\GoBillsInDallas/ Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 http://thespec.com/article/546676 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Who wouldn't be a basket case if you get bypassed? But fully 50 years after the St. Lawrence Seaway opened, effectively bypassing Buffalo as a shipping hub... No other city had to re-invent itself as BFLO has had to... All other cities are still living off the foundation what made them. Now, I am not making excuse... But, the truth hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 That's very true! Cleveland, and Chicago have made similar positive 50 year transitions while Buffalo and possibly Detroit have not. Detroit made many of the same "Pittsburgh" type moves with respect to the Downtown area but the way the Auto Companies are going you must also question their future. I was born and raised in S. Buffalo, left on 1970, don't get back very often, but was in Buffalo last October, for a Wedding, and the general condition of the actual City, especially the South and East side areas was shocking. I continue to hope for the best for Buffalo, but am beginning to expect much less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricojes Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 http://thespec.com/article/546676 That was one boring, uneventful, and listless article, the same terms which could be used to describe Giambra's career as Erie County Exec as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 That's very true! Cleveland, and Chicago have made similar positive 50 year transitions while Buffalo and possibly Detroit have not. Detroit made many of the same "Pittsburgh" type moves with respect to the Downtown area but the way the Auto Companies are going you must also question their future. I was born and raised in S. Buffalo, left on 1970, don't get back very often, but was in Buffalo last October, for a Wedding, and the general condition of the actual City, especially the South and East side areas was shocking. I continue to hope for the best for Buffalo, but am beginning to expect much less. But those other's geographical position and what made them relevant from the beginning is still in play today... To a lesser extent CLEV... But, it (geographical relevance) is still (or can be) in play today and the backbone of their relevance. Name one major city that has become geographically irrelevant as BFLO did? Again... I am not making excuses... What demised BFLO (Seaway) made Toronto and international player... BFLO was the pawn in the equation. BFLO is a geographical "dead-end." Continue to hope for the best... I'm not holding my breath. Sorry to say that... It is physically impossible... The only thing that can be done is what is happening... Don't fight it, let the people leave and throttle it back to a below major metro area status... And evolve around that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTS Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 ^ - I don't buy that argument. Simply put, Buffalo has not been reactive nor proactive over the past 50 years. It's the shame old crap: unions, bad politics and even more unions and bad politics. Every good idea this city has ever had was killed before it was even implemented. Nothing can get done because we haven't had one person step up and tell everyone else to sit the !@#$ down. This city and region is begging for a leader that will stand up to everyone and get things done his or her way. The problem with that is the special interest groups will never back such a person. At the end of the day, bettering Buffalo would mean dipping into the pockets of the groups that have kept this city from realizing its full potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 ^ - I don't buy that argument. Simply put, Buffalo has not been reactive nor proactive over the past 50 years. It's the shame old crap: unions, bad politics and even more unions and bad politics. Every good idea this city has ever had was killed before it was even implemented. Nothing can get done because we haven't had one person step up and tell everyone else to sit the !@#$ down. This city and region is begging for a leader that will stand up to everyone and get things done his or her way. The problem with that is the special interest groups will never back such a person. At the end of the day, bettering Buffalo would mean dipping into the pockets of the groups that have kept this city from realizing its full potential. Name one MAJOR (becuase that is what BFLO was) city that had to re-invent itself ground up from a geopgraphical standpoint and I will debunk your argument. Again... I am not making excuses... The planners knew perfectly well what the Seaway would do to a place like BFLO and TOR. BFLO was just on the wrong side of an international border. Geography limited BFLO to be a flash in the pan. First from shipping as it's ecomomic backbone (which still exists in all other major cities) to the electric age and the close proximity to the Falls with regards to the advent of AC (alternating current). Geography almost ALWAYS makes a place... And BFLO is a bad, bad place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 EDIT: No other area had the population density that the BFLO area had... In a way, it is self-correcting itself. I do admit, the obsolescence should have been planned... And that is where I fault the leaders for not adapting. That is a hard thing to admit and takes a very humble soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 First let me say how disappointed I was in the article. I was expecting a full discussion on what went wrong in Buffalo. Second, a good amount of economic damage in Buffalo is self-inflicted. Anytime the government sector is your largest employer you are going to get a government that is more interested in saving itself than fixing what is wrong. Giambra may not have been the best CE but he's right about duplication of services between the county, city and villages. Each one has it's own fire, police, EMT, DPW, etc that are full of union public employees that get good paychecks, benefits and pensions. But that's only part of the problem. NYS government is no model of good democracy either. Add to that various hose-job deals like how Niagara River hydropower is used everywhere but in WNY and you get what we all see now. There's no easy fix. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Anytime the government sector is your largest employer you are going to get a government that is more interested in saving itself than fixing what is wrong. BFLO performed patriotically during the two World Wars... There should have never been an influx of workers, especially during WWII, that the gov't knew could not be sustained after the war... But, who would have foreseen that, we had a war to win a nation to keep free! What truly was the home grown spirit in BFLO/WNY? There was always an outside expoliting it's resources (labor at the top of the list). Quite a conundrum and a fine mess. It is like a perfect storm that hit an area with such promise at the turn of the 20th century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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