<description>&lt;p&gt;In February, Seattle angel investor Charles Fitzgerald warned the region &lt;a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/a-warning-to-seattle-dont-become-the-next-cleveland/"&gt;not to become the next Cleveland&lt;/a&gt;, prompting Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to &lt;a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/clevelands-mayor-seattles-future-a-conversation-about-what-happens-when-a-citys-economy-shifts/"&gt;join the podcast&lt;/a&gt; and make the case for his city's comeback. This week we close the loop: Fitzgerald and GeekWire co-founder John Cook call in from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland, where days of meeting entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine left them &lt;a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2026/what-we-learned-in-cleveland-about-seattles-future-advice-from-a-rust-belt-city-on-the-rise/"&gt;struck by a city hustling and aligned around jobs&lt;/a&gt; in ways Seattle no longer is.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Back home, we dig into Seattle's unanimous one-year moratorium on new large data centers, which Fitzgerald calls political theater, and he explains why he's sitting out the SpaceX IPO.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

GeekWire

GeekWire

Following through in Cleveland: A GeekWire trip report, plus data center ‘theater’ and the SpaceX IPO

JUN 13, 202628 MIN
GeekWire

Following through in Cleveland: A GeekWire trip report, plus data center ‘theater’ and the SpaceX IPO

JUN 13, 202628 MIN

Description

In February, Seattle angel investor Charles Fitzgerald warned the region not to become the next Cleveland, prompting Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to join the podcast and make the case for his city's comeback. This week we close the loop: Fitzgerald and GeekWire co-founder John Cook call in from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland, where days of meeting entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine left them struck by a city hustling and aligned around jobs in ways Seattle no longer is. Back home, we dig into Seattle's unanimous one-year moratorium on new large data centers, which Fitzgerald calls political theater, and he explains why he's sitting out the SpaceX IPO.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.