While Buffalo is excelling in a number of growth categories, including waterfront development, grassroots activism, community bootstrapping, large industry growth (medical, green, tech) and population stabilization, this city still needs to get its act together when it comes to small business handlings.
We’ve seen it time and time again, over many, many years – small businesses that feel that they were more burdened than helped upon opening their doors (and keeping them open). In the past, the City has threatened to create a small business liaison division within its tangled bureaucratic web of license and permit departments, to no avail. Unfortunately Buffalo is not alone when it comes to getting bad grades in small business relations. NY State also ranks low in the small business department. The following was submitted by a BRO reader:
Some of the key findings for Buffalo include:
- Buffalo earned a grade of F for its overall friendliness to small business (see here). Also see here for a breakdown.
- Buffalo received the lowest grades in the country when it came to the ease of starting a new business and the ease of hiring new workers.
- Buffalo stood out for the number of small businesses who found local government websites easy to use, rating 3rd best in the country for this category.
- Buffalo was the least friendly city in New York State, finishing behind Rochester (grade of B), New York City (C+), and Albany (C grade).
- New York earned a D+ for its friendliness towards small businesses, and was the 7th least friendly state in the country.
- The top rated cities overall were Colorado Springs, Boise, Houston, Austin, and Louisville. The lowest rated were Sacramento, Providence, Buffalo, Bridgeport, and San Diego.
So Buffalo Rising readers, if you could change the way that the City and the State handle small business dealings, what would you start with? At this point, something’s gotta give.
It should be as easy to conduct small business in Buffalo, as it is to knock down historically significant buildings. Where are our priorities?