By Craig Turner:
In my role at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership (Facebook), I have developed a special affinity for family picnics. The 4th of July and Labor Day bring out the best pundits with expertise on what's wrong with the city/state/country and what they would do if they were in charge to fix it. I'm forever convinced that positive change could actually take place if we put all of my uncles in a room for one day to sort things out.
Back in the office, I have the opportunity to see first-hand the countless people in our community working tirelessly to maximize investment and job growth in our region, and know that despite what my uncles might say, there's lots of progress being made around our region. While the Partnership certainly has its role in regional development, the various players across Buffalo Niagara are getting much, much better at working together and leveraging the opportunities available to us.
But it's concerning that not everyone gets to see the same progress I do. Unfortunately, it's very easy to fall back on the old clichés - the "Buffalo lament" - instead of taking some notice of the good stuff that's happening around us. "When's the bridge going to be built?" "When's the waterfront going to be done?" "If we'd built the stadium downtown..."
Honestly. That conversation is so 2006. We need to change it.
That's where Results Roadshow comes in. It's a new series designed to bring folks to the doorstep of progress and show them what's been accomplished. Results Roadshow isn't about ideas for the future, but looking at what's done and in process.
The Results Roadshow Series highlights the "good things" happening around the Buffalo Niagara region - especially those that fly under the radar. We're starting with a three-part series to show particular progress on the Buffalo Waterfront, the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus/Academic Health Center and Downtown Niagara Falls. Each of these initiatives appeared on the Partnership's Regional Agenda prior to their implementation, and we feel it's our responsibility to showcase the newfound success of these initiatives to build greater understanding of what's happening and to recognize the numerous contributors instrumental to the success of these initiatives.
The first installment is this Thursday, June 28th, on the Buffalo Waterfront. Tom Dee, president of Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, will present a brief history on the Buffalo Waterfront and share future plans. We'll give a walking tour of progress in the inner harbor area, and finish with happy hour at the newest waterfront hang-out, Liberty Hound. Thursday at the Harbor, hosted by our partners at Buffalo Place, follows immediately after. You can learn more on our website.
I hope you'll comment below with suggestions for future installments in the series. Where else in the region is there a great story that needs to be told in more detail?
We all have our opinions on what needs to change to make our region more vibrant, keep our children from moving away and create more jobs. Join us as we recognize regional progress in the Results Roadshow - and then spend your family picnic this summer correcting your uncles on their misperceptions of what's going on in the region (like I do!).
I'm still not understanding what exactly the 'Partnership' actually does? I see other smaller groups forming to bring in new companies here and new ones to start...why is that? I thought the 'Partnership' was suppost to do that?
I don't know either, Lego.
Every company I have ever worked with has been a member of the partnership and I still don't know what they do. I've attended their events, gone to their seminars and still have no idea what their function is. The dues are expensive and every event costs a fee, which is funny -- because that means all the dues we pay are going to pay peoples salaries, so they can create events to charge people a $35 admission fee. Vicious cycle.
The only I can say for sure the BNP has ever done for me is show me how ridiculous you can look wearing a bow tie, if your head is very shiny.
I read this article three times and I don't even know what the event is. It sounds like a BNP sponsored pep talk, to keep people inspired in the Waterfront project -- even though we know there is going to be some bureaucratic red tape in our future.