Buffalo:Possible Growth????

[jblake78728]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

It also doesn't help that there are two correctional facilities there. Is it really that bad up there?

Its not bad in a way that I ever feared for my safety but more in a bad/depressed vibe throughout the area. Not a lot of violent stuff happening but plenty of theft, alcohol abuse & drugs. You can pretty much drive down Main Street in Malone any time of day any day of the week & see groups of 20 & 30 somethings sitting on a porch or curb drinking 40's.

I'm sure the prisons do play a pretty big factor but unfortunately they are also the one thing keeping the economy afloat. Just in the last 12 months Georgia Pacific in Plattsburgh all but shut down, they once had over 700 employees now I think they are around 100. GM Powertrain in Massena shut down, Alcoa is still around but they don't keep the workforce they once did either. The only real strong manufacturing operation left in the North Country is Corning in the Potsdam/Canton area.

The Massena economy use to get a little boost from all the people that would come over to shop from Cornwall, ON but now that has even dried up because the Akwesasne all but shut down the international bridge when the Canadian Government decided it needed to arm its border guards a few months ago (the Canadian Customs area is on an island that is Akwesasne land & they refuse to allow the guards to carry firearms).

[jblake78728]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Buffalo has lost population each year since it peaked in 1946. Every idea has been thought of but you can't change the cold winters and you don't want to change the absurd real estate taxes. I like Buffalo the way it is - not congested and full of nice old buildings.

People just aren't moving back to high tax cold weather areas- its that simple.

I really don't buy the cold argument. If the city found a way to attracted new business it would attract new citizens, if the state cut property taxes they would attract even more. When there are no jobs & high taxes in an area the cold is just one more thing to make a miserable person even more miserable .... when you have a good job the cold doesn't bother you as much. Its just as cold in Chicago & Minneapolis, those cities seem to be doing alright (granted Minneapolis lost a lot of people from the 50's to the 70's but they've pretty much leveled off since the 80's). Granted some people just can't handle cold weather & Buffalo isn't for them but many would deal with it if they had an opportunity at a better living here than what they currently have elsewhere.

[Canerican]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

The Massena economy use to get a little boost from all the people that would come over to shop from Cornwall, ON but now that has even dried up because the Akwesasne all but shut down the international bridge when the Canadian Government decided it needed to arm its border guards a few months ago (the Canadian Customs area is on an island that is Akwesasne land & they refuse to allow the guards to carry firearms).

I heard all about that, the ridiculous thing is that Canada gives those folks education, money, doesn't make them pay any taxes, and they still whine and complain. It's pretty dumb, but the Canadian government goes for it.

There is a huge drug trafficking problem from Massena to Cornwall. I have know people who live along the St. Lawrence in Cornwall (along 2nd street, towards Power Dam Dr.) who have gotten a knock on their doors, told that they would be paid tons of money to allow people to come and go as they please, or killed. I knew a girl who was given $5000 to drive over the border with a package one time.

It is just terrible. The natives get to go to school in Cornwall where they end up running the place. The principal wouldn't do anything, because the Mohawks were too powerful of a force. I made a good friend at school there and went over to his house. It was a mansion unlike any I have seen before. He drove me, I was told to get out of his car by a freaking security force, and patted down. They used metal detectors on me, got my shoes and socks off... it was nuts (I never went back).

You want to see a welfare town unlike any before it, go to Cornwall. No kidding, 34% of people there are on welfare, it has the highest teen pregnancy rate, suicide rare, and child molestation rate in all of Canada.

That area in general is not great, but I would probably choose there over here if I had the choice... luckily, I won't have to make that choice since the US is a big country!

[BuffaloTransplant]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

The Massena economy use to get a little boost from all the people that would come over to shop from Cornwall, ON but now that has even dried up because the Akwesasne all but shut down the international bridge when the Canadian Government decided it needed to arm its border guards a few months ago (the Canadian Customs area is on an island that is Akwesasne land & they refuse to allow the guards to carry firearms).

Are the Canadians afraid for themselves there? I read the 2 rallies was what prompted the arming of the Customs Guards.

This is hypocrisy at its highest: They wanted the US to move the Border and Customs at the Peace Bridge to go over to the Canadian side -- but the Americans, in the American facilities were not going to be able to be armed. It didn't fly. (My daughter has several friends, in both Customs and BP)

So, if the Canadians (who have taken virtually all guns from their citizens) want to go onto another person's country ( this is at the St. Regis Res, right?) -- what right do they have to go armed unless the Native Americans say yes? Is it not analogous to what the Canadians did to us here?

[cheese9988]

Originally Posted by jblake78728

I really don't buy the cold argument. If the city found a way to attracted new business it would attract new citizens, if the state cut property taxes they would attract even more. When there are no jobs & high taxes in an area the cold is just one more thing to make a miserable person even more miserable .... when you have a good job the cold doesn't bother you as much. Its just as cold in Chicago & Minneapolis, those cities seem to be doing alright (granted Minneapolis lost a lot of people from the 50's to the 70's but they've pretty much leveled off since the 80's). Granted some people just can't handle cold weather & Buffalo isn't for them but many would deal with it if they had an opportunity at a better living here than what they currently have elsewhere.

I agree with you here, a nice fat paycheck can change your opinion real quick. When you have a fireplace with a mantel made of mahogany I really don't think you care how cold it gets.

Taxes are still my biggest gripe. But what are we going to do, most people just pack up and leave? It would probably take a state bankruptcy for the federal government to take notice, but even then would the state legislature and state unions change?