Buffalo, An Expose Pt 1

I know that my blog is titled Buffalo Street, but I rarely speak of my home city. Mainly because this blog is available to a wide range of people from across North America and the world.

But I suppose I should give you an insight into my home city, and how it influences its citizens. This is part one of my expose into the mindset of the Rust Belt city of Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, An Expose
   An Overview & The State of Modern Buffalo's Economy
One thing you should understand is that Buffalo exists now as a  shadow of its former self.  Buffalo's city proper was once home to over 500,000 people. It had more millionaires per square mile then any other city in the United States. I won't go into a long detailed explanation for Buffalo's decline as it seems to be have been over-done. But needless to say a profound loss of industry and migration patterns have altered the modern city   Most of the infrastructure that exists in the city now is what was left over from the rapid build up of the city throughout the past two centuries.

The Erie Canal in Buffalo, NY (circa 1897 a.)

Buffalo today in 2010 is home to over 200,000 people, with a little over a million living in the metropolitan region. Plagued by a rapid decline in population in the 1960's and 1970's its become half the size of its former self. This has had an interesting impact on its citizens.

The citizens of Buffalo in the modern day are an odd mix of people. You have remnants of the former industrial age (ie: blue collar workers) and those that adhere to the new industries of bio-tech, and medicine that have thrived in recent years in Buffalo.  These two groups rarely see eye to eye on most issues. I've always viewed Buffalo as a city that is at odds with itself.

View of Downtown Buffalo (circa 1925 b.)

The people of Buffalo always wish and hope for their city to return to its "glory days".  But the two groups (blue collar works & modern workers) seem to have different idea's on how exactly to proceed. The blue collar workers seek a return to the dense industrialization of the past, as the modern workers seek a more diverse economy based upon the medicinal sciences and other sciences. Oddly enough, Buffalo still struggles to match other cities in both these area's.

I tend to be somewhere in the middle of these ideals.  I believe the city of Buffalo should focus on the new blooming industries of medicinal sciences and even to embark more towards a service culture. However, I see the need to cater to the blue collar workers by making Buffalo an inviting place for industry. As a citizen of Buffalo and New York State I can say that New York and its many metro regions are not business friendly. We have high taxes on businesses, and we expect far too much responsibility from them for far too little investment on the states part.  Though many believe this is a wider problem across the United States.

Modern Buffalo Skyline

In my personal opinion we Buffalonians should begin to become accustomed to living in a metro region of roughly 1.3 million people. We now expansive open space for our citizens to enjoy, and should be able to direct the local governments attention into making our existing infrastructure more efficient and more enjoyable for the citizens.

Part Two coming soon: Buffalo & Its Many Groups
 a. b. images via The Buffalonian