Buffalo Rising Online

Through some web wizardry, you should have the little pictures of the buildings on the map above link to the stories, because I have no idea what's what

I'm glad to finally see MODERN looks come to this out dated City.

It is so outdated you spend all day reading about it and commenting on it

I think these investments are indicative of a change in attitude about Western NY and Buffalo especially about the city. That is more important than 1,000 new people moving into the city or 10,000 int the county. Where perceptions change so does word of mouth and investment momentum. Golf course talk about hometowns, cost of living can go a long wait to changing where someones lives and invests their capital.

Everyone spoke as though the suburbs were the end all and be all to development and life in American cities for 40+ years now. Having even just a fraction of that attitude and development shift back in the city and in downtown would carry more weight to putting Buffalo back on the map than anything else.

Things of the huge amounts of money, time, effort and spending power that go into Transit, Niagara Falls Blvd and all the other huge commercial districts in the area. Go to the Galleria and watch the hoards of people spending hundreds of dollars and you realize this region isn't poor or even hurting but simple spread to thin to sustain itself.

Great post WCP.

Here's the deal.....Buffalo can have new developments and investments throughout the city and thats all well and good, however the change, and I mean real economic development change, is going to come from concentrated investment areas like Delaware Ave.

I would argue that Delaware Ave. is the hottest spot in Buffalo right now. Unlike Main, Delaware has cars and easy access and unlike Chippewa, Delaware has room to grow (see large building rehabs and surface parking lots). And of course in Delaware's favor is it historically prestigous address and connection with Niagara Square.

Watch out this is only the beginning for Delaware.

PS Can't wait to see a developer tackle the surface lots between Huron and Mohawk across from the New Era HQ. I think ground floor retail would complement the New Era store well and extend the good things going on on Chippewa.

Three more years nonon....once I get vested in my pension. But thanks for being concerned!

why should you give a f*ck where WCP lives. despite the fact he's 3000miles away he's still the best source for development in this city by far.

unless he really IS rocco termini...

Good article, cool map. Although at least one of the “planned” items (City Tower) is in more of a “proposed” state from what I’ve read about it. (True?) To me, something isn’t “planned” until a formal announcement of its go-ahead, and then becomes “underway” once construction starts.

We may not be growing at the rate we want

there is still zero net gain of people

Those are too polite. The “gain” has been negative for quite a while. Buffalo metro area and (especially) Buffalo city have both have been shrinking population in absolute terms, and both are dropping in population rankings at among the faster rates of any comparably sized city or metro in the nation. Nobody has a crystal ball, but I don’t see any changes in root causes as I perceive them - so I’d predict such trends to continue for a while, maybe a long while. It’s getting to the point where it’s like the weather – just a given, so accept it and find silver linings where possible (cheap real estate, short commutes, no 100 deg days, no hurricanes).

But really, in this article WCP does not claim anything about growth – only that the downtown Delaware Ave corridor is experiencing a nice revitalization.

All this can be true at the same time. People who claim the city in general is revitalizing are overstating things in the positive direction as much as are people who say it’s dead are overstating in the negative. But that doesn’t mean some neighborhoods or corridors within it aren’t improving nicely, even if the whole continues a decline.

People may not be moving back yet but you've got to give some weight to the hefty investments. Combined (Delaware, Waterfront, Flower District/Chippewa, Allentown, Elmwood, upscale housing gallore, medical campus... etc.), I actually think they're not too far from a 'crystal ball'. The more places that keep popping up-- especially as they develop into concentrated neighborhoods-- the more this place can keep/attract people.

It took me at least 4 years to realize Buffalo was on the upswing, but I was probably an easy sell-- not fully aware of the reputation when I came. The hard part is getting to all those people who only know it as the place it was 10-20 years ago.

Regarding WCP, I like his contributions. Not everyone is willing to put Buffalo as the top priority in their life, myself included. We have to help keep pushing/supporting development here so it becomes a given that everyone wants to stay here. I could only hope to live up to the standard for out-of-town Buffalo advocate that WCP has set when I leave.

Of course you realize, even with the redevelopment of a building here and there, the level of downtown redevelopment here still compares unfavorably with say Detroit Michigan. But it's better than it has been. Just because we're in last place doesn't mean it's hopeless. Let's go buffffalllooooo!!!!!

So where are the NEW Jobs coming from? All I'm reading about are people moving from the burbs, other parts of the city or Niagara Falls to Downtown Buffalo. So where are the NEW Jobs????? How is this really Progress?

it doesn't all come at once, rickyrick

WCP just amazes me..........He's way out there someplace and is far more plugged in to Buffalo than I am - and I live right here at the northern edge of the area he is writing about. He makes me feel positively disconnected !!

So what if the county shrinks population and settles at a new figure?

Can not those that remain make something great out of what they have? And if they do, why do some still feel the need to piss all over it? It may even becoming something others, even outsiders want to invest in......

Yet, instead of doing the hard work to lay this foundation, most of us around here rather sit at our keyboards while we wait for someone else to come, pull a majic wand out of thier butt, and wave it around to instanlty bring 100,000 more people and jobs here. Hope that works out for you. Its very gratifying to root for failure, when you yourself are probably adding to it.....

Without a growth in population, your only going to have more vacant buildings as no new people can fill them. Build new and leave the old, or keep the old and forget the new? It's what you are faced with right now till you get better officials in office, change in attitudes, and GET THINGS DONE for a change , instead of just talking about them and doing "studies"....You'd think that after 50+ years of studies in Buffalo, you'd be a very high tech productive city by now.......but then again, look at your public school system and I'm not surprised of the city's failer to move forward.

with those NEW so called jobs, they're are still companys Leaving, shutting down completly. So you really aren't growing in the job market, your staying in a stand still.

Sally is obviously correct about the Buffalo metro area: net jobs growth does occur here. But seemingly it's always below that of the average U.S. metro and over time this effect compounds and the result is for many fields career growth opportunities become much greater in many other places.

That does not mean Buffalo sucks, nor does it mean that it’s impossible for many people to thrive here.

Ricky might be correct if he’s claiming jobs are decreasing in Buffalo (the city, not the metro area), but I’m not aware of a way to know that for sure. Maybe Sally does.

So what if the county shrinks population... ?

I think MJ’s comment is on the right track with saying we need to just accept our trends in population counts and rankings as unavoidable.

But reasons some people keep mentioning those trends is not always to piss on other people's attitudes, but to counter what they perceive sometimes as baseless exaggerated cheerleading from others about some big supposed turnaround. Or to put into perspective some cherry-picked stats that others play up. Sometimes it's very relevant for a particular issue, such as that why a lot of housing demolitions are needed, or to explain why Retailer X doesn't want to put a store here.

And some also occasionally discuss population or jobs trends as part of making a case that “things need to change” politically to improve the area’s desirability to businesses. In my view, bringing it up for that reason is pointless since those kinds of political changes just aren’t going to happen in our lifetimes because most voters around here and statewide agree with the anti-business policies and don’t want them changed.

Sally your use of statistics is really improving - bravo! One correction however, local employment in financial services increased by 1,300 over that period not 3,100 which was the figure for health services. Of the 5,100 increase in total non-farm employment in the Buffalo area - total private sector employment increased by 2,700 jobs.

Sources: http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforceindustrydata/index.asp?reg=wny http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforceindustrydata/Pressreleases/prtbjd.txt

Jim Kelly vs. JP Losman...I'd have to give the nod to Kelly, he's a proven winner....