Is Buffalo Making a Comeback?

Absolutely! It's been a long time coming, and will take a while (and some TLC to take hold) but yes, Buffalo IS making a comeback.

sure is. have to be blind not to notice. now if we can do something about this state taxing us to death we can really get rocking.

I would also agree... 5 hours of buffalo talk at CPG's left me with worries and pride about our city. It is experiencing more growth and prosperity than in decades but still has many regional ailment that will keep it from long term sustainability. I fear that the national trend towards cities will fade and with it some of the glamor of Buffalo. That is unless a new local educational imperative is passed that actually illustrates our regions various benefits and amenities to young people.

It's stabilizing, which could be the start of a comeback, but until there's some job growth with new residents...it will always be a troubled area.

Patterson vetoing the state pension plan was a good first step, the potential consolidation of area governmental entities is another.

I disagree. While there is a wealth of development downtown, the problems that have plagued the city over the past 50 years have not changed. The taxes are still grossly high and politics are still corrupt. The projects that are happening are inflated with government dollars and they do not address the fundamental problems with the the city. I love Buffalo, but I maintain a healthy skeptism with the notion that we have truly turned a corner.

Buffalo is indeed on the mend. Everything we see here tells us this. But the real corner that we've yet to round is where we are no longer dwelling on the riches of the past but laying the groundwork for a magnificent future. You look at other cities in the same predicament: St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit, and you see the early signs of stabilization and recovery for some, but continued decline and despair for others. There's not much of a roadmap here, populations keep falling and major investments are scarce, yet among all of these once great cities that have lost half or more of their citizens, Buffalo seems to have a better chance of recovery. As is so often stated here, the biggest obstacle to Buffalo's turnaround is Albany. Albany has turned all of NYS into a zombie kept alive only to bleed it out some more. But fear not: Rule One in the parasite handbook is "Never kill the host".

There will be no comeback for Buffalo if the Public Bridge Authority, Byron Brown, and Brian Higgins have their way. All movement forward will come to a screeching halt if the bridge plaza happens.

Did you know that the Wilson Farms on Niagara/Hampshire will be the new location of the world's largest duty free? That spot is where the new plaza/truck stop will begin.

If you love Buffalo and don't want this city to continue to make poor transportation choices, don't let this happen. Call Byron and Brian to tell them not to let this happen.

Buffalo is on its way back. I think citizens have really taken their neighborhoods back and forced the city and developers into more quality development. People have begun to develop the city on their own, DESPITE City Hall and DESPITE powerful developers. However, the big hurdle remains to make Buffalo and New York State an affordable place to do business. Until then, we'll continue to see the City improve, but I don't imagine a major boom on the horizon until we become less cost prohibitive for major employers and work give new entrepreneurs incentives to succeed.

Other then the problems that need not be mentioned on the NY State level there is definitely a postive vibe in this city, thanks in part to BR. Erie county control board going soft is another move in the right direction as well..

It is imperative to build on the progress that is being made. The city has to be marketed as a destination LOCALLY first. We have a substantial regional population who think the City is a crime infested, arson prone dump. Those are the hearts and minds that need to be won over. And frankly it doesn't need to start with politicians, but our own media!

The News & 2/4/7 immediatley remind folks that we are the third poorest city in the us, and that manufactureing jobs are gone, and the ones that remain are soon to vanish too. By gone times of proserity, add to the defeatism that surround the downtown like the waff of Cheerios in the morning. And every single day, we are reminded of how awful The City of Buffalo is, and how small Western New york is! ENOUGH.

Private investment once made this city great. It can happen again, but the corner is not at 90 degrees, rather a long sweeping curve, and we have just entered the turn.

What a negative concept "comeback" is! Who wants to go backwards? Buffalo has wonderful energy and has been especially blessed by the enthusiasm, talent and efforts of a couple of new generations of people who are investing in the city. So stop focussing on recapturing some bygone prominence and appreciate where we are right now. This comeback nonsense reminds me of all the self conscious boost Buffalo stuff. Methinks thou dost protest too much. It makes one wonder why the hard sell! Just focus on doing the great things we've been doing and relax.

It seems like every decade since the 1960s, there's been the promise and hype of a "renaissance" in Buffalo. I don't see a comeback anytime soon. Neighborhoods on the East Side will get worse before they get better; Kensington, East End/Delavan-Bailey and Schiller Park are still falling fast, with little or no hope for a turnaround. Riverside is struggling, and blue-collar inner ring suburban neighborhods are starting to see problems with an increasingly obsolete housing stock and many other issues; problems that other Rust Belt 'burbs have been facing for 20 or 30 years.

The city as a whole, though, appears to be bottoming out. At least Buffalo's bottom isn't as bad as that of Toledo, Cleveland (outside of downtown, University Circle, Shaker Square/Larchmere and Ohio City/Tremont) or the accelerating freefall of Detroit. Buffalo will NEVER return to the glory days of the 1950s; sorry, old farts, but Sattlers, the Town Casino, Freddie's Donuts, Deco, Broadway as a shopping destination and all the other things that you nostalgically weep for aren't coming back.

As other cities continue to boom, Buffalo's national stature will continue to shrink. Buffalo will lose some of its reputation as it's rediscovered, though. I see Buffalo in 10 or 20 years as being much like Providence today; a decent, livable place with a hip edge, but still old school blue collar locals-only at its heart.

My perspective on Buffalo is from living in Massachusetts for the last 35 years and visiting the city at least once a year for those 35 years. At the end of the 80's and early 90's, I would come home to five or six "For Sale" signs on each side of a city block in the nicer neighborhoods. I thought that this signaled "the end" for the city. I felt like sending Jimmy and Tony letters of Congratulations for driving everyone out of the city limits. After Tony's tax reevaluation and the start and growth of the unbelievable neighborhood pride regenerator, the GardenWalk, the "For Sale" sign epidemic ended and city houses started to be attractive to buyers again. Since the beginning of the new century, Buffalo has shown some very visible signs of new construction and rehabilitation growth in the Downtown area, and to my eyes, since around 2005, significant housing rehabilitation in the more desirable neighborhoods of the city. While housing rehabilitation in the area from Richmond to Linwood is encouraging, what Harvey Garrett and others have done in the area below Richmond is thrilling and inspiring. The efforts on the lower West Side are indicative of a spirit of activism and entrepreneurship and strong citizen participation that I have seen grow in numbers and strength over the last 10 years. Of course Buffalo is far from perfect and yes, the city has suffered many losses and it would be great to see the lower West side spirit take hold on the East Side. But when I see and read about life and morale in Michigan this week or hear on the radio about Dayton, Ohio loosing its only Fortune 500 company, NCR, to some place in Georgia, I can only acknowledge that hard times comes to everyone and I know that Buffalo is a great survivor.

I look at the Elmwood Village, Downtown, and to a degree Hertel and have to say, yes, Buffalo is getting better. Let's keep focusing on these areas to get them where they need to be. Then we can do something with the other parts of town like the East Side (for which there may be no hope, build a wall around it and let them kill each other off).

Where did Buufalo go? It's always been here and always will be.

NOW DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE OUT OF CONTROL TAXES!!!!

"Comeback" is one of those stupid media terms...cities never "return"; they never stop rising and falling. All older cities in the Midwest and Northeast, from Buffalo to Chicago to Philadelphia down to St. Louis will always rise and fall and rise a bit, then fall a bit. That's the nature of cities. But that doesn't have to change the meaning of living there for most people. All older cities face enormous systemic problems in a country whose economy is so volatile and capricious, whose population and leaders listen seriously to faddish pronouncements by MSN or the tiresome Richard Florida. No, I don't think Buffalo will ever come back; no cities come back. They change, evolve, usually slowly, and people continue to live and find meaning in their lives within them. When you have self-consciousness about where you live as being cutting edge or progressive or ahead, there lies the seed of provincialism.

Buffalo will always be an interesting and textured place to live. It is much more than "working class" (a reductive, increasingly obsolete term; all cities are working class). It is layered with colorful history and it carries an almost ineffable quality of American life at its most authentic. The city has been anchored by cultural sophistication and refinement for 150 years. The houses seem to murmur to eachother, and even when we build new things or change a neighborhood, the ancestry of the streets continues to perfume the atmosphere. This is all beyond and superior to "hip or "cool." It even surpasses in meaning economic growth, which is enviable. But when growth stalls, do creativity and meaning stall with it? Not always. Not here, as so many events, concerns, and people described in BRO prove.

So I reject this question: "will Buffalo come back?" It's the wrong question to ask. This is not how we should look at cities. It assumes a sort of plateau wherein all is well if we reach it. That's not the nature of economies or demographics. Let's recognize the energy that seems to be pulsing through Buffalo lately and nourish it. Elect better leaders; woo more business; take pleasure in the beauty we're lucky to have inherited. But then one has to just live and embrace one's environment. That's what's heppening here, and it's meaningful. And it never ends.

I agree the City is showing signs of improvement but I think there's a long road back to decent population growth and prosperity. Unfortunately Buffalo sometimes feels like a satellite outpost at the end of the New York State Thruway syatem, a frontier city with no clear direction or no constant stream of commerce, it seems cutoff from the rest of the east coast but not quite part of the midwest. Many of the projects in Buffalo certainly show promise because SOMETHING is finally happening, but they have heavy government subsidy and we're still not seeing the big blockbuster private sector investments. It would help if the market showed population and income growth to justify it. It would help if in reality there weren't large swaths of land in the city that were "crime infested, arson prone dump"s. Thats a really really large east side out there and frankly most of it is a big hole, its a huge underutilized taxable area laid to waste by thugs who seem to operate carelessly without societal rules or decency. Instead we focus regional policing resources on college drinking parties near Canisius. Nice. Though some neighborhoods seem to have been taken back by caring citizens I think theres still at least as many areas still overpowered by those who would do harm.

Yes!

I agree with Eric Oak's reasons why Buffalo4Life's question as worded isn't meaningful enough to answer.

Certainly in an economics sense the answer would be "no", but it's not clear that's what the question is intending to ask at all.

That said, I've no idea what sbrof means by "it [Buffalo] is experiencing more growth and prosperity than in decades".
Most geographic portions of Buffalo (other than those BR usually focuses on for their upbeat mission, which is fine) aren't at all having more prosperity in the 00s decade than in the 90s, 80s, etc.
I'm not saying that relates to the Buff4Life's question, since I don't get what the question is asking. But that's my comment about sbrof's comment.

This would be easier to answer if it involved a list of multiple-choice questions.

Some parts of Buffalo may be experiencing growth, but right now 9% of Buffalo is unemployed, that's about 25,000 people.

Black male unemployment is hovering around 50%. http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/463808.html

Buffalo will never "comeback" unless we work to ensure that all parts of Buffalo "comeback".

About the best that can be said for Buffalo is that it has stabilized

It needs a major research university...UB is not there yet

It needs a light rail connecting Airport, Galleria, Central Terminal and Downtown...Amherst...and Buffalo State!

It needs another center for excellence if not 3-4 more.

Every college needs a small business incubator

and Buffalo needs to spend alot more on infrastructure: trees, sidewalks, curbs, period street lighting, repaved streets and recobbled historic districts, lift bridges AND MIDDLE CLASS INFILL!

These are the only ways to attract major employers and middle classes back to urban neighborhoods.

without the above...we arent going to keep our wealthy or our middle class...Buffalo isnt going to grow...

Queen City,

I work in higher education, and I can assure you that UB is considered a major research university throughout academe. It is a member of the most select organization of research universities in the country.

ErikOak, I qualify a major research university by their public private partnerships that create products, new research centers, new companies and new jobs.

If one looks to Rochester, the UofR & RIT together are not as big as UB but every year they manage to add another Center or Center of Excellence, most recently a Center for Excellence in Clinical Trials for FDA...which really helps to attract pharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as research grants.

Looking at Buffalos natural strengths:

1) UBs supercomputers and UBs access to ultrahighspeed networks that pass thru Buffalo...yet still no Center for Excellence in anything related to Networking, Computers, Storage, Internet, Ecommerce, EBusiness, etc.

2) Buffalos historical strength in Materials: Ceramics, Gases, Plastics, Chemicals, Metals and now Nanomaterials...yet still no Center for Excellence

3) Buffalos historical strength in Transportation, Logistics, Distribution, Warehouse, Supply Chain Management, International Trade, Import/Export Customs, etc. Yet still no Center for Excellence.

4) Buffalo Niagaras historical strength in Power Generation. We are the home of Tesla's AC power! Plus we have Coal, Oil, Gas, Wood, Ethanol, Biodiesel, Hydro, Passive Geothermal, Wind, Solar, etc. Yet still no Center for Excellence in Power Generation, Power Distribution and Power Management.

5) Buffalo Niagaras historical strength in Banking and Finance is another.

ITS NOT JUST CENTERS FOR EXCELLENCE...UBs SMALL BUSINESS INCUBATORS ARE ONLY A FRACTION OF THE SIZE THAT THEY SHOULD BE AND UB SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY ONE. BUFFALO STATE AND NIAGARA UNIVERSITY AND CANISIUS SHOULD HAVE SMALL BUSINESS INCUBATORS ALSO!

When I say that UB is not a major research university...I judge it by the facts...that its research effort is still in such a state of infancy that it so far has only established 1 Center for Excellence and 1 small business incubator...and its public-private partnership is still in its infancy (my opinion).

I just finished a job involving door-to-door canvassing on more than 400 blocks between Niagara Street and the 198. I walked for 7 weeks on streets which I thought were familiar. yet hadn't seen for 5-10 years - and was shocked every day. Empty houses, burned houses, empty lots, empty BLOCKS, no stores, crumbling sidewalks, people completely demoralized, squatters, drug use and dealing, etc. Less than 10% of what I saw, east of Main St, is worth saving. Even the Mayor's block has houses ready for demolition. The sad sights were almost overwhelming.

The pockets of supposed good fortune look bad, too - Allen Street is half abandoned, Elmwood has dozens of vacant stores, and Hertel is rapidly deteriorating.

Buffalo is impoverished, neglected, nearly hopeless, and completely focused on the Poverty Industry - any perceived progress is from heavily tax-subsidized projects which benefit only the political machine which owns Buffalo & its suburban "developers". Our Mayor has one purpose: to enrich himself, his cronies and his political supporters.

Best thing that could happen to Buffalo: elimination of every State and Federal subsidy program. All of that money is stolen by the machine and used against the citizens of this city. "Friends and Family" get everything in Buffalo - the rest of us are out in the cold.

Buffalo is poised for a comeback. A lot of well meaning groups who cover well the areas of interests are in place. but Buffalo needs one more thing: a draw, an attraction,a reason. Unlike Niagara Falls, there is nothing uniquely special. Sorry folks, whatever restaurant/hotel you put near the canal is going to do the job. The city has to look south to that incredible waterfront. Put an attraction there that can handle the weather most of the year, and the city has a draw. It has to be big!
Yes, people are retuning to the downtown area. It will not revitalize it on its own. It draws locals.
Build something people want, something the tourists to the falls would like to extend their trips to experience, and the city might make it. Have the rail system to carry then directly from the airport. Anyone got a better idea to a)keep citizens here, b) provide jobs for locals, or c) get tourists with dollars here?

They come through our airport now to see only one thing which is in a different county but not so far away. I saw Dennis Judd who wrote "Cities and Tourists" speak. His concept has merit!

I knew youd have fun with the healthcare stuff.

Look power and electricity alone are not going to bring in employment as you have pointed out in the lack of job creation. Labor costs and clean land are factors that are holding us back. Not to mention the cheap electricity is tough to get as the google people could tell you. Although the Niagara Power Project kicks up tons of clean, reliable low cost power the cost of electricity to all but a few employers is driven up by factors including taxes on private producers and low output-high cost power plants (nuke plant in Oswego) on the grid.

And no manufacturing is not dead in the US as it isnt dead in Buffalo. I will say that as a nation we are becoming less competitive as producers although we consume so much. I didnt click the link you posted but the piece you pasted implies that as a nation our role as a producer is trending down. Why would a steel or auto maker build a factory in WNY when they can get the same cheap power and fresh water in southern Ontario and not pay the high costs of health benifits? How do you like that? Canada, as well as Germany and Japan, whos laws and customs and taxes would be labled socialist by some if implemented in the US, are beating us out for private sector investment in auto manufacturing.

As far as your West Virginia-Ohio comparison I know those places pay less wages than the UAW factories up here. If Toyota, Honda or Huyandi were to locate in WNY would they have to hire UAW workers? (Not a rhetorical question. I dont know if labor contracts apply to all companys that seek to build autos in a geographic area or if it is just a contract between labor and the big three US companies). If this were the case than we are at a sizable disadvantage to these states but this is somthing that could be changed. It would be a lot easier to change a law or union contract than it would be to aquire the cheap power and water that we already have. If WNY had better acces to power, water and competitive labor costs we would be a much more attractive industrial site than either of those two places.

The point of pointing out two major ingredients to heavy industry that still exist in WNY was to show that heavy industry is not as far away as people think. If cheap power were easier to get and healthcare was nationalized, and labor costs were more competitive, WNY would be better equiped to compete with the likes of Southern Ontario, West Virginia or China.

Queencity,

A few points:
-Canisius does have a small business incubator.
-I judge a major research university by membership in the most select organization of research universities in the country--the American Assocation of Universities. Their high standards judge by quality of academic programs and research. By any academic standard UB is considered a major research university. The business sector is not a qualified arbiter of what constitutes a major research university.
-UB is the area's largest employer; it has internationally recognized collections; it has Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners; it has dozens of doctoral and professional programs and an internationnaly recognized center for bioinformatics.
-I question the urgency to look at New York State's poorest city, Rochester, as a model for a city "coming back."

NY was onc e agreat stae, Buffalo is still charming. Taxes are killing both.