Open Buffalo Discussion Thread: Post Whatever You Want Regarding Anything Buffalo NY and The Surrounding Area's (Niagara Falls: rentals, amusement park)
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I'm a Bills Fan, a Falls fan, a Letchworth fan, a Buffalo cusine fan, a Sabres fan, a Sahlens fan, a Fish Fry fan... etc. Post whatever you want to say about the area.
I'm cool with the small Bills tax. Its not much but it keeps us on the radar. I have to say that I miss the Friday fish fry's... anyone remember a place near Darien called The Greenwoods?
Here is the ultimate Buffalo research link, you can find anything here, and I mean... Anything
i would also welcome any buffalo natives, or "emigres" who were around buffalo in the "pre-internet" days to share their memories here. i always had the feeling as a youngster growing up in buffalo that it was a deadly boring place, and that the best place to go on the weekends was to another city to party, but then, my mother, always attentive to the needs of us 3 spoiled kids, actually founded an entire business mini- empire, whose sole purpose was to make buffalo a more exciting place, for her kids, and for the citizens of buffalo, and to put it on the map, culturally. she ended up exceeding not only her, but everyone elses expectations to the point that she became one of buffalo's most famous and controversial figures of the time, (because of her supposed attack on her heritage, and friendships with the african-american families that we grew up with in south buffalo), and was eventually run out of town, (along with us three children). the fact that we three children are still alive is a miracle, mom was eventually killed, and i (her first- born son) am now engaged in a lengthy, drawn- out, seemingly futile attempt to get the feds to conduct an investigation into her death, and to wrestle mom's journals away from my younger sister and a pack of rabid attorneys, before they are destroyed. mom had worked for a publication called "the buffalo guide" for a time, i think it may have been when she attended state teacher's college, (now known as "buff state"). the "guide" was a small, glossy publication that could be found in motel and hotel lobbies, restaurants, and airport and bus station racks, it was free, put out by the buffalo area chamber of commerce, monthly or so, and had listed upcoming events, festivals and contained ads for theaters, restaurants, and the like, so that travelers and conventioneers could find a good place to eat, etc. mom also acted on a weekly live television program, (afternoon playhouse, i believe was the name) where she, along with a troupe of other actors and actresses performed a different play, live, on camera, every week, with very little rehearsal. mom was a petite, vivacious and terribly attractive italian/ polish daughter of the mass emigrations from europe in the 1920's. the story goes that our grandparents on mom's side had met on the boat from the "old country", that gram slomjiewski was married off at the age of sixteen , traded by her father to a polish businessman for a barrel of whiskey, had several children by this first husband, then with the help of her mother, (my polish great- grandmother, "bousha") actually DIVORCED the businessman, (not a common occurence back then.) and married our italian grandfather, john santuci, the man she had met on the boat coming from europe! grampa worked at bethlehem steel, as a roustabout, or laborer, in the smelting i believe until the day he died. (of a heart attack). so mom was considered quite a catch, and was "swept off her feet" by our dad, who had recently returned from europe a decorated combat vet. he had been wounded in action at the battle of anzio. dad was working as a mechanic at a garage downtown when he met mom, who was waitressing at "your host" restaurant, in allentown. (a downtown buffalo neighborhood, not to be confused with the mill town in pennsylvania with the same name). they got married, mom had us three children one after another, dad had just landed a job with the IUEEC, the elevator constructor's union, whose pay scale was many times that of the steeworker's union, a real "plum" job, so he bought mom a summer house in crystal beach, ontario, across the peace bridge in canada. crystal beach was buffalo, and southern ontario's coney island back then, the amusement park, which was a few blocks from the "beach house" (the family's name for our summer place) boasted the tallest and largest rollercoaster east of the mississippi. (the giant comet) (to be continued soon.)
I can't stand Buffalo. The environment, the government, the declining infrastructure, the numerous failing school districts, the poverty that can be seen on a simple drive down main street and a lot of the neighborhoods, etc. My mom's family is from Buffalo which is why I am here right now on winter break. I am counting down the days to go back to my school campus on LI and can't stand WNY at all. The weather is too extreme with long bitter winters, the summers are too hot and humid with little comfort, it's just not a good place for young people to flourish besides U of B here (which is the only thing holding up Buffalo's economy right now and keeping the young people around). I remember having a brief thought of going to school here but I'm glad I picked SBU instead of UB. It is a overall better SUNY school and in a more desirable location with reasonable distance to NYC.
Honestly, there is no secret that this is a failing city. I have never seen so many abandoned businesses and houses like I do here. so many run down areas and poverty. There is little to no pull factor that Buffalo has in comparison to other cities in NY and as the second biggest city, it loses immensely to NYC in all aspects. All of what I have experienced and seen here paired with staying with toxic and negative family members leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth regarding this city.
It's not to say that I didn't give this city a shot. When I came here the first time when I was 17 for the summer of 07' to visit family I tried to make due and have the best of the situation staying here. I tried to look on the bright side of things, etc. But after all those years and being older, I really can't excuse what I see anymore and except reality of Buffalo. It's one of the US's poorest cities and it really shows. Not even a facade can his its deterioration of this place. And although there are nice areas with newly renovated infrastructure in nice neighborhoods, the majority of the city is still declining and in shambles in comparison. With that said, I think the best part of Buffalo is Niagara Falls which is a truly breathtaking peace of natural scenery, but I'm sure Niagara Fall's is much better on the Canadian side as opposed to here in NY.
I can't stand Buffalo. The environment, the government, the declining infrastructure, the numerous failing school districts, the poverty that can be seen on a simple drive down main street and a lot of the neighborhoods, etc. My mom's family is from Buffalo which is why I am here right now on winter break. I am counting down the days to go back to my school campus on LI and can't stand WNY at all. The weather is too extreme with long bitter winters, the summers are too hot and humid with little comfort, it's just not a good place for young people to flourish besides U of B here (which is the only thing holding up Buffalo's economy right now and keeping the young people around). I remember having a brief thought of going to school here but I'm glad I picked SBU instead of UB. It is a overall better SUNY school and in a more desirable location with reasonable distance to NYC.
Honestly, there is no secret that this is a failing city. I have never seen so many abandoned businesses and houses like I do here. so many run down areas and poverty. There is little to no pull factor that Buffalo has in comparison to other cities in NY and as the second biggest city, it loses immensely to NYC in all aspects. All of what I have experienced and seen here paired with staying with toxic and negative family members leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth regarding this city.
It's not to say that I didn't give this city a shot. When I came here the first time when I was 17 for the summer of 07' to visit family I tried to make due and have the best of the situation staying here. I tried to look on the bright side of things, etc. But after all those years and being older, I really can't excuse what I see anymore and except reality of Buffalo. It's one of the US's poorest cities and it really shows. Not even a facade can his its deterioration of this place. And although there are nice areas with newly renovated infrastructure in nice neighborhoods, the majority of the city is still declining and in shambles in comparison. With that said, I think the best part of Buffalo is Niagara Falls which is a truly breathtaking peace of natural scenery, but I'm sure Niagara Fall's is much better on the Canadian side as opposed to here in NY.
Wow, well when you graduate into this economy and can't find work perhaps you'll warm back up to the area while living at home again.
Wow, well when you graduate into this economy and can't find work perhaps you'll warm back up to the area while living at home again.
Lol, I won't actually. Never did and never will. I'm over Buffalo like a lot of people are. I'm not going to deny the negative qualities of the place, but I see some people live in denial...
You're a very negative person and your post is quite depressing. Experiences differ, I am happy here and so are plenty of people. There is nothing wrong with being happy here, the cost of living is second to none and I value that. I am not denying there are negative things in Buffalo but some don't focus on the negative and see the glass as half full.
I can't stand Buffalo. The environment, the government, the declining infrastructure, the numerous failing school districts, the poverty that can be seen on a simple drive down main street and a lot of the neighborhoods, etc. My mom's family is from Buffalo which is why I am here right now on winter break. I am counting down the days to go back to my school campus on LI and can't stand WNY at all. The weather is too extreme with long bitter winters, the summers are too hot and humid with little comfort, it's just not a good place for young people to flourish besides U of B here (which is the only thing holding up Buffalo's economy right now and keeping the young people around). I remember having a brief thought of going to school here but I'm glad I picked SBU instead of UB. It is a overall better SUNY school and in a more desirable location with reasonable distance to NYC.
Honestly, there is no secret that this is a failing city. I have never seen so many abandoned businesses and houses like I do here. so many run down areas and poverty. There is little to no pull factor that Buffalo has in comparison to other cities in NY and as the second biggest city, it loses immensely to NYC in all aspects. All of what I have experienced and seen here paired with staying with toxic and negative family members leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth regarding this city.
It's not to say that I didn't give this city a shot. When I came here the first time when I was 17 for the summer of 07' to visit family I tried to make due and have the best of the situation staying here. I tried to look on the bright side of things, etc. But after all those years and being older, I really can't excuse what I see anymore and except reality of Buffalo. It's one of the US's poorest cities and it really shows. Not even a facade can his its deterioration of this place. And although there are nice areas with newly renovated infrastructure in nice neighborhoods, the majority of the city is still declining and in shambles in comparison. With that said, I think the best part of Buffalo is Niagara Falls which is a truly breathtaking peace of natural scenery, but I'm sure Niagara Fall's is much better on the Canadian side as opposed to here in NY.
I'm from LI and about to finish up my last semester at UB; so we're in the polar opposite position since your going where i'm leaving and i'm going where your leaving!
I actually do agree with most that you wrote. However, you can't compare Stony Brook to UB; even though they are both big SUNY university centers, they are two completely different schools. UB is centered around Engineering, Business and Architecture while Stony Brook is centered around Science and Health.
If the Buffalo area didn't have so much poverty then I would have little issue staying out there after graduation. I think Buffalo is now the 3rd poorest city in the entire country which is devastating. I like that the cost of living is exponentially lower than LI and I think the size of the Buffalo area is perfect. I truly do wish Buffalo the best.
Last edited by PrestigiousReputability; 01-19-2014 at 02:54 PM..
I'm from LI and about to finish up my last semester at UB; so I guess we're in the polar opposite position
I actually do agree with most that you wrote. However, you can't compare Stony Brook to UB; even though they are both big SUNY university centers, they are two completely different schools. UB is centered around Engineering, Business and Architecture while Stony Brook is centered around Science and Health.
If the Buffalo area didn't have so much poverty then I would have little issue staying out there after graduation; since the cost of living is exponentially lower than LI. I think Buffalo is now the 3rd poorest city in the entire country which is devastating. I think the size of the Buffalo area is perfect. I truly do wish it the best.
The UB is a great school and has an amazing Engineering program and buisness program, haven't heard of their Architecture program tho, but those programs are amazing at UB tbh. They are both among the top SUNY Universities out of the bunch, thats for sure. I was mainly going off of college rankings both nationally and international in regards to the university itself. SBU is listed as #82 as best National Universities and #34 in top public schools. The program I am in is ranked #32 nationally at SBU too.
I guess I find the poverty that is increasing to be Buffalo's biggest downfall and it's hard to dress it up to make it sound better than what it really is. Harsh truth and reality. This is what I have experienced and seen thus far. And although the housing is cheaper, due to bad family situations and lack of opportunities in my perspective career path, I don't see myself ever having a life here.
UB is the only thing keeping young people around? Just wondering........
I agreed with Zara Ray on that one.
Besides UB as well as the Allentown district (mostly fueled by UB grads/students), there really wouldn't be much at all for the young and childless crowd in Buffalo.
One of the few things that WNY and LI have in common is that they DON'T cater to young adults. LI has sky-high property taxes for homeowners (coupled with sky-high home prices) as well as sky-high rents (for the few rentals on LI). It's absolutely stupid&pointless to live on LI if you have no kids and aren't solidly middle class/rich.
Last edited by PrestigiousReputability; 01-19-2014 at 03:15 PM..
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former (famous?) buffalo native here. (part one)
