there's always a lot of self-righteous fingerpointing whenever these kinds of threads pop up, and a lot of knee-jerk solutions. i find it funny that, apparently, every single politician elected in western new york since about 1950 has been a liar, thief and an incompetent. if that's true, then western new yorkers can find the solution to the problem by looking in the mirror, right?
i think the region is as much a victim of circumstance as anything. you can blame elected leaders for lacking the vision to plan for what has happened, but i don't think that would make them any different than 99% of all the politicians in this country.
and i don't doubt some bad decisions were made along the way, but WNYs decline is something that, more than anything, has been a slow-gathering storm from the moment manufacturing started to decline. and it came about due to forces that were bigger than any mayor, governor or senator that has represented new york state.