I was born and raised in the suburbs of Cleveland and had many friends who attended Case undergrad. Many parts in and around Cleveland have been in decline since the 1970s, including Akron and expecially Youngstown... yet we take it in stride. This is a generalization, but Clevelanders are generally very friendly, helpful, and have a sense of humor.
It's true Case is in a pocket of safety amongst a very bad neighborhood (East Cleveland, absolutely awful). The bad areas outside Case and University circle include the West, North, and most areas South of Case (the campus is very safe all the time). The only areas considered safe are just east of Case (a hipster type area) and Little Italy, which is where most of the students live.
That said, most of the crime is concentrated in a few neighborhoods (East Cleveland, Warrensville Heights, Bedford Heights), but most of the other neighboorhoods are typical Americana burb, safe with a few things to do here and there. The previous poster is right, the music scene is pretty good, restaurants consist mostly of chains (with a few notable exceptions, 'Melt' for instance), sports sucks (the source of our humor), weather sucks (similar to the Northeast and most of the midwest in snow, the seasons, but the overcast is similar to the Pacific Northwest, not that much sunshine, esp in the winter). All of this, I believe, is made up for by the friendliness of the people... this is why I moved back home despite living in Boston for a few years, abroad, etc.
Overall, I strongly recommend having a car... otherwise you have to live close to school (in little italy or just east of Case) and doing anything social you will have to rely on someone with a car or travel through some of the nastier parts of town via public transport. Having a car not only allows you to do stuff on weekends and get to the great parks/rural areas not so far outside Cleveland, you can also live a bit further away in one of the many nicer areas (beachwood especially, but also mayfield heights, gates mills, or, like what i will do, even further in twinsburg, etc.) If you have a car, youll be just fine. You'll spend more time driving, but have a much much better quality of life.
Racism.
