Where are the jobs in Buffalo?

[RocketSci]

Originally Posted by choosing78

1. UB's "new" campus is in Amherst
2. Metro Rail is a failure (not in theory in practice, needs further development)
3. The Canisius area is crime ridden and scary.
4. If you are talking about the last 40 years, I don't think you can say Main St has seen steady improvement
5. Ralph Wilson is in Orchard Park
6. Baseball stadium was built for a MLB team that never came
7. Bike Paths-hmm anyone remember the "bike path rapist"

A couple positives: HSBC Arena, Post Office.

Do you realize that even if everything you listed was a positive for the city of Buffalo you are talking about 40 years?! What other places have managed to do in 40 years even 20 years blows this away. Houston is not comparable to Buffalo, except as a polar opposite in growth. To say they have terrible infrastructure and maintenance compared to Buffalo because they have yet to recover from a devastating hurricane is ridiculous. Can you imagine if something like that went through Buffalo?

Houston has terrible infrastructure and maintenance and bad storms. It was bad before the latest hurricane, and it still be bad before the next one hits. My point is that it doesn't matter. A perfect infrastructure in Buffalo isn't going to help, either.

Focusing on my list also did not matter, nor will adding to this list matter whether the pace is picked up or not. (No MLB team? Talk about a glass half-empty attitude! My, how Buffalonian of you!)

My point, since it was so obviously missed, is that perhaps the only way places like Buffalo can compete with places like Houston is to accept unbridled capitalism and all of its costs. Is it worth it? Will it ultimately lead Houston to the same place Buffalo is today?


Finally, a personal gripe (its all personal), is that only considering things that happen within a political border, and not looking regionally is a disservice to how people actually live. Houston is over 600 square miles within the city limits, and 12,400 square miles in the metro. Things that "Buffalo" has in it's vicinity that fit withing a comparable geographic footprint to Houston include Niagara Falls NY and Ontario, Forts Niagara, Erie, George, Niagara-On-The Lake, Lake Erie Beaches, etc, etc, etc. Yet, people in WNY are so quick to disassociate themselves from looking at the big picture. I also have only met one (out of many dozen) expats who describe themselves as being from Buffalo who actually lived within the city limits. (They were from Arcade, Dunkirk, Pembroke, Hamburg, Tonawanda, Williamsville, and others). Why do people have to move away before they see the big picture?

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by RocketSci

Houston has terrible infrastructure and maintenance and bad storms. It was bad before the latest hurricane, and it still be bad before the next one hits. My point is that it doesn't matter. A perfect infrastructure in Buffalo isn't going to help, either.

Focusing on my list also did not matter, nor will adding to this list matter whether the pace is picked up or not. (No MLB team? Talk about a glass half-empty attitude! My, how Buffalonian of you!)

My point, since it was so obviously missed, is that perhaps the only way places like Buffalo can compete with places like Houston is to accept unbridled capitalism and all of its costs. Is it worth it? Will it ultimately lead Houston to the same place Buffalo is today?


Finally, a personal gripe (its all personal), is that only considering things that happen within a political border, and not looking regionally is a disservice to how people actually live. Houston is over 600 square miles within the city limits, and 12,400 square miles in the metro. Things that "Buffalo" has in it's vicinity that fit withing a comparable geographic footprint to Houston include Niagara Falls NY and Ontario, Forts Niagara, Erie, George, Niagara-On-The Lake, Lake Erie Beaches, etc, etc, etc. Yet, people in WNY are so quick to disassociate themselves from looking at the big picture. I also have only met one (out of many dozen) expats who describe themselves as being from Buffalo who actually lived within the city limits. (They were from Arcade, Dunkirk, Pembroke, Hamburg, Tonawanda, Williamsville, and others). Why do people have to move away before they see the big picture?

Very good point about how it is hard to compare sprawling metros to a more dense metro like Buffalo.

People also seem to forget about using things in terms of proximity in comparing places as well.

Lastly, you are right about how people that grew up outside of the actual city still associate with the city that the metro is centered around.

[choosing78]

I think perhaps you are missing the big picture in that this is the land of unbridled capitalism. The problem with Buffalo is that no one is venturing their capital on Buffalo whereas in Houston many are. One of Buffalo's options is to develop its infrastructure to increase it's desirability to investors. I'm not sure what your gripe with Houston is. If you want to look at some "regional" issues. How about suburban taxes, the embarassment that is Niagara Falls, NY, beaches that are often closed due to pollution, lack of quality public transit connecting the suburbs to the city, etc., Oh yes, I did my time in the city of Buffalo-flattened a few tires in potholes, got stuck on side streets that were never plowed, had my car broken into (twice). I see the potential in Buffalo to be one of the most desirable places it's just suffers from both sides: people who do nothing and people who run around and pretend everything's getting better when in fact it's getting worse.

[RocketSci]

Originally Posted by choosing78

I think perhaps you are missing the big picture in that this is the land of unbridled capitalism. The problem with Buffalo is that no one is venturing their capital on Buffalo whereas in Houston many are. One of Buffalo's options is to develop its infrastructure to increase it's desirability to investors. I'm not sure what your gripe with Houston is. If you want to look at some "regional" issues. How about suburban taxes, the embarassment that is Niagara Falls, NY, beaches that are often closed due to pollution, lack of quality public transit connecting the suburbs to the city, etc., Oh yes, I did my time in the city of Buffalo-flattened a few tires in potholes, got stuck on side streets that were never plowed, had my car broken into (twice). I see the potential in Buffalo to be one of the most desirable places it's just suffers from both sides: people who do nothing and people who run around and pretend everything's getting better when in fact it's getting worse.

I don't think that Buffalo has anywhere near the unbridled capitalism such as there is in Houston. Building codes are not enforceable by law in Houston, there is no zoning, most laborers and craftsmen are illegal immigrants and overlooked by the powers that be. "Right to work" really means right to fire at will. Pollution codes are not enforced, and the developer is king.

An effect is that a lot of wealth is concentrated at the top, and has fueled a lot of speculative development and sprawl. There are a lot of vacant offices and retail, at a much higher rate than WNY where fewer speculative developments occurred. Much of the inner city land is vacant, not because it is worthless, but because it is being held open by speculators awaiting god knows what. Land values in the city are $50 to $100 per square foot for vacant land.

My gripe is not with Houston - it is what it is - but the fact that people in Buffalo often overlook the good locally and the bad that is present elsewhere. One of the fastest growing and economically healthy places in the US has many of the same problems of Buffalo, and some worse. Many of the problems Buffalo has today are results of the effects of years of unbridled capitalism that Buffalo experienced 100 years ago.

I want Buffalo to improve aesthetically and economically, in the City and regionally. Infrastructure improvement is irrelevant when looking at the big picture. Most significant new development elsewhere occurs on undeveloped land. Potholes and lack of pocket parks has not slowed investment in Houston. Neither have abandoned buildings, or brownfield properties.

So where do we go from here? I don't know.

[JH6]

I read a lot of different cities on this forum guys. Every single one of them is gloom and doom about every single city. It doesn't matter which one you pick, people are saying the same things.

I read about 4 different states, of areas that I am looking to relocate to. The bulk of posts is people complaining about low wages, high taxes, unfair fees, or problems in the city.

There are people prospering in every city. Take a drive to Clarence, take a drive to Wheatfield and see all the newly built homes. Some people are doing well, they just aren't posting on this forum.

I've been trying to move to the Southwest for the past 2 years now. Things are tricky out there as well. It isn't that I have any resentment towards Buffalo, its just time to move along. I'm tired of the weather, and the general gloom and doom attitude that I come across.

Life it what you make of it, I'm sure there are plenty of people that are upset to live in Hawaii.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by JustinH

I read a lot of different cities on this forum guys. Every single one of them is gloom and doom about every single city. It doesn't matter which one you pick, people are saying the same things.

I read about 4 different states, of areas that I am looking to relocate to. The bulk of posts is people complaining about low wages, high taxes, unfair fees, or problems in the city.

There are people prospering in every city. Take a drive to Clarence, take a drive to Wheatfield and see all the newly built homes. Some people are doing well, they just aren't posting on this forum.

I've been trying to move to the Southwest for the past 2 years now. Things are tricky out there as well. It isn't that I have any resentment towards Buffalo, its just time to move along. I'm tired of the weather, and the general gloom and doom attitude that I come across.

Life it what you make of it, I'm sure there are plenty of people that are upset to live in Hawaii.

Basically and I go on forums for other cities in other states on here too. You are right, there is the same thing to some degree.

I think a lot of people move just to be somewhere new and there is nothing wrong with that.

I totally understand what RocketSci is saying though, because you get the same thing here in Syracuse on other forums and just talking to people here. i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that things change and many places are really just in a state of transition. Where it once was manufacturing leading the way, it is now things like health care, higher education, engineering and the insurance/risk management industry, among other things, doing better now in cities here in Upstate NY.

Then, you have the option of many things to do and to take advantage of geography in terms of proximity to other things and areas.

[jst2see]

There a decent compilation of buffalo jobs and business news at Working in Buffalo. Good luck!