Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Furthermore, that you think an ignorant, sexist, homophobic, racist bigot like Paladino, who has sucked at the public teat for decades, is a "non-status quo" candidate simply shows exactly how ignorant you are. Paladino made his fortune off his "good ol' boy" relationships with Griffin and Masiello. Now that Brown has cut him off from insider info and favoritism, he's trying to establish a political base for himself.
QFT (quoted for truth, although other interpretations of that acronym are possible)
I certainly want the best for Buffalo and a possible renaissance but the list of projects made by the OP, although significant for Buffalo because of its long decline, is not at all impressive for a city of Buffalo's size and doesn't come close to being a renaissance. I think it's very unlikely Buffalo will return to it's former glory in terms of industry and population and I don't understand why many believe it should. There's nothing wrong with a scaled down city adapted to a lower population and different industries... the key is the quality of life.
I certainly want the best for Buffalo and a possible renaissance but the list of projects made by the OP, although significant for Buffalo because of its long decline, is not at all impressive for a city of Buffalo's size and doesn't come close to being a renaissance. I think it's very unlikely Buffalo will return to it's former glory in terms of industry and population and I don't understand why many believe it should. There's nothing wrong with a scaled down city adapted to a lower population and different industries... the key is the quality of life.
Well said. I lived in Buffalo for 20 years, and the reason I would never live in Buffalo again is because the quality of life in most of the city except for the very best neighborhoods, which I couldn't afford to live in then or now, sucked then and has gotten worse. All the shiny new buildings and projects downtown are not going to encourage people who live in the city to stay or significant numbers of people who live in the suburbs to move into the city unless most of the neighborhoods, not just the pricey ones, are stabilized.
There are three "Ss" that determine the quality of life in a community and whether people are likely to move in to it or leave it: safety, schools, and services. Buffalo does a poor job on all three for most of its residents.
Amen... I know Buffalo only on a casual level but I hear on a very consistent basis the poor quality and performance its schools. I'm astounded at the low graduation rates alone... how this has gone on without some type of reaction/change is alarming.
Buffalonians have never been invested in their public schools the way suburban, rural, and smaller city residents are invested in theirs, primarily because there's always been an "out" for them.
More than half the population of Buffalo was practicing Roman Catholic at one time, and those families sent their children to Catholic schools from elementary to high school. Of course, the wealthy Buffalonians had always sent their kids to Elmwood Franklin, Nardin, Nichols, and Buffalo Seminary. Consequently, a lot of parents didn't care about the public schools. Catholic schools continued to offer an alternative to the public schools into the 1980s when dwindling city population, tough economic conditions, and rising costs resulted in the first major consolidations and closings.
Then charter schools came along in the 1990s to take the place of a lot of the closed parochial schools. Charters are publicly funded schools run by approved private groups. Their quality is uneven at best, and even the results from the best of them are somewhat skewed because they don't admit developmentally disabled students, require some commitment/interest from parents, and send children with serious behavioral problems back to the public schools. Buffalo has the most charter schools and the most children in charter schools by a huge margin over any of the other upstate districts.
Buffalonians also seem to be much more accepting of the idea of some kids getting better education than their own simply because of who their parents were than you would find in a suburban school district. Favoritism and nepotism have always been rampant in Buffalo (having a relative or pal working in City Hall is a sure way to get your street plowed in the winter -- about the only way in the poorer neighborhoods), and the schools are no different. Miraculously, all the children of the politically connected manage to get into schools like City Honors or Hutch Tech and never seem to get stuck going to Grover or Lafayette.
Of course, maybe the answer is that parents who really care about education move out to the 'burbs before their kids reach school age -- or never buy a house in the city at all.
PS: the graduation rate that was published was based on students who were freshman in a selected year and graduated four years later. The BPS with lots of developmentally disabled students and English learners who struggle passing the required math and English regents for graduation, actually gets about 75% through within 5 years. That's still not good but the headline is deceiving.
Whoopty-doo. Buffalo has been "rebuilding"/"redeveloping" downtown Buffalo for the last fifty years. Every decade or so, they start a new building spurt.
"In the largest down payment on his Buffalo billion-dollar commitment, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this morning announced the creation of a clean-energy research campus on 90 acres of land along the Buffalo River that will include two tenants investing $750 million apiece to create a total of 850 jobs. The initiative will be dubbed Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Hub @ RiverBend."
A lot of new development is currently happening in Buffalo and the surrounding area. By 1993, many of the following projects will be completed, transforming and revitalizing Buffalo into a more modern and robust city.
Having spent a few days in Buffalo last week to view a Sabres game I was impressed by what I saw. Construction seemed to happening all over town. That to me is usually a good sign. I talked to a local real estate agent in hopes of finding a lower priced condo downtown for leisure. I had looked at Trulia, Zillow, etc prior to our chat, she was very honest saying that those days may be gone,price wise. She explained the construction was drawing folks from big cities who found that Buffalo was a bargain by their standards. She stated that bargains are usually in neighborhoods that you need to visit and see if they work for you. I believe Buffalo has more positives than negatives. I found it to be a very easy city to navigate, good airport, proximity to Canada,casino's,sports,recreation, zoo,college town, to name a few. Negatives being pockets of crime, winter weather, taxes,one subway/train, downtown needs some nightlife. All in all not that bad, you can work on fixing every thing but the weather. Upstate NY is hurting, many small towns are fading fast, at least Buffalo is fighting back.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is huge people
