GG Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 I saw a Buffalo Beast story on this book when I was in town in April. WSJ chimes in with their review: POWER FAILUREBy Diana Dillaway (Prometheus, 266 pages, $24) One statistic just about says it all regarding the recent fortunes of the once noble Queen City of the Lakes -- Buffalo, N.Y. At the halfway mark of the 20th century, Buffalo's population was 580,000. At the turn of the 21st, it was 292,000 and heading south. Diana Dillaway, a sociologist and, like me, a onetime Buffalo girl who retains a Niagara-size store of affection for her native city, has set herself the task of chronicling what happened. ...... Rather, Ms. Dillaway traces a failure of leadership in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, when the city's industrial base was collapsing and factory jobs were disappearing. In "Power Failure," her special wrath is reserved for the city's complacent business leaders (a type brought cannily to the stage by playwright A.J. Gurney, another Buffalonian). The city's WASP elite used its influence to scuttle three proposals that might have ignited downtown development. ...... Ms. Dillaway sees the future of her hometown tied to some sort of regional government, and she points to surveys showing that large percentages of city and county residents support regionalization. But given the political obstacles -- too many warring factions would have to put aside their differences -- it's hard to see a clear path toward such a solution. Buffalo's prospects are also hampered by New York state's high taxes, which discourage investment. ..... --Melanie Kirkpatrick Full review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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