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I wonder effect what the recent shooting in Cheektowaga Town Park will have on the surrounding area.
Thruway plaza is getting worse and worse every day. Went there yesterday and there were 3 cop cars outside wal mart. The previous time I was there, a sketchy looking guy was going up to people asking for help fixing something in his house or something.
Some cities had a similar experience with white migrants from the south. Ashtabula was once a well-off city, until it was flooded by poor Appalachian whites during and after WWII. Some parts of the Cleveland and Detroit areas have white ghettos that are every bit as bad as Buffalo's East Side, with most residents having roots in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky rather than the Delta region.
I guess that's why they gave Eminem's mom in the movie 8 Mile a southern accent!
I've heard too that inner-ring Detroit suburbs like Warren are full of poor southern whites that came up several generations ago for industrial work. Interesting.
I guess that's why they gave Eminem's mom in the movie 8 Mile a southern accent!
I've heard too that inner-ring Detroit suburbs like Warren are full of poor southern whites that came up several generations ago for industrial work. Interesting.
I wonder effect what the recent shooting in Cheektowaga Town Park will have on the surrounding area.
Thruway plaza is getting worse and worse every day. Went there yesterday and there were 3 cop cars outside wal mart. The previous time I was there, a sketchy looking guy was going up to people asking for help fixing something in his house or something.
Such a shame.
It was an isolated incident. Cheektowaga isn't any worse than it was ten years ago.
Some of the responses on here are making me very discouraged.
My son is currently 2 years old and he is black. My husband and I aren't. How he got to be my son is not important for this topic. What is important to me is: when he is 18 and he walks through your neighborhood, what are you going to think? Will you see an accomplished violinist and graduate of Nardin academy, the son of a doctor? Or will you see "one of those hoods from the east side invading your neighborhood"? Should I keep my son out of pizzerias showing the sign of the cloverleaf? Seriously some of the racial stereotyping really needs to stop.
This thread exemplifies everything I hate about the suburbanite attitude regarding the city. I read the OP and saw others. Thankfully there are many people who posted that actually had intelligent things to say.
"Please don't let all the hoodlums from the city invade my precious neighborhood with mediocre houses on it and small front lawns where my neighbors gossip all day about each other and brag about whose foreign car is better." Gimme a break. I bet you've never heard of Nottingham, Chapin, or Depew Avenue in Buffalo. How often do you go to the city? Once a year? If you ever travel don't dare tell anyone you're from Buffalo. If you hate it so much and are so obsessed with saving your dear Cheektowaga then go tell people you're from Cheektowaga next time you're in Ft. Lauderdale taking your stupid cruise.
Apparently ignorance isn't bliss, because if it were, you would be happy as a clam.
This thread exemplifies everything I hate about the suburbanite attitude regarding the city. I read the OP and saw others. Thankfully there are many people who posted that actually had intelligent things to say.
"Please don't let all the hoodlums from the city invade my precious neighborhood with mediocre houses on it and small front lawns where my neighbors gossip all day about each other and brag about whose foreign car is better." Gimme a break. I bet you've never heard of Nottingham, Chapin, or Depew Avenue in Buffalo. How often do you go to the city? Once a year? If you ever travel don't dare tell anyone you're from Buffalo. If you hate it so much and are so obsessed with saving your dear Cheektowaga then go tell people you're from Cheektowaga next time you're in Ft. Lauderdale taking your stupid cruise.
Apparently ignorance isn't bliss, because if it were, you would be happy as a clam.
Don't let those people with the small minded ignorant attitudes bother you so much.
A lot of it stems from the fact that they haven't spent much time outside of Western New York and haven't had much exposure to African-Americans outside of those who live in the eastside of Buffalo, which tend to be very poor compared to African Americans in other parts of the country. In fact I was shocked when I first came to Long Island and encountered large number of middle class African-Americans (infact I would say that the majority of AA's fall into that category here). People only know what they see and if you only see a certain element of a population you are going to have a narrow view of that group.
Don't worry so much about what some 70 year old guy in Cheektowaga wearing a wife-beater tee-shirt thinks about blacks moving in. Someone like that isn't going to appreciate or understand why someone would want to live in a nice city neighborhood with historic architecture and they never will. You don't have to live in their world and anything you say certainly isn't going to change their opinion. Live and let live.
In all fairness though I have to say that that you may not understand why some people may legitimately want to live in a quiet suburban neighborhood with good schools and a simple to care for vinyl sided house. It may seem tacky to you, but when you get older and have children your priorities change. Being able to walk to a cafe or nice restaurant isn't as important as having a nice yard for your kids to play in or schools that may offer programs your child needs.
Also, not all suburbanites are racists, I think you would be very surprised how diverse many suburban communities are getting across the country; the school district I live in Long Island is 31% minority, yet less than 7% of students qualify for a free lunch. High Minority population doesn't have to equal high poverty or a bad school district. Unfortunately in Western New York this is often not the case and thus a partial reason why suburbanites may hold these outdated attitudes. Don't worry though, this will change in WNY too, it's just happening at a slower rate than other areas because WNY doesn't get the huge number of immigrants that is rapidly diversifying other areas across the country.
My advice is to just focus on making Buffalo a better place to live and don't worry so much about what Stan Stabluski out in Lancaster thinks about it. Many small groups have done a good job preserving Elmwood Village and parts of North Buffalo and as a result those areas are beautiful and stable. If Buffalo continues to improve maybe Stan's kids or grandkids will want to settle in the City of Buffalo.
Some of the responses on here are making me very discouraged.
My son is currently 2 years old and he is black. My husband and I aren't. How he got to be my son is not important for this topic. What is important to me is: when he is 18 and he walks through your neighborhood, what are you going to think? Will you see an accomplished violinist and graduate of Nardin academy, the son of a doctor? Or will you see "one of those hoods from the east side invading your neighborhood"? Should I keep my son out of pizzerias showing the sign of the cloverleaf? Seriously some of the racial stereotyping really needs to stop.
gonetoelpaso, there was another thread where someone mentioned that in S Buffalo the sign of the cloverleaf was supposed to be a warning to blacks to stay away.
my favorite complaint from Cheektowaga residents are how "people from the east side (you know the blacks) are making the Walmart ghetto or trashy" as if the place was a high end retail shop
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