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Welcome to Buffalo
By Phil | June 14, 2008
So, I ran into someone I can only describe as a person who once drank at the same bar as I did, at least as frequently as I did. I wouldn’t even call this person a casual acquaintance. Truth be told, I struggle to remember her name. We were just people who on several occasions in the mid 90’s had drunken conversations due to nothing more than proximity. After the usual how’ve you beens, she informed me that she’s moving to Austin, Texas because she’s finally accepted that Buffalo is a dying city. I told her she’d miss it here, and she replied, no, she won’t. I then suggested that some of us fine Buffalonians think the problem is not that people are leaving because Buffalo is dying, rather Buffalo is dying because people are leaving. Chicken, egg. Egg, chicken.
Naturally I’ve been mulling over this nonsense ever since. I sit here, in a town I’ve hardly ever left, adamantly standing my ground in the second poorest city in the nation, drinking the Kool-Aid that Others Like Me are happy to poor. Buffalo NY is one of the worst managed, heavily taxed, hopelessly decaying cities in the country. Opportunities are slim (hence the paradox above), so the brain drain continues. Aside from very small pockets of prosperity, neighborhoods are collapsing in on themselves– literally. HUD grants are funneled not into the communities that need it, but into building luxury loft apartments which, while admittedly will help revitalize downtown, are just lining the pockets of their investors. The public school system is deplorable, in many cases horribly outdated, woefully understaffed and underfunded. The mayor is inaccessible and either blind to the plight or ridiculously naive.
And I love it here. Like some glutton for punishment, I stay.
I love it for the usual reasons. The architecture. The change of seasons (yes, I hate winter, but without winter, you never have that incredible first spring day of the year, the first day you can drive with the windows rolled down listening to the Housemartins). The Sabres. The people. The history. But I love it for less obvious, less Buffalo Chamber of Commerce approved reasons. I love that you can walk into any restaurant, order a meal, and know you’re taking some home with you because the portions are freaking ridiculous. I love that on the worst day, barring roadwork or a sporting event, you might sit in traffic for five minutes, tops. I love that I can walk out my front door and in five minutes be on one of the most vibrant city streets in the country, with nearly every type of food and drink, live band, and a few renown museums to choose from. I love that in winter months, you never know when the lake might decide the city needs to shut down for a few days and everyone needs to stay home and drink whiskey.
Most of all, I love the mindset– the cynicism, the inherent waiting for the other shoe to fall. I love the sense that we’re all kind of screwed, and therefore we’re in this together. You don’t get that in NYC or Toronto, or Boston. You don’t have that unspoken understanding that we’ve been dealt a lousy hand, but we’re better for making the most of it.
The easy thing is to leave. And as a parent, it might come to that someday– if not for me, certainly for my son. But right now, I want to be part of the solution, not contributing to the problem. If I can make a living and provide for my family, I want to stay. What will make that easier for me, and for people like me, is for Buffalo to realize that there isn’t going to be a panacea. Nothing will suddenly turn Buffalo back into the prosperous boom town that it was when people actually needed the Erie canal and had no choice but to go through this city. We need lower expectations. Buffalo needs to invest in its people. New York State needs to rethink the taxes and regulations that stop businesses from investing here. City Hall needs to apply some common sense to addressing the poverty and crime in the lower west and east sides (see http://pushbuffalo.org to see what at least one organization is doing to kill two birds with one stone– address the abandoned houses on the west side and make home ownership possible for people who wouldn’t otherwise even dare to dream it). Lastly, we need to play to our strengths and stop allowing the destruction of our architecture and heritage, because believe it or not, if you allow a building to stand, people will come to see it. And stay in a hotel. And eat. And spend money.
And for Christ’s sake, the last thing we need is another casino.
More if you’re interested:
http://www.buffalohistoryworks.com/
http://www.wrightnowinbuffalo.com/
Topics: Phil, Randomly Useless |
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June 15th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Phil,
I enjoyed your observations. Nice blog.
My sensibilities on economic issues are generally more conservative leaning then yours I think. I agree with you on casinos, but our public schools are underfunded???
How many times should we experiment with record breaking public education budgets before we conclude that money isn’t the problem or the solution?
Ok, here is my solution. I even explained this recently to Dr. James Williams. I hope I wasn’t the one who made him feel like leaving town! Let’s negotiate with the state teacher’s union, offer them their entire $22,000,000,000.00 (two billion) annual budget plus annual cost of living increases to stay home. They win! That’s ok with me. It can be our little slice of socialism. I would then create a parallel budget less than half that size and spend it to oversee a privitization of our public school system. A stipulation in the settlement with the teacher’s union would be that the privatized education system would either be union free, or it would partner with multiple, truly competing unions. I think unions in general can be part of the 21’st century as long as their monopolies are broken up and they become motivated by competition.
I agree with you that fixing education would help fix all of the remaining problems in Buffalo.
Howard
http://www.BuffaloBloviator.wnymedia.net
http://www.MaryKunzGoldman.com
June 15th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Thanks for reading my random thoughts, I appreciate the comments. Your proposal to Dr. Williams sounds like a great plan, I’m sure folks are beating down your door to take you up on it!
I am admittedly not an economist, and based my statements regarding the budget on stories I’ve heard from parents and a friend who worked as a teacher in the system for several years.I know I have a lot of research ahead of me as my son gets older. I think you’re probably right, I’m likely more liberal about such things, but I also don’t always think you solve a problem by throwing more money at it.
June 15th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I’m listening to the Housemartins with my windows rolled down and missing Buffalo. Now that is something I never thought I’d say.
June 16th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I started missing Buffalo while still driving the moving van back to Michigan.
I would MUCH rather live in Buffalo than here. But having monthly paychecks bigger than what I made in a full quarter year back in Buffalo … kinda keeps me here.
June 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I miss the hell out of Buffalo. I’m always telling people with pride that Buffalo’s where I’m from, and that it will always be my home.
I left for a bunch of different reasons. It wasn’t because Buffalo is a “dying city.” It was because I wanted to experience something different for awhile. It was always my intention to return someday, but for now I have to be here. I feel that moving out here helped me grow significantly as a person. It’s kind of hard to explain.
When it comes to money, I’m making twice what I made in Buffalo, but the cost of living is double so I’m pretty much breaking even.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
“And I love it here. Like some glutton for punishment, I stay.”
That was my feeling too a few years ago, but eventually it eats at you and you no longer want to live in such depression. Sadly, for some of us, Buffalo can do nothing to correct the number or cold, snowy and cloudy days it has.
Happier in North Carolina, but still miss some of Buffalo’s interesting quirks.