3...2...1...Happy New Year!

What will 2011 bring for Buffalo Rising, and what will Buffalo Rising be bringing to 2011?

There are many things in Buffalo moving in the right direction. I think we continue to make progress as a community and city, and I hope that accelerates in 2011.

I often wonder what we consider our end goal. What are we shooting for as a community, both locally and regionally. How will we know what success looks like? Will we find success in certain measures and areas or will we approach this as a balanced scorecard where success is measured across the board?

i hope those whiny ass canadians had a good time , so i dont have to hear them cryin about out fair city much more in the new year!!!

sho'nuff,

A very worthy discussion initiated by you. One thing I would like to see is a greater amount of respect displayed in posters' word choices. There should be a display of greater respect for our city and region in general, and also greater respect for differing opinions expressed as we collectively search for what is the best course for our city. Some possible objectives to ponder as we set goals:

1. A stronger commitment to reaching consensus of opinion, and not polarization, in the hope of creating a stronger vision and identity for Buffalo's future.
2. A stronger effort to build momentum and effect meaningful, positive change in Buffalo.
3. A stronger network of committed citizens to create a new cultural and social fabric to change the face of Buffalo in the eyes of others, but most important, in our own eyes.

Roosevelt Square could be a pretty awesome place. Instead it's an embarrassing place. Turn those buildings on the SE side into mixed use and clean up the square; make it more user friendly. That Louie's has been vacant for as long as I can remember. And how much of the Electric Tower is vacant office space? Why doesn't Iskalo put some residential in there? It would be one of the premier addresses in the city.

BTW, nice photos, Joe.

Last night was my first night (no pun intended) attending first night. I have to say I was pretty impressed. The weather certainly helped but everyone seemed to behave and the production quality was first rate. I hope some of our global visitors were there to see it and If so I hope they left with a better impression of our city than what some have been saying. At any rate it was fun and I'm glad I finally attended first night!

Nah. From the Field Guide to Buffalo's Armchair Planners.

Allentown Alan and Elmwood Emma

Also known as: Elmwoodians, Elmwoodies

Number: somewhat common in certain areas, very rare outside of the city limits.

Age: early 20s to late 30s.

Place of residence: north of downtown, east of Richmond, south of Delaware Park, west of Main, with a few honorary members near Hertel Avenue and in University Heights.

Occupation: graphic design, coffee shop owner, bike courier, anything related to the liberal arts.

Planning experience: read Mark Goldman's books, knows who Jane Jacobs and Richard Florida are, took a couple of geography or planning classes at Buff State or UB before deciding to major in English.

Reads: Buffalo Rising, Artvoice, Buffalo Beast, bad poetry zines, posters on light poles.

Usually sighted at: Panos (despite their feelings on the demolition of 1089 Elmwood), The Towne, Mykonos, Spot Coffee, poetry slams.

Armchair planner beliefs and quotes:
* Elmwood Avenue would be a much cooler place if there was a massive rezoning, allowing all those unnecessary houses along the street to be occupied by even more coffee houses and consignment shops.
* Most of Buffalo's woes are due to the Kensington Expressway, the suburban location of the UB North Campus, and the Amherst Industrial Development Agency.
* Chain stores and restaurants are bad, bad, bad! Well, except for cool chains that they desperately want to come to Buffalo, like Ikea, Trader Joe's, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, H&M, Whole Foods ("Wegmans is better, though.") Chipotle, World Market ...
* Main Street in downtown, Broadway, and Grant Street are actually viable locations for upscale retail stores, and Ikea will jump at a Buffalo location long before they open stores in Denver, Cleveland, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Kansas City, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Raleigh, Columbus ...
* Bufalo's extremely cheap housing is an asset, not the indicator of lack of demand.
* It really doesn't matter what happens outside of the West Side.

Quotes:
* "The old Aud would be a perfect location for an Ikea store."
* "The old Latina's Supermarket would be a perfect location for an Ikea store."
* "The empty lot next to Pano's would be a perfect location for an Ikea store"
* "They should build a Crate and Barrel at the corner of Broadway and Fillmore."

What they're doing to help: responding to blog posts, actually living in the city and patronizing its businesses.

Best defense against attack: tell them their poetry sucks and watch them freeze up and cry, play 97 Rock on a boombox within hearing distance, tell them there's a rumor that Benderson Development is going to build an Applebee's at Elmwood and Forest and watch their heads explode.

Also from the Guide:

Booster Bill and Patriot Patricia

Also known as: Buffaholics, Loganberry Drinkers

Number: not very common, but very visible and vocal.

Age: early 20s to mid 50s.

Place of residence: mostly in the city and the first ring suburbs, although the suburban members of the group are often in the closet about their location.

Occupation: finance, marketing, publishing, economic development.

Planning experience: Mark Goldman, Jane Jacobs, Richard Florida and other urban pundits? Too negative. They have some economic development and Buffalo history-related classes in college to their credit, though.

Reads: Buffalo Spree, Buffalo Rising, Buffalo News, Buffalo CVB publications, and any of the books on Cynthia Van Ness's (excellent) Buffalo Fiction list.

Usually sighted at: mostly the same places as Allentown Alan and Elmwood Emma, but not afraid to venture beyond the West Side and North Buffalo ... because all of the Niagara Frontier is fantastic! Difficult to find outdoors on Friday nights, because most retreat to dumpy but "real" taverns for the obligatory fish fry.

Armchair planner beliefs and quotes:
* Every aspect of Buffalo -- food, schools, people, architecture, music, weather, natural surroundings, and urban environment -- is far superior to that of every other metropolis in North America. Everything about Buffalo is also more "real", too; it's not "fake", "corporate" or "plastic" as in places that actually have a growing population.
* Taxes, weather, de-industrialization, white flight, blue-collar attitudes and corrupt politics are just exaggerated excuses for Buffalo's alleged malaise. Buffalo's biggest problem: it's collective low self-esteem. If locals only knew how great the area was, and how awful everyplace else is, Buffalo's potential would be unlimited.
* The key to Buffalo's revitalization: it's great as it is! Look out, though, when those tired of sanitized, plastic, fake and placeless cities finally discover the Niagara Frontier, the last outpost of "authenticity" in the country.
* Also Buffalo's savior: smooth-flowing traffic. It's not an indicator of a struggling economy, but rather outstanding transportation planning.
* All those things common to other cities and regions that are lacking in the Buffalo area, such as dog parks, upscale chain stores and restaurants, weekly free alternative newspapers, lifestyle centers, eclectic cuisines, new urbanist development, smart growth, form-based zoning with design review, and expanding light rail transit systems? Just "fee-yads" that will make Buffalo seem just like sterile, placeless Phoenix or Raleigh if they come to the region.
* Brain drain, expanding urban prairie, ethnic insularity, racially segregated neighborhoods, Members Only jackets and Zubaz, machine politics, a tiny black middle class, high property taxes, depressed real estate values, flipping, and a large elderly population? Well, some other places have some of those problems, too.
* Chain stores and restaurants are bad, bad, bad! Except for Wegmans, Anderson's, Teds, Mighty Taco, Bagel Jay's, Hoagie Brothers, Mike's Giant Subs, John and Mary's, Valu, Hector's Hardware ...

Quotes:
* "There's plenty of jobs in Buffalo! If you can't find work, you aren't looking hard enough. People that move down south for work are just lazy and weak. Besides, Charlotte's fakeness and 120% humidity will eventually push them back."
* "You can't shovel a hurricane or an earthquake!"
* "Why do you need supermarkets like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods? They're overrated. Besides, Feel-Rite Market is much better. It's also authentic, and has more character than those overpriced yuppie chains."
* "It took me three hours to drive a mile on the Perimeter in Atlanta at midnight, but I can drive from Lewiston to Orchard Park in twenty minutes during rush hour!"

What they're doing to help: keeping the Talking Proud! campaign alive 25 years after it officially ended, making the city's problems worse by completely ignoring them.

Best defense against attack: forget it. They have an answer for everything. Right-wing radio talk show hosts, Pyongyang tour guides and Linux fanboys take their lessons from these guys.

Well, if we want to talk about lists, Buffalo made the top 7 [#4] for cities loosing population at alarming rates. Check it out.

Top 10 traits of a Buffalo Rising Troll/ City Hater-

1. Blame Buffalo first, never mind the facts. Concentrated poverty is the fault of the city, our citizens and leaders. The suburbs have successfully kept the poor out, why can't Buffalo follow their example?

2. Point out the "success" of the more affluent suburbs, if they can do it with their large tax base and middle class population then why can't Buffalo do the same in a city where 1/3 of the population lives in poverty?

3. Beat up on city schools, disregard the fact that school performance is directly related to the demographic of the district. Why can't Buffalo just "man up" and force these kids to learn?

4. Blame preservationists for all our troubles. Even though preservation has been the dominant force driving reinvestment and growth in the city we need to keep attacking them with uninformed opinions and outright lies.

5. Call anyone with hope or committment to our city a dreamer, pollyanna, or just a naive fool. Ignore the fact that it is these very people that have done the most to improve Buffalo.

6. Point out how much better other cities are compared to Buffalo. Cherry pick just the parts that support your argument.

7. Make veiled references to the problem of "black people", you know, "those people" that have all the opportunities and advantages but still fail to succeed. Ignore history or even the racism we all know still exists. Point out that is is all their fault, we had nothing to do with it, after all we elected a black president so racism is dead.

8. Complain about taxes and how much goes to the poor, ignore the fact that spending on poverty is chump change. We need a common enemy and the poor are easy to blame, don't let facts get in the way.

9. Shout "tear it down" anytime a building is threataned. Demolition has done wonders to our city, all that open space is so much more useful and productive than those "derelict" old buildings.

10. Finally, always hold our elected officals and citizens of Buffalo responsible for the problems we have. Don't ever bring up the history of regional planning or government policies that negatively impacted Buffalo. This is just playing the "victim", instead suck it up and admit that we in Buffalo are just losers with nobody to blame but ourselves.

Childish

How did an article about a great New Year's celebration turn into a BR blogger hate channel? Also seems a little hypocritical to bash the BR bashers, does it not?
I think 2011 will be a great year for Buffalo, and why not start it out with some positive posts...

Oh God, here comes that aging hippie liberal douche, we better get out of here before we have to hear his bitching!!

BTW, I blame George W. Bush for all that is wrong with Buffalo Rising.

What in God's name is wrong with all of you people?

Buffalo is dying. Attempting to raise expectations with the opening of another
bar/restaurant, a few more units of living space for yuppies, is ridiculous.

Celebrate the slow cancerous death of our town! We are dying!

Let's party!!!