stephens44
On the Game Day Roster
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- Jun 13, 2008
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I agree. This is why I noted, "Great neighborhoods." Baltimore is a good comparison in that respect as it has gentrified neighborhoods (though it doesn't have Buffalo's aesthetic appeal). The poverty means crime in the poor areas. The center of Buffalo is rich with million dollar mansions, lots of arts, really good restaurants, etc. The Sabres are a plus. But dealing with a crooked City Hall makes the place less than ideal. The are a lot of negatives.
Your description, by the way, would apply to every city in the northeast except for New York and Boston. Then again, I liked Boston in the 1980s, when Newbury Street was rough & tumble, when a beer at the Pour House meant you were sitting next to a biker and not a yuppie in a suit. Central Square, I guess, is still charming in that way, but the Back Bay has gone the way of what I associate with midwestern malls.
Not to digress too far, but just to be clear; Buffalo is NOT gentrified as you assert, the honest to god facts are that it is reverse gentrified due to not having a viable economic base beyond state and federal dollars relative to its size.
Rust-Belt Cities Exhibit Reverse Gentrification, Says Cleveland Fed Researcher :: May 20, 2013 :: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Buffalo is one of the poorest citys in the entire country with over 30% of its urban population below the poverty line. As opposed to gentrification, people move to Buffalo for cheap housing and NY state's great welfare programs. Buffalo hasn't just experienced overall population decline in general, in specific it experienced "brain-drain" in the fact it was the middle class and most viable college grads and skilled workers that left while welfare types replaced them.
The tangible result is the subject of this thread and the comments made by the Bills faithful.
Sure Buffalo has a few positives, but for the most part its tough to overlook all of the trash surrounding the garden so to speak.
Go Bills! (to LA that is)