What would I miss if I moved out of Buffalo? (New York: college, tornadoes)

[jenny S]

We just moved back to Buffalo from DC and I have been eating my way through the city. Nothing compares to Buffalo food. Even the "best" restaurants in DC were all about the scene and the food was really secondary.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by livecontent

I am referring to young white gangs in the 40s, 50s, along Walden and hang around the Thruway Plaza and The Town Park. At that time, black gangs did not invade in the area.

I remember the Monsignor of Queen of Martyrs church talking about the efforts that the church, the police and the local businesses exerting to control the situation.

You would see many teenage and young adult men, who thought they were tough, roaming in groups and blocking traffic, harassing people--

There are many causes of gangs but one is the low education and expectation of education. This cause comes from parents who do not value educational attainment. You can take this statement or reject it but I never heard too much about Jewish gangs in Buffalo, NYC or any city.

Cheektowaga at that time was mostly blue collar who worked in the factories. There was little diversity of races or a toleration of other races, religions or ethnic origin. The worse attitude were the first settled immigrants who brought their prejudices from their home countries. When I was young, that would mean our grandparents. Parents who were born in the US, has less identity and were sometimes more open and their children were more tolerant. I remember, as a kid that the old Polish treated me with disgust because I was of Italian ancestry, even some of the miserable polish felician nuns at the church school.

It was predominate ethnic Polish, some German, few Italians in this area around the Town Park and of course all very catholic.

Livecontent

I think also has to do with the struggle with assimilation into "mainstream society" as well. I'm sure there have been gangs of all types in this country, including Jewish ones as well in the early stages of a group being here or in the case of poverty, lack of education in terms of it's value in the family and/or expectations from teachers, etc. and so on. It's just interesting to read about this in a suburb during that time, eventhough it seems like Cheektowaga has always been more of an "urbanized" and blue collar/working class suburb. These tend to be suburbs with older infrastructure too.

[SlickRick1]

I moved out of Buffalo a few months ago. I miss the variety of restaurants at very low price. I miss the festivals although I did hit many of them before I moved. I moved away for financial reasons, and I have found that the grass is not alway greener. I never thought that Buffalo was super friendly anyway, so I dont miss the people I dont know. I dont miss the grit. I do miss the lack of commute times. I miss my routine. Anytime you live in a city for a while you fall into a routine. I still dont have a comfortable routine where I am at now. I miss the paper. I like the Buffalo News. I miss Elmwood ave. I miss the development downtown, although this is something really just new. I miss my friends. I miss just driving around the city when I got bored. I miss the pretty spanish girls. I miss my walks in Delaware Park. I miss the mall. I miss Tim Horton's coffee. I only have Dunkin Donuts where I live now and I am not used to it yet. I miss my walks downtown. I miss the easy availability of buying pot. Yeah, I am a smoker. I miss keeping up with the everyday news. I miss following the development of the waterfront. I miss certain suburbs like Lackawanna and Williamsville, and Hamburg, I miss the skyway. I miss the variety of foods to eat at a cheap price, I think I said that already. I miss the great Erie county public library. I miss the Bison games. I miss going to the Galleria or the Mckinley mall. I miss going to Niagara falls whenever I want to get into a poker game. I miss Buffalo

[BuffaloGoo]

Thanks again for the reply's everybody.
SlickRick1, where did you move to?

[SlickRick1]

I am in transition right now. I had been living in Buffalo the last four years, six in the last ten. I am originally from a little hole in the wall called Elmira. However, I have spent years in Pittsburgh, Chicago and Glendale (a suburb of california). I am in transition right now (in the hole in the wall) using it to save up, I am going back out west again, hopefully I will live in the same suburb as before. I just completely gave up on the Buffalo economy. Spent to many years there not able to get good jobs. I have a Bachelors' in Business Science. I am frustrated with all of upstate NY. California's not perfect, but I miss much out there, and I am gonna give it another try.

[susanlynn]

I'm going to update this great thread. I grew up in Attica, then moved to West Henrietta, then Gulf Shores, Al...which is basically the FL panhandle. I've been down here for 2 long years....OMG do I miss western NY! Mind you, I love heat, I love summer and I love the ocean. I always dreamed of moving near the ocean. I miss the change of seasons. Yep....never imagined I would be saying this but oh how I miss it! Everyday from March-Oct it's sunny & nice and that gets old very fast. No variety, no change of vibe. Our 3-4 months of winter are more depressing than NY winters because it's chilly and windy. I long for snow....if it's going to be cold at least I wish for a scenery change. I miss the food. No Tim Hortons or Dunkin Donuts. I have no drive through coffee place. I miss my family. I miss everything that I've ever known. If I ever leave here all I will miss is the ocean and I think I'll be okay with that as long as I vacation to it once in awhile. In fact, I think it keeps it more special that way. It wasn't meant to be a daily thing. But sometimes you have to leave in order to appreciate what you have. I know I did.There's nothing wrong with it here it's a beautiful place and the people are great. My first year here I felt like I was in heaven, but after awhile you want the "vacation" to end and long for home. I feel like I am trapped in paradise lol.

[genoobie]

I have lived in many places, mostly upstate NY. I lived in Toronto for a while as well as Maryland. No place, so far, compares to this area. My only longing for Buffalo is that it would be nice if the city were a little less flat (Syracuse was really cool that way) and a little less gritty, this just gets old after a while.

[DMan87]

Moved out of Buffalo a year ago to Denver but will be moving back for a ton of different reasons.

What I miss the most are:
1. Family/friends
2. The food, Denver sucks for good food
3. The Sports teams... Denver is convenient for going to games but the sports I grew around (football/hockey) is no comparison out here.. The Avs fans are a joke and Broncos fans dont come out til they start winning.
4. The Greenery, tired of brownness here
5. Lakes
6. Location to other cities (I cant drive to any other major city here in Denver)
7. Rain
8. Call me crazy but the winters... I dont care much for all the shoveling and what not but I prefer that powder snow over the hard ice snow we get out here in the mountains
9. And finally, honestly, Im more scared of losing all my stuff to one of the crazy wildfires out here than all the snow we get in WNY

Im sure the economy is still garbage back in WNY and I have been able to get jobs easily out here in Denver but I miss Buffalo too much to stay out here

[bmd69]

Originally Posted by cheese9988

You should try and book a vacation down there to look around. You probably really won't get a feel for the people until you have been down there at least six months.

If you are looking at NC, if I could suggest, look at Charlotte rather than Raleigh. Charlotte is a larger city, it has a downtown and there is much more to do. The mountians are closer, however the ocean is farther away. More of the restaurants and things you can walk around to downtown. May be a better transition if you are used to that in the city.

Never was impressed with the region. Lived there once before. And still wondering why I moved to the area.

[bmd69]

Moved many times, WNY still has some of the nicest folks, can't say that for other regions where I lived.