mobileCategory: cities
05/16/11 10:55 - ID#54300
For Real Stuff that Matters
I went to Pittsburgh this weekend. Then the thought occurred to me, EVERYTHING that the the Buffalo CVB is trying to do by the videos already exists in Pittsburgh. I for once went down there to see Greg Dulli & the Twilight Singers because they he never has played Buffalo for whatever reason.
What got me was the architecture, they have at least 5x the amount of historic structures that Buffalo has and most of them are occupied and in good condition. Also for me as a rail-fan, they never destroyed their train terminal, actually it still is in all of its majestic glory and connected to a bus station. While at the same time they have a real trolly system that goes places, uses an old Pennsylvania Rail Road Bridge and even have some old landmarks for the old trolly system before that was torn up.
To me what Buffalo is almost on the scale of Wheeling West Virginia in terms of old office buildings built around the same period. Heck they even have a nice old theater in town where their Philharmonic plays. I'm just getting tired of the "We Matter" "We're Real" Blah Blah Blah. To me if we don't have the confidence of swagger, no one is going to believe it.
The funny thing I remember about the whole response to the "For Real" video is that it didn't mention anything about sports. Sports and Concerts sell themselves. People come because of the event not because of the town. If they like the town after they get there then they will come back. That's what happened to me & Wheeling. I went there for a casino and went out of my way 2 hours to swing by and say Hello after coming back from Columbus a month back.
It's the same thing with Universities. What got me about Pittsburgh is how impressive the University is and where it is located. I was taken aback by the Cathedral of Learning and the immediate neighborhood as I went there for some 5 guys burgers and fries. Maybe UB is a public institution and that hampers things. If it was on par say with Michigan or even Syracuse would things be better economically? All I can say is that is UB 2020 is cut and slashed this town is doomed.
What got me was the architecture, they have at least 5x the amount of historic structures that Buffalo has and most of them are occupied and in good condition. Also for me as a rail-fan, they never destroyed their train terminal, actually it still is in all of its majestic glory and connected to a bus station. While at the same time they have a real trolly system that goes places, uses an old Pennsylvania Rail Road Bridge and even have some old landmarks for the old trolly system before that was torn up.
To me what Buffalo is almost on the scale of Wheeling West Virginia in terms of old office buildings built around the same period. Heck they even have a nice old theater in town where their Philharmonic plays. I'm just getting tired of the "We Matter" "We're Real" Blah Blah Blah. To me if we don't have the confidence of swagger, no one is going to believe it.
The funny thing I remember about the whole response to the "For Real" video is that it didn't mention anything about sports. Sports and Concerts sell themselves. People come because of the event not because of the town. If they like the town after they get there then they will come back. That's what happened to me & Wheeling. I went there for a casino and went out of my way 2 hours to swing by and say Hello after coming back from Columbus a month back.
It's the same thing with Universities. What got me about Pittsburgh is how impressive the University is and where it is located. I was taken aback by the Cathedral of Learning and the immediate neighborhood as I went there for some 5 guys burgers and fries. Maybe UB is a public institution and that hampers things. If it was on par say with Michigan or even Syracuse would things be better economically? All I can say is that is UB 2020 is cut and slashed this town is doomed.
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Drew has a great deal of hometown loyalty. There is nothing wrong about Pittsburgh to him.
Me. I didn't like Pittsburgh at all. It seemed like a poor excuse of a city after having lived in Philadelphia for 4 years.
Pittsburgh has a worse downtown than Buffalo does, I think. Pittsburgh also has had a lot of population loss and some of the outlying suburbs are growing much faster than the city. Neither Drew nor I are big fans of the casino on the water front. I don't think the public transit is much better in Pittsburgh than Buffalo. Their transit serves the south suburbs and that's it. Very limited. The bridges and tunnels are a nightmare for commuting. Parts of the city and immediate suburbs with steep hills are shut down in the winter because it's to dangerous to drive the steep hills covered in snow/ice.
Buffalo has a lower cost of living and we would never own the house we do right now in Pittsburgh.
The restaurant scene is better in Buffalo. My social life has been better in Buffalo. Buffalo geographically is more accessible and easier to navigate than Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh did have a better economic recovery than Buffalo after the steel plant closings and what not. And they did a better job keeping universities and sports teams downtown.
I would hands down choose to live in Buffalo over Pittsburgh.
What hurts Buffalo is not having a Hindsight guy..... Great highway system except it broke up parks that was connected... The Metro Rail great idea... But why not also still have traffic on Main and since we have great old buildings make it look like trolley cars. I saw and old picture with them and cars.... Why tear it up in the first place... Why stop using the Central Terminal? I think that once one bad decision is made it makes everything a political battle.... That is what Buffalo has turned into... Not hey lets do this or that how about doing something good for the city... I take the Seneca Casino as Prime Example #1. Yes the mob would have taken over the falls but as we see nothing is going on there any ways but so what... Someone wanted to legalize gaming (illegal my ass NYS Lottery) in NYS....It lost. We are a border state it should have been made legal and all that cool stuff Canada has could be on our side over looking the park based of Legal Casinos where we get the entire share there could be one downtown also.... The Metro rail could connect them. Go underground get off on the Island and go to Fantasy island... Have a station at Niawanda Park look at the water and go to Mississippi muds. Have a special Bus service that goes between the beach areas..... Something at least argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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