Could we finally be changing? I hope it's the start of an actual comeback. Sometime Buffalo feels stuck in the 70's with the crazy amount of segregation, how slow things get going, and the amount of nostalgia people have for stuff that wasn't even good - like when your old relatives talk about AM&A's and Your Host and everything else that's long gone. Maybe that'll actually change now that we have more jugenden.
Although there were false starts before. This 1979 report at my work predicted Buffalo would be back 400,000 people in 2000 (actual - 292,648, 259,000 today)
ExBuffalonian, I think you nailed it when you said:
I still love Buffalo, which is why I check this site often. It reminds me of the tons of good memories I have there, but I don't think I will ever live there again.
For me, personally, even though I found absolutely awesome friends, there was nothing else worth staying for.
Sorry I didn't follow the Links .... One of Buffalo's and not only its problems is Jobs moved away like Trico .... And Sprawl that is why AM&A's and places left downtown they moved out to The Galleria Mall.... Then you put the train in and that made the downtown area a hang out for black teenagers you know school kids... People down town the last thing they want after work all day is a loud mall full of kids being nosey and rowdy ... Not to mention them hanging out at McDonalds Not the old guys just buying coffee and the movie theatre then would put in movies for them and you don't want to go to movies with them there..... Not to mention the Metro bus (Not know till many years later) wanted to go to the Galleria Mall... They where told no we don't want that kind here (now maybe they just meant poor people and wanted to be upscale) ... but can you think of how Down Town would have been if The Galleria Mall was down there or all the stores and the track :) One of the problems that hurts Buffalo is people don't do the right thing... Everything has to be Political.... Currently over on The East side there is this really cool old House.... They want a market but they claim it is cost prohibitive AKA they don't want to spend the money they would rather knock it down... Damit You ass Hole just explain it is costly and apply for help and have a market in a cool old building ARGH! That is how everything in the city seems to be don't get me started on Pano and how let that gorgeous house rot and then knocked it down...... Don't get me wrong that place looks great... But you know how much cooler it would be if the Patio was a Porch and you where in a victorian House eating :) ARGH..... But the fact that the waterfront is going good is great.... I just wonder how they can make it great for both summer and winter ......
It's really hard to say if Buffalo is coming back, and how quickly it will happen. I moved to Buffalo from NYC in 2001, because I thought it was exciting to see all the development in and around Buffalo. Everyone back then was talking about Buffalo's great comeback. Then almost 10 years later, the population had actually declined and it seemed like for every step forward (and there were many) there was another step back somewhere else. You know, one new building would go up, another torn down. One great new restaurant would open, another would close. It still felt like Buffalo was standing still, and I was standing still with it, waiting to finally be living in this thriving reemerging city. But I eventually realized that these things take a long time. Buffalo didn't shrink to its current size overnight, and its growth won't be so noticeable overnight either. I was just getting older, waiting for something to happen, and by the time all this change was noticeable in any real tangible way, I was going to be not so young. So I moved. I just didn't have 20 or 30 more years to wait for the city to catch up to where it was 20 or 30 years ago, into the type and size of city I wanted to spend my life in. I still love Buffalo, which is why I check this site often. It reminds me of the tons of good memories I have there, but I don't think I will ever live there again. That being said, I can understand why someone else would want to make a life in Buffalo. That's just my take on it.