Buffalo Rising Online

In one way its wonderful that we are bringing many out of towners to our city and in another it is very unfortunate because we still haven't done enough downtown to make the tourist experience a positive one. I work downtown and love to work down here but its so obvious that downtown has very little life to it. No retail to speak of and little to do but find some restaurants and bars. Honestly we are negatively advertising ourselves in a way because it taks so long to get things changed and developed around here. There is no way to sugarcoat the fact that downtown is a very inactive place and frankly looks dead. Our downtown is way to quiet for a regional center of 1 mil people.

This region has suffered for many years with having a negative perception outside of the area. Buffalo has become fodder for comics and yes I think it is not the best idea to reinforce those ideas with people from out of town. We may have a number of assets in this community and I think probably one of the best collections of architecture of all cities its size but our assets are scattered all over the place and tourists who dont know one area of the city from another probably will not be so inclined to travel up Elmwood to the Albright Knox. Many of our assets are of local interest only and really do not cater to a national audience. These fans will be here for a basketball tournament DOWNTOWN and are likely staying DOWNTOWN! With that said I doubt they know the difference between Elmwood or Chippewa or Hertel and I think we are blind if we think they do. Who is going to venture to the Buffalo Zoo at this time of year and if they do what sort of experience will they have up there? The zoo is changing for the positive but still does not look like a vastly improved attraction. Until it doesnt look like yet another worn out venue I wouldnt say its that great of an attraction. Have you gone to other zoo's in this country? Try the Dallas Zoo and Aquarium sometime and tell me that our Zoo is really all that great. This town has to clean up and shape up if it wants to legitimately believe it can create a positrive experience for its tourists. Its great to bring people here but you also have to entertain them and inform them of our resources and how to get to them and their hours of operation. Never once did I say that its embarrassing to have good culturals and historic stuff. How about entertainment value though? If a show is going in the theater district you might catch one or maybe a concert here or there but otherwise downtown closes and you should know this. Downtown goes dead at night unless you want to tell tourists that there's nothing else to do downtown but get trashed on Chippewa. I love Chippewa dont get me wrong but the place many of these fans are staying downtown needs more than drinking establishments and architecture to make their experience a positive one and believe me when i say a negative experience speaks much louder than a positive one. How many hustlers will be pushing out of town fans for money downtown? Its often hard to see a security presence downtown even during the day.

We had an opportunity to get a hotel and the chance of bringing out of towners to stay on the Elmwood Strip near BuffState but we as a people killed that project also. I think you have to actually have lodging in these non-downtown areas to effectively bring people to them. Downtown has the lodging but not the other amenities necessary. As a tourist staying downtown you are left to fend for yourself downtown after 5pm because the vast majority of downtown clears out leaving it a sad desolate place. It can be a frightful place if you're not sure you are secure either. I cant tell you how many times I have left downtown around 6pm from work and seen out of towners by themselves walking the streets down here alone with a slightly frightened look on their eyes because no one is around.

Believe me when I say I love this town. I just get bothered by things that go on here and wish for so much better here because I see so much potential not being tapped for man y years now. i hear alot of talk and still dont see action. I see projects nearly get off the ground only to be killed by financial crisis or political bickering or lawsuits from special interests. It can be awefully humbling to see other regions of this country flourish and see our economy not even be impacted by upswings or downswings, its like we're not part of anything. I am sure that people who can come here can have a great time! I think it is possible but only likely if the places they visit are preselected and guests are toured around the area. My big concern here is with those on a budget, those college students that might take a treck up here in their cars and stay in a local hotel. I doubt they have people touring them around the area. They probably go exploring and I am concerned that they won't like what they see and the next thing we have is a situation where another generation of people get a bad view of our city and spread it once again over the land. Yes Buffalo is a great place and I believe it has one of the best qualities of life there is but I worry about the message we send to those just passing by with no direction, those just in town to check the game and the town.

If we are to bring the Chippewa experience to our out of town college guests then I suggest that everything be open on the Chippewa strip during these events. Many times some of our venues are not open during week nights and it would be such a shame to keep our Chippewa entertainment locked up away from our guests Thursday night.