This is MJWorthington’s answer to this story: http://www.buffalorising.com/story/on_the_market_west_village_con
SBROF: “Yesterday, 15:35. I don’t think anyone who actually lives in Buffalo thinks it is perfect. There are plenty of things that are negative (just like anywhere) but Heather, while making some valid points also makes some not so valid points. If everyone from Buffalo moved out of the city… then the problems would just move with them.
The invisible boundary that makes up the difference between the city and suburb are not going to stop problems from moving and somehow things that by either tearing down buildings or moving away solves anything is fool hardy. The problem with the city stems from poverty and education. What happens when 180 thousand impoverished, many uneducated, people moved somewhere else in the region… The city suffers because it shares this disproportionate amount of the regions poverty.
The problem is that unlike in other more prosperous cities, we do not regionally share the burden. When cities like Toronto, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Portland etc.. absorb the new suburban growth they acquire the resources to keep the city stable. WNY suffers because people choose to vote with their feet. Move away from the problem leaving fewer people and resources to left to deal with them. What then happens is the state has to step in and try and subsidize the city’s mandated programs. This removes the accountability of politicians in the city from the people because they know that money is coming from elsewhere. This also require new churches, roads, schools, sewer, power, cable lines to be built when regionally we still have fewer and fewer people causing EVERYONE’s costs to rise.
Assuming you can afford this increase means you can move away from the problem. Those that can’t are just left behind. Again how can building new roads and utilities in the suburbs when regionally there are still fewer people be considered a good, beneficial thing. We need to STOP adding infrastructure to our region. And invest where we already have spend the money to build that. That means the city… but that also means the many of first ring suburbs that are sliding down blight road as they become less desirable. ”
Had to quote this since you said everything I was going to say and I could not do it better. There is a reason Buffalo gew first, then the first ring burbs then now the 2nd ring ones. It is not because of superior planning etc. It stems from our ability to move away from legacy issues to a nearby place with relatively few all while still getting the benefits of the old established one. No matter how many invisible lines we draw, we are still Metropolitan Buffalo/Erie County. We will have all the ills and benefits of being such a society. But deciding to plop our rear ends in one of the sweet spots does not absolve us in our role in the greater entity/system.
Having a slightly smaller county population now spread over 3x as much land will result in many vacant properties and high taxes to pay for th e infrastructue and services. Leaving all the poor and broken households in one area will exponentially breed crime and underperforming schools. If any of them do “make it” they will just follow the path of all those before them that divested and just moved out. It’s a downward avalanche that we seem to be happy running in the front of. We are lucky to have a minority of dedicated people trying to turn things around and build things back up small piece by small piece.
the east side is pretty rough all the way to the cheektowaga border now. I guess the people there can now move to Lancaster and talk about how smart Lancaster is and how it is such a shame what is happening to Cheektowaga.
And no majority here will ever vote for a single gov’t and a single mission. All the “T.O’s” just want to make sure they are getting their catches regardless of how well the team is doing. Why take the risk of the whole team prospering when its safer to just make sure “I’m still getting mine?”
Buffalo will not be 30sq miles filled to the brim again. I don’t think that is people’s point. It can be shored back up to be higher quality with a smaller number of people over a smaller area. The city eroded over 60 years due to many factors. It’s not going to turn around in 10. Especially being saddled as a subdidized problem corral for the greater metro area, a problem all old legacy cities face in the “mobile” US. Just watch your backs, as the city hollows out, there is only one direction for the “problems” to travel: outward.
