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Buffalo is on a rebound especially downdown. There's development downtown that hasn't been seen in 80 years. Old buildings are being redeveloped along with the water front. Neighborhoods that ten years ago where run down have been redeveloped. The medical campus downtown is growing. There has been job growth the past few years and the housing market was one of the best in the country. The downtown commercial vacancy rate is among the lowest in the country and retail is finally starting to pop-up over the city. Lastly, the cities incredible architector may be its largest advantage to bring Buffalo back to where it should be. There is no doubt Buffalo is turning around. Detroit seems to still be declining in most areas. Just last week they announced they were closing half of the schools. Theres a 30% unemployment rate, Buffalo is around 8 or 9%. There really isn't much comparision. In conclusion I'll say that Buffalo is no Detroit.
Buffalo hasn't been on an "80 year" downturn. When I moved here, there were 7 dept. stores downtown, the Marine Tower and Main Place mall were going up. Then, within 8 years, the blasted rail got built and downtown went to 'hellinahandbasket' . The intent was to put spurs to the burbs and tracks got pulled up to keep it from happening ( the first being at LaSalle station toward Tona.) Just like using the hwys to divide neighborhoods in the 1950s, the intent to unify with rail caused a divide. It also ruined downtown as a shopping area... and we got the Galleria built in a swamp soon after! So, now downtown is on an upturn -- of sorts. I do not ever foresee the wonder of the real downtown where you could walk and shop... no one wants to go downtown and pay to park. Revive free parking, Buffalo would come back.
I don't understand how a rail that facilitates transportation to downtown can kill the downtown. Especially a light rail, easily crossable, as opposed to vast, wide train yards. Not to mention one that is free of charge within the core.
Rail removed all auto traffic from Main St which was where a majority of the shops were. The rail wasn't as integrated into the larger public transportation network of buses for a while. Buffalo metro is car reliant. Malls in the suburbs proved to be more convenient to the wealthier residents that resided in said suburbs. No one lives downtown, which is slowly reversing.
Buffalo is now, again slowly, reversing investing in single modes of transpiration when redoing streets and investing in infrastructure for all pedestrians, cyclists, rail, auto, bus. You can read more about it here. So instead of 1 rail and giant sidewalks there will be rail line shared with auto traffic, a parking lane, bicycle lane, and sidewalks.
So... yes rail did play its roll in the death of downtown along with a plethora of socio-economic reasons. It was simply a well intentioned spoke in downtowns death wheel.
Thanks for the explanation and the link, I look forward to reading that piece.
Besides the shared approach which I agree with, perhaps the rail should have been built on another north-south street, not Main Street. Or even underground throughout. Buffalo's approach seems to be contrary to many cities where it's a subway downtown, then surface in the suburbs.
I have lived in Detroit for 5 years and Buffalo for 4 years. In terms of similarities, i would say the weather is pretty much similar. But Detroit is a much bigger city than Buffalo, both in terms of population and diversity. Detroit has more suburbs compared to buffalo and they are larger....especially Troy, Warren, Canton, Farmington hills, Sterling Heights, Rochester Hills, West Bloomfield. Buffalo mainly has Clarence, Williamsville, Amherst and Orchard Park..in terms of # of people employed and companies. I think Detroit also has more in terms of sports, culture and entertainment. They have Pistons, Lions, Red Wings, Tigers and also individual stadiums. More # of museums, theater district, science center, aquarium, zoo, palace of auburn hills. Even though Buffalo does have all of these things in terms of things to do, the city does a very poor job in promoting different cultural and entertainment events in the city. Though Buffalo does have a well maintained Delaware Park, which Detroit does not have.
Also in terms of employment, Buffalo again has less to offer especially in the areas of technology and health care. Detroit has many hospitals and research centers and also all 3 car companies, Compuware, Google, IBM and many small/mid size companies which employ thousands of people. Comparatively Buffalo falls short in both state and private employment. I have seen many couples who move to buffalo and only one person can find a job, its very difficult for two people to find a job especially in different work fields. Because Buffalo does not have a diverse set of employment options. Its mainly IT and banking. Yes, Buffalo does have hospitals and roswell and UB, but they do not hire from outside, its mainly internal people who get hired as most of the companies in buffalo have a family style management system.
The best thing about Buffalo, is its stable housing market, compared to Detroit.
I dont think its fair to compare Buffalo to Detroit, because they are miles apart and in no way are they similar.
i got into school in both Upstate NY and MI, i know both economies are hit but i was told from a school aspect MI has better school, MSU and UMICH are better then any college in Buffalo which idk if its true. I will say when you get out of the city of buffalo the suburbs are nice...same with MI im sure. overall state wise they said MI over Upstate NY (Buffalo) what do you think about that? true? false? any opinions?
i got into school in both Upstate NY and MI, i know both economies are hit but i was told from a school aspect MI has better school, MSU and UMICH are better then any college in Buffalo which idk if its true. I will say when you get out of the city of buffalo the suburbs are nice...same with MI im sure. overall state wise they said MI over Upstate NY (Buffalo) what do you think about that? true? false? any opinions?
Michigan is usually ranked among the top 30 schools in the country, which puts them well ahead of the other schools in Michigan & any of the public schools in NY (though private schools like Cornell, Syracuse, Rochester, RIT & RPI all rank similar to Michigan). MSU is around 75-100 which puts them in the same area as SUNY schools like Stony Brook, Binghamton & Buffalo. The advantage NY has is in the sheer amount of highly rated schools. In Michigan its basically Michigan, MSU & a few good private schools .......... in NY the whole SUNY system has favorable ratings plus you have a bunch of smaller private schools like Ithaca, Niagara, Canisius, St John Fisher & St Bonaventure (in addition to those previously mentioned) that are all considered very good schools.
I have lived in Detroit for 5 years and Buffalo for 4 years. In terms of similarities, i would say the weather is pretty much similar. But Detroit is a much bigger city than Buffalo, both in terms of population and diversity. Detroit has more suburbs compared to buffalo and they are larger....especially Troy, Warren, Canton, Farmington hills, Sterling Heights, Rochester Hills, West Bloomfield. Buffalo mainly has Clarence, Williamsville, Amherst and Orchard Park..in terms of # of people employed and companies. I think Detroit also has more in terms of sports, culture and entertainment. They have Pistons, Lions, Red Wings, Tigers and also individual stadiums. More # of museums, theater district, science center, aquarium, zoo, palace of auburn hills. Even though Buffalo does have all of these things in terms of things to do, the city does a very poor job in promoting different cultural and entertainment events in the city. Though Buffalo does have a well maintained Delaware Park, which Detroit does not have.
Also in terms of employment, Buffalo again has less to offer especially in the areas of technology and health care. Detroit has many hospitals and research centers and also all 3 car companies, Compuware, Google, IBM and many small/mid size companies which employ thousands of people. Comparatively Buffalo falls short in both state and private employment. I have seen many couples who move to buffalo and only one person can find a job, its very difficult for two people to find a job especially in different work fields. Because Buffalo does not have a diverse set of employment options. Its mainly IT and banking. Yes, Buffalo does have hospitals and roswell and UB, but they do not hire from outside, its mainly internal people who get hired as most of the companies in buffalo have a family style management system. The best thing about Buffalo, is its stable housing market, compared to Detroit. I dont think its fair to compare Buffalo to Detroit, because they are miles apart and in no way are they similar.
I'd say that Buffalo, in terms of racial/ethnic diversity is more so than Detroit in the city, but Detroit is more so in terms of suburbs. Buffalo has a little bit better urban schools too.
You can't forget suburban towns like Tonawanda, Hamburg, Cheektowaga and West Seneca that are pretty big. Suburban villages in the Buffalo area have a similar set up like Detroit area suburban cities like Mt. Clemens, Birmingham, Plymouth and Farmington Hills, among others.
Buffalo also has plenty of colleges within city limits in comparison.
one has a great hockey team, the other has a crappy hockey team, and we saw that tonight
GO WINGS!
El Paso doesn't have a hockey team.
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