Dr. Thomas Bier, Senior Fellow for the Levin College of Public Affairs and Education (and formerly the director for the College’s Center for Housing Research and Policy) recently published a book, “The Way We Are: 100 Plain Dealer Op-Eds.” The volume features 100 op-ed articles Dr. Bier submitted to the Plain Dealer, published between 1977 and 2022. Most of the articles concern a current event or issue in the city of Cleveland and/or communities in Northeast Ohio. The 100 articles cover 100 topics, varying from local history, to the effect of public policy on communities, to where to locate a new baseball stadium.

Dr. Bier’s ongoing research focuses on regional housing dynamics, population movement, and the effects of government policies on cities. He has worked with local governments and community organizations to implement strategies for housing improvement, andhe was instrumental in the development of the "first suburbs," or inner-ring suburbs movement. He holds a doctoral degree and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton.

In the book’s introduction, Dr. Bier shares, “The articles are presented in this book in reverse chronology with the most recent first and then sequentially back in time as the article numbers go from 100 to 1. I hope that in the aggregate they convey the reality that many of the issues and challenges that were critical at the time of writing are still with us. Fundamental matters do not shift easily.”

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