Buffalo officially second poorest city in country (New York, Niagara Falls: home, neighborhood)

[12buttons]

Originally Posted by Dr Funky

if you didnt wanna read what the thread said then dont click on it

hear hear...

[oktaren]

I will take buffalo any day of the week. yeah, its poor, but there are plenty of jobs and while they don't pay as much as other areas of the country, its also much cheaper to live here than other places in the country. the surrounding hinterland is beautiful as well.

[RockyZ]

Wow, I had thought for years that I would like to leave the midwest and move to Buffalo. Now the kids are grown and I'm alone I thought this would be the time. Having read how many people in Buffalo are in poverty and clicking the link to read what others had to say. I'd have to be crazy to move to Buffalo. This to bad. Never the less I will still go to Buffalo for a month or so and see for myself. Guess it's still in my head that Buffalo would still be a great place. Just venting here. I do hope we're wrong and it's a great place.

[TXChristian]

Originally Posted by RockyZ

Wow, I had thought for years that I would like to leave the midwest and move to Buffalo. Now the kids are grown and I'm alone I thought this would be the time. Having read how many people in Buffalo are in poverty and clicking the link to read what others had to say. I'd have to be crazy to move to Buffalo. This to bad. Never the less I will still go to Buffalo for a month or so and see for myself. Guess it's still in my head that Buffalo would still be a great place. Just venting here. I do hope we're wrong and it's a great place.

It is a great place and you will be pleasantly surprised to find that the Buffalo described by those who are disappointed in its lack of progress, does not mesh with the Buffalo you will most likely experience. We are lifelong Texans moving there in February.

[BuffaloTransplant]

Originally Posted by RockyZ

Wow, I had thought for years that I would like to leave the midwest and move to Buffalo. Now the kids are grown and I'm alone I thought this would be the time. Having read how many people in Buffalo are in poverty and clicking the link to read what others had to say. I'd have to be crazy to move to Buffalo. This to bad. Never the less I will still go to Buffalo for a month or so and see for myself. Guess it's still in my head that Buffalo would still be a great place. Just venting here. I do hope we're wrong and it's a great place.

Rocky, it depends on where you want to live. If you want to live in a ratty city ghetto, it is poor. OTOH, many plushy burbs have homes in the high 6 figures or over $1 Mil homes. My husband and I live very comfortably on our pensions [and in the same house bought about 1970]; we are sitting on the "line" separating the burbs from the rural land.

Stop and think: What kind of area do you want? City or suburb? What cost for a house? Any special ethnic area? etc. etc.......... Don't let the detractors mess with you. You need to come and see the place, to spend some time exploring the area. I came here almost 40 years ago and never left and don't plan on it!

[Marticus]

You are all very intelligent and poignant, but consider this: Just who are the people telling you that this big economic monster is so complicated and blah, blah, blah...I grew up in N.Y. and saw it happen there in the 70s and 80s etc. Now I can hear a "giant sucking sound" in a foreign country, but this time I got an inside line on what´s happening. I am watching the share holders of companies that provide major employment pressure management into exporting know-how and capital into foreign ****holes that have neither--all in the name of more and more and more profit. That´s it! I am sorry to blow your economics dissertation, but what happened in America is Americans selling out Americans, while Americans slept at the wheel thinking that Uncle Sam would protect them. So maybe in that sense everyone is to blame. America needs to create a new industrial revolution (alternative energy) and get a leash on out of control greed, or it will go down much farther than Buffalo! How about a Sau Paulo from NY to Cali?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by RockyZ

Wow, I had thought for years that I would like to leave the midwest and move to Buffalo. Now the kids are grown and I'm alone I thought this would be the time. Having read how many people in Buffalo are in poverty and clicking the link to read what others had to say. I'd have to be crazy to move to Buffalo. This to bad. Never the less I will still go to Buffalo for a month or so and see for myself. Guess it's still in my head that Buffalo would still be a great place. Just venting here. I do hope we're wrong and it's a great place.

Go and see for yourself. I personally moved from the Midwest to and fell in love with Pittsburgh, which is basically Pennsylvania's version of Buffalo. I moved out there with my ex-wife (we were still married at the time, obviously) because she went to grad school there. We both went there with an open mind and with an expectation that we would at least have an authentic, basic urban experience. We were not disappointed. We immediately felt right at home and we loved our neighbors and our city; our new neighbors and our new city were eager to embrace us as long as we were willing to embrace them. Alas, we reluctantly left because we needed jobs that paid what we were worth. We looked all over Pittsburgh for such jobs because we flat-out did not want to leave, but the economic reality of the area forced our hand. I still remember Pittsburgh fondly and sometimes I still wish I didn't have to leave.

Now, I've never actually been to Buffalo, but everything I have read and heard about it suggests that it is identical to Pittsburgh in just about every way that matters, including demographics, history, attitudes, culture and current economic struggles; and as such, they are both cities that coastal urban-sophisticates scoff at. But if Buffalo is anything like Pittsburgh, then it's a city with a curious blend of old-school blue-collar fatalism and a pugnaceous civic pride that fights the old-timers and refuses to let the city fade away. It's a fascinating combination that takes an erstwhile dying city and gives it an electrifying, vibrant glow; it shouts to would-be urban pioneers, "I may be a bit of a tired city, but I'm veritably dripping with urban potential at a 70% discount over similar areas in Brooklyn or Queens." All the city needs really needs is for someone to pull the weeds and give it a fresh coat of paint. So if you have an open mind, bring your paint brush and make the best of it.

That's my take as an outsider who once lived in a mostly identical city, anyway. Take that for what it's worth. But all I'm asking is, look at the project with an open mind.

[iloveupstateny]

Pittsburgh is similar to Buffalo except there appears to have been a large resurgence of jobs, life, vitality, creativity to the area in recent years. I moved to Pittsburgh right after college as I couldn't find work in Buffalo/Rochester area and it has quite a similar 'feel'. I saw things in Pittsburgh that could EASILY be modeled after in Buffalo and other upstate ny cities that really didn't take a rocket scientist to understand. The first, that comes to mind, was civic pride and urban revitalization. Not just the hot neighborhoods but actually cleaning up (the city) the blight ones by planting gardens, etc. But, like I usually say, and as I sound like a broken record, Pittsburgh already had about 50-60% more jobs available than our lovely cities in upstate ny. Job creation should be Buffalo's number one priority--and with that, everything else will come. And I don't mean, oh 20 or so here or there. I HOPEFULLY will get to see that in my working lifetime. If not, I will likely move back to Pittsburgh (maybe Cleveland) so I can at least be closer to the area that I love.

Originally Posted by Drover

Go and see for yourself. I personally moved from the Midwest to and fell in love with Pittsburgh, which is basically Pennsylvania's version of Buffalo. I moved out there with my ex-wife (we were still married at the time, obviously) because she went to grad school there. We both went there with an open mind and with an expectation that we would at least have an authentic, basic urban experience. We were not disappointed. We immediately felt right at home and we loved our neighbors and our city; our new neighbors and our new city were eager to embrace us as long as we were willing to embrace them. Alas, we reluctantly left because we needed jobs that paid what we were worth. We looked all over Pittsburgh for such jobs because we flat-out did not want to leave, but the economic reality of the area forced our hand. I still remember Pittsburgh fondly and sometimes I still wish I didn't have to leave.

Now, I've never actually been to Buffalo, but everything I have read and heard about it suggests that it is identical to Pittsburgh in just about every way that matters, including demographics, history, attitudes, culture and current economic struggles; and as such, they are both cities that coastal urban-sophisticates scoff at. But if Buffalo is anything like Pittsburgh, then it's a city with a curious blend of old-school blue-collar fatalism and a pugnaceous civic pride that fights the old-timers and refuses to let the city fade away. It's a fascinating combination that takes an erstwhile dying city and gives it an electrifying, vibrant glow; it shouts to would-be urban pioneers, "I may be a bit of a tired city, but I'm veritably dripping with urban potential at a 70% discount over similar areas in Brooklyn or Queens." All the city needs really needs is for someone to pull the weeds and give it a fresh coat of paint. So if you have an open mind, bring your paint brush and make the best of it.

That's my take as an outsider who once lived in a mostly identical city, anyway. Take that for what it's worth. But all I'm asking is, look at the project with an open mind.

[MButler320]

Im from Buffalo, but after the blizzard of 77 I had to check out. moved to Ft Lauderdale Florida and have been here ever since. My oldest daughter and niece still live in the area and I do visit.

It gets worse everytime I visit, Niagara Falls with pot holes, weeds, shabby looking homes and was really sorry to see that. Cross the bridge and Canada has flowers, paved roads, it looks great.

Drove into Allentown where I used to party and what a dump. I was surprised to see Mulligans still there, I'll bet the owner no longer parties there and he's somewhere else, the bar is just a money maker for him.

I grew up along the lake in Hamburg, Angola and driving along Lakeshore I could't see the lake because of the weeds.

My advice would be to move if you're young.

[MButler320]

Originally Posted by oktaren

I will take buffalo any day of the week. yeah, its poor, but there are plenty of jobs and while they don't pay as much as other areas of the country, its also much cheaper to live here than other places in the country. the surrounding hinterland is beautiful as well.

I will have to disagree, while you're still young maybe 20-30 any job that's puts some money in your pocket is good but what you may want to consider is when you get older and you own a home, car payments, kids etc you have to make at least $75,000 a year in order to retire at 55 to 60 and not have to work. Those jobs are not available in Buffalo but it appears everywhere else they are.
Im from Buffalo until the Blizzard of 77 then I left, I never returned to live there again because the employment is not there, you can always find an idiots job at 20-30,000 per year in Buffalo but what will you do when your 60, that's what you have to look at and also the hardships, snow and ice, layoffs
the only thing you have to fall back on for a life of hardships is about $1,000 per month. $1,000 a month doesn't take care of squat, I spend more on food per month.
Money today is everything, want a new car, new house, new wife it's going to cost and you really get nowhere working for $10.00 per hour. It'll buy you a few drinks at Mulligans Brick Bar.