Keeping Grey Matter Local

JOBS!!!! And GOOD PAYING JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it goes beyond jobs to the region shedding it's negative image. Buffalo is in desperate need of a good PR machine to push not only to outsiders but to locals that there's more to our city and region than snow, crime, lousy sports teams and political corruption. Example: My best friend has a decent paying job (45-50K) with full benefits which he's quitting for a lesser paying job with no benefits in Las Vegas because he's fed up with the perception that nothing in Buffalo gets done and that the city is rotting and festering. Until that negative aura around the region gets changed we'll still lose people or fail to attract them even if we have good jobs.

These meetings kind of crack me up, people are leaving because of a lack of jobs. Why aren’t there jobs? In the running for the highest taxes in the country, right up there with highest utilities in the country, and the domestic market is shrinking. Some of the hardest environmental laws tacked on and no one can afford to come here.

We know its not a lack of people, there are droves and well educated and hard working folks here, but we also no there willing to move.

Until we cut upstate free of NYS programs, and regulations there’s no chance. These meetings are one of the symptoms of the problem. Rather then fix something were going to spend money to have people sit around and talk about it.

The need for a PR campaign to trick people to come here becomes unnecessary if problems are address, the PR will come from our actions. Build the light rail lines, twin span for the peace bridge. Not standing around talking for 10 years…

Vote me in for mayor this next run and well have all sorts of action!

Good PR is a plus. It is true that MANY people in this are very negative when it comes to promoting this area. When ever I hear of someone who just moved to the area because they wanted too, everyone else usually responds with "Oh, gawd, why?" "are you kidding me, you chose Buffalo?". And this type of attitude is exactly why we need a change in how we see our area. It's sad and true that many people who grew up here don't even know that we have a Marina, a downtown movie theater, shops on Elmwood, free metro rail downtown, so many FREE art galleries, and so on. They just stay in thier own little suburban or city neighborhood, listen to the news and what others tell them is wrong with Buffalo and think it's all true. That needs to change.

Well lets begin with why people stay (good news):
1) relatively inexpensive housing and fast commutes by national standards
2) THE PEOPLE! Just about every expatriot I meet wherever I go has something positive and kind that they are quick to share...and that list is long.
3) Our activities. Other cities have festivals but no other city in NYS can compare to our community organizations & social activities, from dances to night clubs to sports and arts/performing arts
5) Our history...
6) Our geography...from our urban parks to our canal and lake fronts to our mountains for skiing in the south and our cosmopolitan Toronto to the north and the greatest wonder in the world (Niagara Falls) in our backyard.

OK SO WHY DO PEOPLE LEAVE IF THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS TO STAY?
-SIMPLY PUT BUFFALO COLLEGES TURN OUT FAR TO MANY GENERIC LIBERAL ARTS AND BUSINESS DEGREES THAT ARE THE SAME OR SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT THAN EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO BOTH THE DEGREES THAT ARE NEEDED LOCALLY NOW AND FOR THE DEGREES OF BUSINESSES WE WANT TO ATTRACT.
-Well another reason is because Buffalo is not vertically integrated in its careers. There are fewer and fewer medium and large companies that are willing to hire entry level college grads, wont pay to train and so many are forced to leave just to gain work experience with a hope that if they get it...then they might be able to come back.
-Corruption and Incompetence: The entire elected delegation (except for a few) is part and parcel lapdogs for Albany and downstate. Unfunded Albany mandates and NYS Authorities control most of the money and decisions rather than local control and the few dollars that remain ARE NOT INVESTED in the future of our community but siphoned off for patronage and union contracts. IT TOOK A CONTROL BOARD TO BREAK THAT INCESTUOUS CYCLE. IT TOOK REMOVING FUNDS FROM THE GENERAL BUDGET AND CREATING A SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION TO BREAK THAT CYCLE AND GET CANALSIDE DEVELOPED. YOU THINK THERE IS A CHANCE THE 15 YEAR CASINO REVENUE SHARING WILL BE TAKEN OFF BUDGET AS WELL? DOUBTFUL!
-As my father used to say...there is something wrong with a city when the taxes you pay dont result in plowed streets, repaired sidewalks and curbs, properly maintained water and sewar mains and repaved/rebricked roads. In other words, when people pay taxes...dont want another deputy mayor (here that Brown) and they dont want another civil servant hired or a better union contract...taxpayers want to see something that visably shows them that their getting their monies worth....all through Buffalo...the money goes to patronage, unions and civil servants while houses get demolished...and the everyday maintenance of our infrastructure continues to deteriorate...and if the city will not invest in the vitality of its communities, then companies certainly will not invest and locate in property that is purceived to be at risk, unsafe, declining or stagnant in future value and difficult to entice employees.

From Brown on down the city leadership is and has been corrupt and incompetitent, un-interested in the city as a whole and capable of focusing only on their narrow interests ... and those handed down from albany or their union/business campaign donations.

SIMPLY PUT...BUFFALONIANS HAVE ALL THE NATURAL RESOURCES TO BE ONE OF THE TRULY GREAT MAJOR-MIDSIZE CITIES IN THE NATION.

UNFORTUNATELY...WE CANNOT GET PAST NYS, ALBANY, UNIONS, POLITICS, PATRONAGE, CORRUPTION ... SO THAT WE CAN DEVELOP OUR NATURAL ASSETS.

As an example to the person who mentioned that Buffalo needs more advertising and public relations to attract business and brand our city and region.

TRY TO PRY THE BED TAX AWAY FROM THE ERIE COUNTY GENERAL BUDGET TO PAY FOR THE PURPOSE EVERY TAXPAYER WAS TOLD IT WAS NECESSARY TO PROVIDE!

TRY TO EXPLAIN THE LOSS OF $700,000 PER YEAR IN TAX SUBSIDIES FOR THE HYATT...ALONG WITH THE $5MILLION FOR UPGRADES...ADD THEM ALL TOGETHER...AND WE COULD HAVE BEEN WELL ON OUR WAY TO HAVING A NEW CONVENTION/CONFERENCE CENTER...AND GOTTEN THE ADVERTISING OUR CITY DESERVES.

Advertising for Buffalo and Western NY is roughly (correct me if Im wrong) 20% of what Rochester, Syracuse, Cleveland and Pittsburgh spend! In other words...we spend nothing and get nothing...because we tax our people and put it in the general budget which is used for unions, patronage and unfunded albany mandates...everything except returning the investment to the taxpaying people of Buffalo so they have better lives and better futures.

NYS must make it easier for companies to do business in this state. Offer some real tax incentives. The power authority also needs to step up and help attract companies to set up shop here. They already scared Google away, among others. Go Bills!

"who do we need to move it forward?"

Realistically, there's not much that "we" can do to make Upstate and WNY a lot more business friendly. It just isn't going to happen.

Voters across NY state (including some here) are pretty left-of-center and becoming even more so over time. That leads to strong state laws in favor of very strong unions in our public and private sector, "punish the rich" tax policies, and other factors more business-hostile than many other U.S. metro areas. Downstate has been better able to cope with all that due to so much corporate willingness to be in NYC at any cost.

It's mostly as simple as that, and it's similar in other Upstate areas too. It can't be glossed over by silver bullet ideas like convention centers, loft conversions, higher speed Amtrak, or PR campaigns. Those things can give the impression politicians are doing something, even though spending on things like that won't create real job growth.

In most parts (ours, for instance) of the USA, "gray" is the color and "Grey" is a name. "Gray matter" = "brains", in New York. We're off to a bad start, already.

Alot of you have already hit the nail on the head in terms of WNY as a whole, in terms of jobs.

What about the City itself and the jobs we already have and the people that choose the suburbs over the city.

The City needs to focus on two things to become more lucrative vs. the suburbs, Crime and Schools.

Also, when I go the the City of Buffalo website I should see front and center the specific pieces of the "Comprehensive Plan" that are currently in play. The plan itself is so full of non-specific nonsense. Along with building low-income housing have you incorporated, at cost new development for Middle income folks? Let us know. Want to build up the BPD reserves? Let us know.

Same thing with the City of Buffalo Board of Education, do you guys need tutors, after school aides, volunteers from the businesses that are her to guest lecture. Let us know.

As a young professional I was lucky enough to secure a job in the area because I wanted to stay here. Though I did accept less money than what was available in other areas of the country. We need some sort of industry here...be it financial, shipping, international trade, green energy, manufacturing, specialty manufacturing, development, research, something. Once we have a company / corporation that will head-quarter themselves here (with their well paying jobs) maybe we can use that as an economic engine to generate spin-off business for lawyers, bankers, financial advisors, etc.

I love stories about condo conversions, re-use projects and co-ops...but those businesses do not generate wealth, jobs or taxes. It's just moving western New Yorkers from the suburbs to the city (not a bad idea but not a long term solution).