Buffalo Rising Online

Hey JustAnotherGuyWithAnOpinion,

I also agree with your points. I think many people who are not on the government payroll will agree. The problem is that there are so many people on the government payroll that 'change' means moving them out of their jobs. Since only about 45% to 50% of the population votes I would guess that the majority of voters are government workers who vote to keep the same slobs in office. I've left Buffalo, I had to because there are virtually no jobs in Buffalo other than restaurants and health care. I find it comical that everyone touts this new development downtown the commercial slip as the start of the Buffalo revival. It's just a few restaurants! The only growth industry in Buffalo is restaurants. It seems people in Buffalo believe they can eat their way to a revival. Truly shortsighted and moronic but true.

Don't get me started on the new Buff State Art 'Center'. JOKE, colossal waste of money.

Hey JustAnotherGuyWithAnOpinion,

I also agree with your points. I think many people who are not on the government payroll will agree. The problem is that there are so many people on the government payroll that 'change' means moving them out of their jobs. Since only about 45% to 50% of the population votes I would guess that the majority of voters are government workers who vote to keep the same slobs in office. I've left Buffalo, I had to because there are virtually no jobs in Buffalo other than restaurants and health care. I find it comical that everyone touts this new development downtown the commercial slip as the start of the Buffalo revival. It's just a few restaurants! The only growth industry in Buffalo is restaurants. It seems people in Buffalo believe they can eat their way to a revival. Truly shortsighted and moronic but true.

Don't get me started on the new Buff State Art 'Center'. JOKE, colossal waste of money.

It was a really good show. I love the enthusiasm that these two individuals bring to Buffalo. The best part about them is that they are so involved! They probably do more for buffalo in buffalo than 3 grumpy everything is negative locals.

I agree with JustAnother on a couple issues. The government and taxes thing but at the same time it isn't our overly hopeful attitude that is holding us back from some universal truth but our ingrained negativity that has set up everything for the last 30 years to fail. Maybe if you are young someone might think there is too much positiveness around.. but for me (and I am not really that old at all) it is a great change to the constant Buffalo is going nowhere, why do you still live there, I can't wait to leave comments that I grew up around.

I can't think of 1 single time prior to 1999 where anyone ever said anything positive about Buffalo. That attitude pushes people and development away and I am thankful it is finally starting to fade away. But then again it was that constant negativity that made me question it and take a good hard look at the city for myself.. and what I found wasn't nearly as negative as people want to think.

Wow, That is a new one. First time I ever heard that having a lot of restaurants is a bad thing for a city.

Taxes should be lowered on businesses and corporations. The cost of living in Buffalo is absurdly low, therefore even with higher taxes its not that big of a deal. Living in places like New York City means paying a federal, state and city tax which is burdensome.

I think the reason a lot of them left (4 of my friends moved to the DC NOVA area in 6 months) is because there are no jobs available to young adults. If you want to make 50k and aren't a lawyer or civil servant or want an intellectually challenging position, what are you going to do? That's why I left and won't come back because I can't find a job in Buffalo.

To the last poster, everything is not as positive as you think. Buffalo has 2 condo projects going up and little room for the middle class Buffalonian to purchase property or condo space in the city. On the flip side, places like DC have 10-15 condos going up (granted a different environment in terms of jobs/location/etc.) but is only 2x as big as Buffalo. There are real problems here that the condos at Gates Circle don't solve.

There are multiple solutions to the problems that plague the city, but justanotherguy is right. Something major needs to be done and until it is, the city will stagnate.

Hey Steel,

Have you worked in a restaurant? I have. It's not a glamorous life, it takes a terrible toll on the body and the pay is crap unless it's fine dining.

You've missed the point completely. Usually restaurants follow growth just like the arts, it doesn't spawn growth.

A lot of you guys come on here equating BRO's positive outlook with denial of Buffalo's problems. That is simply not the case as evidenced by the two people interviewed here. BRO is spotlighting positive things that have long been ignored in Buffalo. Politics changes very slowly. Especially in NYS. Does that mean everyone should give up? Or perhaps a little light can be shined on the positive aspects of the community that people are willing to fight for?

So many people in Buffalo have focused so heavily on the negative in WNY that this in itself has added to the local stagnation. Bucky offers a convenient example of this. To say that an abundance of restaurants is a sign of how bad off the area is plain absurd. He says that restaurants follow growth and yet uses restaurants as an example of how bad off Buffalo is. Which is itBucky?

When you hear the constant drone that this or that can not be done in Buffalo what do you think the result will be? People like Allen and George are not buying the line that it can't be done in Buffalo.

By the way Washington DC is 5 times bigger than Buffalo (not 2) and is fueled by massive federal government and lobbying industry money. If you lump in Baltimore (which is common now) the metro is 8 times bigger than Buffalo.

DC has 588k population vs the city of buffalo at 292k. Do some research before telling me its 5x bigger. You want to include NOVA? Then it may be bigger but then you'd technically have to include buffalo, niagara falls and canada as part of a true metropolitan area to make an equal comparison. Baltimore doesn't even come close to DC in terms of DC metro population. If we count Baltimore, then Buffalo gets Toronto.

No real argument on where the jobs come from, but there is a booming private industry here as well. Buffalo would do well to encourage investment with huge tax breaks that impede companies from locating here.

Maybe it can be done but no one is using the proper methods to do it. These community activists, people who write the blogs, appear on radio shows etc. are doing a great service to Buffalo but have no real power. Go run for office or start a company that can materially impact the city. Until people with real power feel this way, nothing gets done.

As an aside, I love how BR doesn't cover Issa after making him their poster child as his company slowly falls apart like his track record proved before. Its not positive for Buffalo but it helps to update the truth behind an issue. Just another failed vision by another scam artist.

DC Metro population (the only population measure that is meaningful) is over 5 Million to Buffalo's 1.1M (w/o canada). DC and Baltimore are often lumped together as one metro these days because of massive suburban growth and cross commuting between them. That would be over 8M. I don't need to do any more research because that is what is. If you insist on judging a city's economic importance on the city population alone you will be forced to make silly statements such as Jacksonville Florida is bigger and more important than Boston. Including Toronto in metro Buffalo is silly as well.

I am curious StevenP, what field are you in as a profession?

First of all, we were comparing city populations, not metro regional areas. I even stated that conditions were different. By city population, DC is 2x as big. You stated 5x, which was incorrect. If you include Baltimore it IS 8x as big. But what you fail to recognize is that Baltimore has little impact on DC growth/condo projects. They may classify it as DC metro, but no one here thinks of it in that manner. Very few people live in Baltimore and work in DC and vice versa (I've never met anyone who has done this). The original argument was that despite the Buffalo being mid-size, there is clearly a failure of some manner that is stalling development. Buffalo's size should not hinder it as cities that are similar in size have faced similar problems in the past can rebound. City government facing Buffalo's problems have solved them. People in Baltimore didn't solve the vacancy crisis in mid town.

DC used to be disgusting. Vacant houses were a huge problem. Crime is still awful here in some parts. The private sector wasn't exactly clamoring to be here. Sounds like Buffalo is facing similar problems. How did DC get rid of its vacancy problems? How did they make NW dc and Dupont circle an ideal place to live? How did the attract private sector investment?

Lessons can clearly be learned from cities that aren't enormous that have managed to regenerate themselves. Did the federal government help? Absolutely. Did the federal government spend its way to regenerate DC? Absolutely not. There were some great initiatives here by the city government that helped to solve similar problems Buffalo is facing.

I currently work with a trade organization in DC. I couldn't find this job anywhere but probably 5 cities in the US. I was open to finding a job in Buffalo, but as a student with an M.A. in liberal arts, the job market isn't exactly hot unless you want to work in local government. I didn't come here to be a lobbyist, I found that I was able to be employed as such.

Pointing out the existence of Buffalo's attributes does not by itself deny the existence of problems. Do you enjoy listening to the constant kvetching of a coworker about how"Bad" they have it? Then you have the others who really have problems in their life, but still can talk about the good times they do have. Crime rate does not negate the existence of a summer evening watching the Bisons, and an evening at Shea's does not make the vacant housing situation disappear. Enjoy the positives, identify and take action to alleviate the negatives. Or, you could just sit back, piss and moan, do nothing. Your choice.

I worked in DC for 5 years and my anectdotal experience was that about 20% of the people in my office commuted from Baltimore or suburbs of Baltimore. Some were priced out of DC. Others hated all the negative connotations of living in the bubble. And that was 15 years ago. Withe growth in population, the rising costs and the better transportation options I'd imagine the number of people living in Balmer and commuting to Dc could be even higher.

Trying to compare Buffalo and DC is impossible. The demographics aren't now, nor were they ever ,similar. A Buffalo Baltimore comparison is better though Baltimore benefits from its proximity to DC. My hunch is that Buffalo would do the same from Toronto were the two cities not in diifferent countries.

When comparing populations though, you have to use the MSA. There is far too much variance in the size of cities and the rights of annexation to use a stand alone city population instead of the entire urbanized area as a gauge of size/growth/GDP etc.

Agree somewhat with texpat10, but my line of thinking is that city gov't in DC took the initiative to find buyers for vacant houses and solve crime problems. The people in Fairfax and Baltimore didn't give a crap about that even if they are considered as the MSA. All I'm saying is that despite the smallish size of DC proper, they tackled these problems through a city wide effort for change. Therefore, the MSA size should be looked at after as afterthought to the initiatives undertaken by the city.