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Just going by the data an "expert" gave me--you. And it's interesting to note, as the title of this thread is all about, Yes, Buffalo was rated #1 dieing city and Albany was also in the top 10. Both having more TV's than Rochester. I guess we have better things to do than watch TV. I look more to the health of an area at GDP-gross domestic product- the amount of economic activity of a certain area. 44 billion compared to 40 billion. Also the accessed value of the tiny city of Rochester equals the huge city of Buffalo. I also like how your expert anaysis works. Comparing data using population figures of one city from the year 2000 to another (wrong data) of 2010. Kinda gives you experts a black eye, fudging the figures like that.
In actuality if you read my posts on the other threads I always advocate that Buffalo and Rochester should forge closer ties with each other and gain more political clout. That never seems to happen mostly do to attitudes like your's. Look where it's gotten you-lost 400,000 people in the past 40-50 years while Rochester has gained 300,000 people during the same period. Like I said before, without Rochester, there would be no Bills, no Sabres, a lot fewer people, and all the things that you boast of being a big city. Talk about biting the hand...
* Secondly the projects cited (except the airport) were within the City of Pittsburgh, 2000 population 323,000 which is comparable to the City of Buffalo, 2000 population 296,000. Allegheny County has a population of about 1.1 million and Erie with a population of 960,000 (both are 2000 numbers) are comparable in size. Both are struggling cities that have lost half of their population since 1950. Pittsburgh is #22, Buffalo # 38 and Rochester #53 as far as urban size is concerned - see link USA Urbanized Areas: 2000 Ranked by Population(465 Areas)
As far as I am concerned Rochester City pop 195,000 county pop 700,000 is simply in a lower league altogether you are free to believe otherwise that is your option. You can compare to what you want to and i can compare to what I want to. We still have at least that much freedom in this country... for now at least.
* Third - many Buffalonians tend to compare Buffalo with Cleveland and Pittsburgh. They do in the newspaper on Buffalo Rising and elsewhere. Rightly or wrongly that is just the way it is.
* Lastly - I lived in Pittsburgh for many years and know it like the back of my hand.
I agree with Donbuy. I live in Pittsburgh now. What I wouldn't do to move away.
One of the smartest things Pittsburgh did was locate the stadiums downtown. The North Shore is an example of what Buffalo could and should be.
I can attest that Pittsburgh compares itself to Buffalo on an ongoing basis. Along with Cleveland.
The crazy thing about Pittsburgh is that although is has recently added some great things to it's city and to Ross Park Mall, it still has a rural-redneckiness (not sure that's a word....) something Buffalo (thankfully) does not have.
So it snows in Buffalo. Get over it - it snows worse in a ton of other places.
I cannot even begin to list the many things Buffalo has going for it that people who live there seem to ignore.
For one thing - it's on a grid system. Try living in Pittsburgh where it takes you 30 minutes to get to the closest highway. The average speed limit here is 25. Add to that no shoulder of the road, extreme curves and hills and you having a driving disaster.
Buffalo is never going to be a blue collar town again. I doubt any city in the US will ever be a blue collar town again. It may not be by choice, it's definitely by necessity. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing.
There will always be a certain amount of blue collar jobs everywhere - that's ok. Just try not to make them a priority here in Buffalo.
That said, Buffalo needs to quit looking back and trying to become what it once was and start to conform. It has a beautiful waterfront - what's been done with it?
The suburbs of Buffalo are terrific. Things are convenient and there are many shopping areas. ANd they are not located on one street.......
Stop complaining and embrace the change. Get rid of all the shoddy old buildings and those ugly grain elevators.
Until you stop living in the past, there is no way you will ever be able to move into the future.
Buffalo is great - you just have to embrace change. There is more to love about Buffalo than you seem to realize.
I do not see how you can say Pittsburgh is doing better than Bflo when 1 Allegheny Cty has lost a larger percentage of population loss than Erie Cty over the past decade 2) Pgh unemployment rate is higher 3] Pgh is still under a Hard control board 4) Pgh per capita income has decreased at a rate 3 times Buffal's since the recession has started and 5) their housing prices have dropped over the past two years while Buffalo's have increased.
I just do not see any CURRENT data supporting your assertion.I think you have been hoodwinked by a few shiny new government funded projects,
If Buffalo wants to choose pther cities as role models then it should choose successful ones like Louisville or Minneapolis mot Pittsburgh or Cleveland
I do not see how you can say Pittsburgh is doing better than Bflo when 1 Allegheny Cty has lost a larger percentage of population loss than Erie Cty over the past decade 2) Pgh unemployment rate is higher 3] Pgh is still under a Hard control board 4) Pgh per capita income has decreased at a rate 3 times Buffal's since the recession has started and 5) their housing prices have dropped over the past two years while Buffalo's have increased.
I just do not see any CURRENT data supporting your assertion.I think you have been hoodwinked by a few shiny new government funded projects,
If Buffalo wants to choose pther cities as role models then it should choose successful ones like Louisville or Minneapolis mot Pittsburgh or Cleveland
St. Louis might be another city that Buffalo could look at, as it is starting to revive parts of the city and Downtown that had been declining. Providence could also be another possible example of reviving parts of a city that had been declining as well.
Toledo only has about a 650k in its metro. I don't think Buffalo is wrll served by trying to compare itself to other sick metros.
Corrections:
Toledo only has 503,008 in its urbanized area, where it ranks number 71 smaller even than Rochester and only about half the size of Buffalo. At a half million it lacks the critical mass to be a useful comparison. Plus I don't think Buffalo is well served by trying to compare itself to other sick metros.
Just a comment about density. The year I was born, Buffalo had already dropped from it's peak population. On my block in North Buffalo, I estimate that the 14 houses surrounding my house held 73 residents. There were families of 3, 4 and 5 kids squeezed into 1200 sf 3 bedroom 1 bathroom homes (I shared a 9 X 10 bedroom with my 2 brothers, for example). Only 5 of the 14 houses were doubles, so the population per residence on my block was 3.84 persons per residence.
Today, on the same block, I estimate that there are only 31 people, or 1.63 persons per residence. Of these 14 houses, there are no school age children (there are a few in adjacent houses, just so you know that they are still around). All of the houses are occupied, but 3 of the 5 doubles are only occupied by 1 family.
The rate of drop in density approximates the drop in total population of the city since I was born.
As much as I like the housing itself, most families today would prefer to have larger homes to raise their children if they could afford it. I do not believe there is such a thing as "obsolete" housing stock, but the lack of updating and expansion is very limiting to people who want to raise a family today, as much larger houses are more readily available than in the past.
In general, the homes in the neighborhood are very well maintained. But, there has been very little improvement over the decades, with very few expansions, bathroom additions, or even (gasp) teardowns which are prevalent in growing cities.
Tell me if I am off base, and if I am, I apologize if I offended you.
You are off base. I am simply saying if we are going to benchmark ourselves against other cities why insist upon using other sick cities such as Cincy and Memphis. Why not benchmark against successful cities such as Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and Portland! If I was in a rock band I would look to how the Beatles became successful and not to a one hit wonder like the Neon Philhamonic (I think I just channeled Dennis Miller's vague pop reference vault)
I am one of those Buffalonians who left after college. I return every year for Christmas, and last year visited the Zoo, Albright-Knox, Burchfield Center and went shopping on the West Side. I had great time. I wouldn't say the city is completely dead - just parts of it are.
if you look at the rest of the cities and towns in NY, we're exactly the same as them, just bigger. I never thought of Buffalo as a big city; I thought of it as a bigger Batavia (with some unfortunate bad neighborhoods thrown in).
I was born in Buffalo in 1972, log after the city center's heyday, so maybe I just don't expect the same out of the city as so,done who was around in it's glory days.
I love Buffalo, it still is home to me, ecven though I'm an ocean away. I hope to return to the area someday to live - the restaurants are fantastic!
I do not see how you can say Pittsburgh is doing better than Bflo when 1 Allegheny Cty has lost a larger percentage of population loss than Erie Cty over the past decade 2) Pgh unemployment rate is higher 3] Pgh is still under a Hard control board 4) Pgh per capita income has decreased at a rate 3 times Buffal's since the recession has started and 5) their housing prices have dropped over the past two years while Buffalo's have increased.
I just do not see any CURRENT data supporting your assertion.I think you have been hoodwinked by a few shiny new government funded projects,
If Buffalo wants to choose pther cities as role models then it should choose successful ones like Louisville or Minneapolis mot Pittsburgh or Cleveland
I'm sorry, where did I say I thought Pittsurgh was better than Buffalo???
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