Buffalo - one of the nation's fastest dying Cities. (by Forbes) (New York: apartments, rent)

[Buffalonian4life]

Buffalo has just been rated by Forbes on the list of America's Fastest Dying Cities.

Here is the link - In Pictures: America's Fastest-Dying Cities - Forbes.com

Quite depressing news I must say, but is anyone really surprised? No. But this puts our decline on a more national spotlight. It's time we get the news out there that WNY needs help - especially in Buffalo.
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[Rochester-WNY]

Originally Posted by Buffalonian4life

Buffalo has just been rated by Forbes on the list of America's Fastest Dying Cities.

Here is the link - In Pictures: America's Fastest-Dying Cities - Forbes.com

Quite depressing news I must say, but is anyone really surprised? No. But this puts our decline on a more national spotlight. It's time we get the news out there that WNY needs help - especially in Buffalo.
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Tell forbes to shove it. Buffalo is on the comeback. I am witnessing it with my own eyes.

[michiganirish]

Originally Posted by Rochester-WNY

Tell forbes to shove it. Buffalo is on the comeback. I am witnessing it with my own eyes.

Thank you Rochester! I agree, I've only been here for 6 months, (and not in a suburb, we live in the Parkside District) and believe me Buffalo has a lot more to offer than any of the other cities mentioned in that article. In which by the way the author never mentions where he got all his statistics.

My husband and I grew up in/around the city of Detroit and although we moved about 50 miles away when we got married, our families still live in the same places. Believe me Buffalo is far and beyond the condition of Detroit. While I realize Buffalo has seen better days it is far from being on it's death bed. Whereas Detroit is dead and should be buried.

I'll wager none of the cities mentioned offer, free Shakespeare in the park, great festivals, Naval Park, History Museum, Zoo, great park systems, Elmwood, Hertel Ave, etc.... I know Detroit doesn't.

Those who write these negative stories and those that believe everything that is written in them are the ones who don't get involved in their cities and see only what is wrong, and never what is good and getting better.

[Buffalonian4life]

Originally Posted by michiganirish

Thank you Rochester! I agree, I've only been here for 6 months, (and not in a suburb, we live in the Parkside District) and believe me Buffalo has a lot more to offer than any of the other cities mentioned in that article. In which by the way the author never mentions where he got all his statistics.

My husband and I grew up in/around the city of Detroit and although we moved about 50 miles away when we got married, our families still live in the same places. Believe me Buffalo is far and beyond the condition of Detroit. While I realize Buffalo has seen better days it is far from being on it's death bed. Whereas Detroit is dead and should be buried.

I'll wager none of the cities mentioned offer, free Shakespeare in the park, great festivals, Naval Park, History Museum, Zoo, great park systems, Elmwood, Hertel Ave, etc.... I know Detroit doesn't.

Those who write these negative stories and those that believe everything that is written in them are the ones who don't get involved in their cities and see only what is wrong, and never what is good and getting better.

Very nice post, michiganirish - there are sooo many great things Buffalo has over many other cities, but we are still shrinking - this was not an article on quality life and great festivals, ec in Buffalo - it is an article referring to the great population loss we had and still are as well as the many jobs lost. It is saddening to think Buffalo is coming back but then we get an article like this by Forbes. Makes me cringe, but then again, I supose it is true, but it's missing the main boat.

[Buffalonian4life]

Originally Posted by Rochester-WNY

Tell forbes to shove it. Buffalo is on the comeback. I am witnessing it with my own eyes.

Perhaps it is on the comeback - but really, are we really seeing an increase in jobs and population? Not realllly. Really it is really complicated and one can not say it is on the comeback or not. It cannot be humanly comprehended very easily until the Real, True statistics come in.

Oh and I would love to tell Forbes to shut it

[deno088]

I originally posted this in the Syracuse forum. I think it applies to all Upstate city's so I am now posting it here. Slightly modified from the first version.

This is how I see New York State:


This is a story about Joe. Joe owns a large apartment building with 100 units in it. His building at one time was completely full. It was very nice inside and out. Everything was keeped up and all the tenants were happy. Every unit was occupied and everybody paid their rent on time.

Now years later Joe is not taking care of the building like he used to. Also he has not done any upgrade to keep up with the other competing apartment buildings on the other side of town. As a result half of his tenants have left. Now with only half of the rent payments coming in, but all the bills remaining the same , Joe is struggling to pay the bills on the building. He has tried to cut costs buy getting rid of and reducing the use of maintenance people, painters and landscapers but that only goes so far. Problem is that the building has deteriorated even more because of the cuts. He wants to paint and update the apartments. He wants to put in a new parking lot and redo the landscaping but he cannot afford it. He has even tried advertising that his old building is historical and has character but that has only attracted a few people.

To keep the apartment building Joe only has one option. He has to raise the rent, a lot.

Now no new tenants want to move into his rundown building. He is losing more and more tenants every month. Most of the people that still remain pay the rent late and do nothing but complain about the living conditions. The people that still live there want to get out but cannot afford to do so or just don't want to go through the hassle of moving. Some of the stubborn tenants that refuse to leave say that it is no better at the new buildings that they built across town and that they soon will have the same problems and high rent that Joe's building has now. A few even have the hope that Joe will somehow come up with the money and renovate the old building. Unfortunately Joe is broke and the future of his building is not very bright.

If Joe and his managers were smart enough to keep up the building when he had the money it would still be nice and it would still be full. The rent would be fair for the condition of the building and everybody would be happy. If only the people in charge thought this way things would be so nice for the remaining tenants.

The End

This is exactly what has happened to Upstate New York and its cities. It has lost a lot of its population and more people are leaving everyday. As a result our taxes are some of the highest in the country. No person in their right mind wants to move here because of the high cost of living and the quality of life is deteriorating. Businesses would never consider moving here because of the cost of doing business and the government is making this state very unfriendly to them.

Upstate is out of money. The current budget deficit is going up so fast that the state can't even keep up with it. Taxes have to keep going up to try to pay the bills. Just like with Joe's building I don't see an end to this downward cycle for Upstate New York.

[UpstaterInBklyn]

The analogy is cute, but I would change it to something like this:

"Joe spends a lot of money on his building. Way more than other buildings. He employs a Property Manager, Superintendent and Head Janitor. He also has two Assistant Property Managers, an Assistant Superintendent, five janitors as well as a full-time landscaper (that he pays all winter) and a full-time snowplow driver (that he pays all summer). Plus, his brother-in-law and nephew are on the payroll too, but nobody really knows what they do. All of them make top salaries and have gold-plated benefits that are much higher than others make in similar positions across town.

Why does Joe have this huge staff? Joe's large management staff are all friends of his and people that have done him favors, and he believes that the building's primary purpose to provide them employment, no matter what the cost. All of Joe's "blue-collar" staff are in a very powerful union, which Joe is afraid of, so Joe never lays any of them off or cuts back on their salaries.

In addition, many of Joe's tenants don't pay rent, because the law says they don't have to. Plus, Joe has to pay for some of their other expenses while they live there rent-free.

To pay for all of this, Joe has to keep raising the rent on the tenants. His rents are now very high. His building employs a lot people, but it isn't any nicer than the other buildings across town. In fact, to make payroll, Joe has had to cut his budget for improvements like new windows and appliances.

The tenants see how Joe has mismanaged his building and constantly tell him about it, but Joe doesn't listen. He just raises the rent again. As a result, rent-paying tenants are constantly moving out, even though they have been there for years and have friends and family in the building that they will miss.

So, poor Joe is caught in an unsustainable downward spiral"

[aka_mouse]

My only argument against all this negativity is .. again -- like i said in another post just recently..

Where are people seriously gonna go ? This entire country is in ill economic health. I don't see greener grass anywhere I look. The middle class is in a decline everywhere. Yeah some places theres more money to go around.. but who really cares once your in or out? You either got yours or you don't. IMO it really doesn't matter where you live. Most of all this relocation is just based on people being told by their employers where to go anyway.

Id be just as broke in Charlotte, NC as I am here. Charlotte's a banking town I made ok money in Collections up here, but there ain't much for me in the glass buildings down there. Id be doing the same type BS work I'm doing now.

Its gonna be Buffalo-ization coast-to-coast (or rather Detroitization, or Clevelandization), whats the difference? People can flee temporarily to the booming cities... Id take Buffalo's slow steady decline over, say, Las Vegas 25% annual growth rate. I know we are not very good at math in this country, thats ok, take my word for it -- those type of growth rates are not only unsustainable, they are disastrous. LV is already a bad place to live

There is no future in building metropolises in the middle of deserts just for the dumb reasons that people like sunny days. This is even more true in a world where were there is a deep concern about where our future energy (OIL) is going to come from

I find it darkly amusing that the most ****ed up parts of the U.S. at this point (the rust belt/great lakes region) are the parts of the country that are around the most valuable resource on the planet .. 25% of earth's fresh water supply (however polluted it may be). But thats an example of how dysfunctional and backwards things are nowadays

[HomerBrink]

I'm surprised a list like this is getting attention as it's based on outdated data. First, the national unemployment rate for July was 5.7% not 4.3% and the loss of population is based on an estimate not a census. Further, Buffalo is NOT in the same category as Charleston WV and Flint Michigan. And Scranton is beginning to turn around, too. Forbes - go blow!

[coldwynn]

So what if Buffalo is getting smaller? As was discussed elsewhere in this forum, that might actually be a good thing. NYC is huge, but unless your young, rich or dream of making it big, does anyone really enjoy living in NYC? Or Houston? LA? I like living in a city (provides all the ammenities/activity that only a city can attract) but which has a village feel (walking distances, friendly neighbors).