North Buffalo? Density of Buffalo in general? (Rochester, Portland: home, cost)

[mycrows]

Originally Posted by BuffaloTransplant

South of the 198 is not North Buffalo.

Yeah, but as a response to the OP's question, Elmwood is definitely an "area north" of downtown. And if Tiger Beer is looking for pedestrian friendly, walkable areas, Elmwood Ave is pretty much the best bet in Buffalo (as I'm sure you're aware).

[Annemol]

Does anyone know what the population and building density actually are in Buffalo? (Especially the built density is hard to find)

[donbuy]

Originally Posted by Annemol

Does anyone know what the population and building density actually are in Buffalo? (Especially the built density is hard to find)

If you have traveled much you will realize that in most of the sun belt boom towns lot sizes are routinely a quarter acre or more with 80-100 foot frontage. In Buffalo 40 foot frontage is the norm in the City and 60-80 foot is the norm in the first ring suburbs. The density comes from puting nearly twice the number of homes per acre in Buffalo as compared to say Phoenix. The density comes from that fact as opposed to coming from high rise apartment houses as in much larger cities such as NY.

[Sumermarie]

Originally Posted by Canerican

Have you ever been to Boston, Miami, Tampa, Austin, Chicago, Portland, Lexington, or DC after the businesses close? It is still busy on weekends and on week nights. Sure, alot of towns die after work lets out, but there are plenty that don't.

That's not true about Tampa. It's a ghost town on weekends unless they hold a special event or something.

[jazzy jeff 11]

Originally Posted by BuffaloLight

With the exception of San Fransisco and New York City every downtown is pretty slow or dead on weeknights and weekends. I do not think Buffalo is unique is having a dead downtown. But that is simply my opinion.

I have to respectfully disagree with Canerican on this one! Buffalos population density is pretty good except for the very far reaches of the west side where there is abandonment, first ward is slightly populated by design, that is no accident, and of coarse what completely kills Buffalo population density rating is the east side which is has large swaths of urban praries and abandonment.

All other parts of Buffalo are pretty populated. Buffalo has an average population density higher than most.

Buffalo Light is right. Buffalos population is pretty good in north and even south buffalo. i live in South buffalo. My dad used to live off broadway back when he was a kid. obviously now its a mess. the "hood" is the east and west side. But north buffalo is thriving i believe. my friend lives out there and its nice. And yeah every major city has a dead time downtown. and thats at night, not including sporting events or concerts

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by jazzy jeff 11

Buffalo Light is right. Buffalos population is pretty good in north and even south buffalo. i live in South buffalo. My dad used to live off broadway back when he was a kid. obviously now its a mess. the "hood" is the east and west side. But north buffalo is thriving i believe. my friend lives out there and its nice. And yeah every major city has a dead time downtown. and thats at night, not including sporting events or concerts

Is all of the West side of Buffalo rough? I thought that Riverside was still decent.

[scajacuada]

According to census data, some Buffalo neighborhoods are very densely populated, on par with Boston and San Francisco. And not surprisingly, those neighborhoods are where you'll find the most activity: Elmwood Village/Delaware District/Allentown, and Hertel/North Buffalo (in that order). Those are where you'll also find the city of Buffalo's wealthiest zip codes (14209, 14222, 14216, 14214 etc.). Buffalo's suburbs are typical of rust belt suburbs generally; being villages first, then bedroom communities, and now edge cities (esp. Amherst/Williamsville). Regional density is dropping as net population falls while developed, urbanized land mass continues to sprawl.

[mycrows]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Is all of the West side of Buffalo rough? I thought that Riverside was still decent.

Riverside is not usually considered part of the "west side." Specifically, the west side is south of the Scajaquada, west of Richmond and north of Porter. You're right that Riverside has a better rep, but I find the west side very livable, despite the gangs. It's all about your level of tolerance. But, anyway, it's not like the part of the east side jazzy jeff 11 was talking about.

[mycrows]

Originally Posted by scajacuada

According to census data, some Buffalo neighborhoods are very densely populated, on par with Boston and San Francisco. And not surprisingly, those neighborhoods are where you'll find the most activity: Elmwood Village/Delaware District/Allentown, and Hertel/North Buffalo (in that order). Those are where you'll also find the city of Buffalo's wealthiest zip codes (14209, 14222, 14216, 14214 etc.).

I think you'd be surprised if you looked up the actual breakdown of pop. density by neighborhood. In general, Buffalo's population is still concentrated towards the river and the lake, as it's always been. According to City-Data, here are the top five most densely populated neighborhoods in Buffalo (people per sq. mile):

1. Lakeview: 11,972
2. Hamlin Park: 10,625
3. Front Park: 9,970
4. Abbott McKinley: 9,835
5. Bryant: 9,532

What they're calling Lakeview is more commonly called the "lower west side," between Allentown, Virginia, 190 and Pennsylvania. What they're calling "Front Park" is most of the west side between Pennsylvania and Ferry and a little bit of the Elmwood Village around Lexington ave. "Bryant," is between Utica, 16th, North and Main streets.

Hamlin Park's place on this list sort of surprised me (I think it came in so high because they're counting Canisius dorms as well). So did Abbott-McKinley, which they define as the area around Abbott Rd and McKinley Pkwy, east of S Park Ave.

But anyway, the point I was making is that Elmwood Village, the Delaware District and North Buffalo are not the very most densely populated areas of Buffalo, although they are fairly dense. City-Data doesn't break down the map according to the most common divisions for those three areas, but from looking at the data, I think they come in around 8,500 per sq. mile each (Excepting the "Bryant" area of Elmwood and DD, which is on the list).

[RocketSci]

North Buffalo - all images from zip code 14216

For the most part North Buffalo is single or double family homes, with some apartment buildings interspersed on side streets and major streets. The lots in this area tend to be larger than those in most of the city. Hertel Avenue, Delaware Avenue, and Elmwood Avenue are the major business streets with some apartments above the businesses and a few freestanding apartment buildings. Hertel and Delaware are the most walkable, but the business areas are stretched out along the length of these streets so there are generally fewer pedestrians than on streets like Elmwood south of Forest Avenue or Grant Street near Ferry. Elmwood in North Buffalo is pedestrian unfriendly, but there are major retail businesses located there (Home Depot, Regal Cinema, etc).