of Democrat politico's, and Union thugs. That's typical of MOST major cities, today, where hard-working, self-dependent types have moved to suburbia and rural areas, leaving behind the socialit-Utopia parasites, who deal drugs, commit crime, and destroy the property (why not; it's never THEIR property, because they have none).
Washington D.C. is another area that you don't travel ALONE, at night, and today, even in the daytime.