EricOak

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• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  Yes, I am with you on that. Well said....
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  Good points. I hate stats, so I'm glad you did the work!...
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  You know, you should read Black Rock Lifer's comments; he captures the lyricism and meaning of a beautiful and antique city like Buffalo better than I...that's what you seem deaf to in this entire thread. No one argues that Buffalo,...
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  With respect, that seems a disingenuous reply to Whatever's thoughtful question. Except for potholes and traffic, you like everything about LA. Everything? Imagine if I said that about Buffalo. I try not to criticize places unless I really know them,...
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  I agree with you on many points: parochial leadership, lack of vision, and unforgiving demographic shocks have wounded, possibly permanently, Buffalo's health. I'm all for reality. But unlike you and this video, I think that acknowledging the vertigo decline in...
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  Thanks...I miss some of the more thoughtful posters too, like you....
• Commented on Buffalo For Real For Real
  It's awkward to throw a flag on the field when you share someone's passion for the city, but this video violates a lot of truths about Buffalo -- at the same time that it nails maybe a few of them....
• Commented on AIER Names 75 Best College Towns and Cities for 2012-2013
  "The urban poor dont interact with the wealthy because the wealthy mostly moved away...far away." No, this is plain wrong. Wealthy Buffalonians did not, in general, leave the city as they did in many other cities (Cleveland, e.g.). Much of...
• Commented on 196 Soldiers Place: Canadians Offer Half-Off Sale
  Yes, many factors enter the equations for growth, but one can't be blind to how curtailed property tax rates were critical in sparking Boston's moribund economy on the late 70s. The are eight actual universities in the Boston metro area...and...
• Commented on 196 Soldiers Place: Canadians Offer Half-Off Sale
  Well said....
• Commented on 196 Soldiers Place: Canadians Offer Half-Off Sale
  Thanks for the link to the WSJ article, which is illuminating. Most people do not realize that Boston had higher poverty levels than Buffalo in 1970, and that its decline in manufacturing was even more precipitous than Buffalo's. Many factors...
• Commented on Found Object
  -->: "Anyhow, postwar Buffalo was a conservative city; not necessarily politically, but its collective mindset. "Staid" is a good adjective to describe the zeitgeist of Buffalo during the era." This is partly true of the architectural mood but not true...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  I wish I could agree with you, Dan, but thanks for being reasonable. I just don't see why we can't let cities be different from each other. Really different. That's what I find baffling about your assessment of Buffalo life....
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  That's a nice comment....
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  When OKCupid is your barometer for meaning, you might fail to notice the rest of life that goes on....
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  I was trying to enlarge the scope a little, but that doesn't go over well here. Also, there might be more to the livability equation than life without a car--as a young person noted in this thread: "There is no...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  But what you said was unfair. I never disparaged Austin or Portland--I respect them no more or less than any other city. I just don't care for them. I like certain cities: New Orleans, Charleston, Portland, Maine, Washington DC, Buffalo,...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  Steel--I think that's unfair. I'm a trustee of Preservation Buffalo Niagara. I work to stop demolition for parking. I'm here to fight for Buffalo. I'm happy you like Portland, but I simply prefer Buffalo. What is blind about that? And...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  Actually, I thought it was rather austere. When I see provinciality masquerading as sophistication, I will call it out from here to thy kingdom come. You trumpet the yearnings of "millenials" for some "lifestyle": what is this fabled life? What...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  Well said....
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  What does grit have to do with the deep catalog of cultural assets in Buffalo? If the tech savvy date-hungry guy or gal is too stupid or provincial to enjoy those offerings in Buffalo, who is to blame? Let them...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  This post makes almost no sense. Pizza and Queen Anne houses? Are you serious?...
• Commented on Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For
  The Buffalo old money never left the city, unlike Cleveland's, which deserted it. In Buffalo (and Pittsburgh), the suburbs and the country were for second homes...not for primary residence, with some exceptions. By the way, there is still polo in...
• Commented on Buffalo, New York: The Best Maligned Place
  A stale, cliche-soaked and inaccurate piece about Buffalo....
• Commented on A Lost Delaware Park General Plan Has Been Found
  No, you're being histrionic. In fact, the Buffalo park system is studied by people from outside because it is the first interconnected Olmsted park design in the country, and arguably the finest. It's so extensive and complex that it's suffered...
• Commented on Gallery District Gets Bike-Friendly
  I didn't know there was a list of "savvy" and "less savvy" cities. Doesn't the savvy person have more compelling worries on his mind than the perfectly hip and branded label for a neighborhood? West side/ East side or uptown/downtown...
• Commented on Erie Freight House - An Alternative View
  Actually, Chicago lost 7% of its population in the last 10 years....
• Commented on Old Editions Owner Seeking New Chapter
  This is terrible news. Ron Cozzi should be lauded for his temple of calm and reflection in the city. His loyalty to the book, and especially to beautiful and rare books, is heroic. He is also a gentleman with an...
• Commented on Advancing Preservation in Buffalo's Cradle of Preservation
  Very enjoyable article--thanks! And thanks to Child and Family Services and especially to Rob Sonberg for their superb judgement in restoring this home. They are heroes....
• Commented on Then and Now: This thing was golden.
  Very well said. As you make clear, this part of the article offers a narrow understanding of what urban life was like in Buffalo in the 70s: "The city had little to no culture of urbanism, and the development community...