Is Buffalo Once Again Redefining Success?
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007…I ask my WNYmedia.net friends to join me in a brief exercise of devil’s advocacy. We all know how to do that. For the purposes of our exercise, lets set aside our actual beliefs. What if Buffalo is still on the cutting edge and we just don’t recognize it yet? …
Can Buffalo Ever Come Back?
By EDWARD L. GLAESER
October 19, 2007
Buffalo Bloviator comments on the above Sun Times editorial:
The New York Sun story certainly supports conventional wisdom. But does the old popular doomsday theory explain the three billion dollars in new downtown development by our biggest developers? Does it really explain the current urban migration? Does it really explain the new wave of optimism and community participation that we are witnessing? Does it really explain how so many average individuals such as myself are optimistic enough to be willing to invest their life’s savings into our downtown? Or, are these just the examples that prove their rule? Perhaps not.
I ask my WNYmedia.net friends to join me in a brief exercise of devil’s advocacy. We all know how to do that. For the purposes of our exercise, lets set aside our actual beliefs and for the moment accept a different assumption. What if Buffalo is still on the cutting edge and we just don’t recognize it yet? Consider that during the industrial revolution it was widely believed that our region was heading down hill because we were loosing our agricultural base and the values that were part and parcel with that agrarian economy. Many people were alarmed by the flight to the city because they did not recognize this as progress at the time.
Assume that once again Buffalo is on the cusp of a new definition of prosperity -a brand new prosperity that once again requires brand new metrics. The new metrics measure quality of life. The new metrics take account of values that cherish water, air, time, and very importantly merciful vehicular traffic rankings. (I heard this week we ranked #2 for best commute.)
Think about it. We were among those few who invented big American cities. Cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles have finally caught up, but they came to the game too late. The game in this century is overall quality of life. Not density and congestion. I’m sorry but in my book you have no quality of life when you are stuck in a three-hour traffic jam every day and you can feel your lungs because of the poor air quality.
How does the average guy benefit by living and working in a density-and-congestion city? His take home pay doesn’t go any further than in Buffalo. He doesn’t sock away more money. He doesn’t get to spend more time working. He doesn’t get to spend more time playing. He doesn’t get to spend more time with his family. The only advantage to the old model of urban success is that governments can collect more money to feed their own organism. Remember, taxes never go down no matter how many new taxpayers there are. I’m doing fine in Buffalo and if I moved to an old 1800’s definition of success density-congestion city, I would not be living better.
Sure we hated to go through the painful right-sizing process we endured. Remember, our ancestors endured pain when Buffalo led the industrial revolution too. We hate splitting our families up and seeing our kids move out of town, but keep in mind that Buffalo was founded by individuals who left their families behind in Europe. They made the ultimate sacrifice for Buffalo and so have we.
Our predecessors struggled so that we could enjoy a better life. Thanks to preservation through neglect in Buffalo, their gifts have survived. We shed our old industry and replaced it with new industry. Moody’s has ranked us #1 in industrial diversity. We led and currently lead the revolution in adapting. The painful dues have been paid. Now Buffalo is on our watch. Perhaps we should use what we have and not pine over our lack of density and congestion. The God given resources that made us great in the first place are making us great this time around too.
Isn’t it easy to imagine that the density-congestion cities may soon be pining over what Buffalo has to offer? (Just wait and see what happens when they start running out of water!) Our next problem may be keeping people out!
Could it be that Buffalo, once again, is literally defining to the nation what metro economic success is?
By Howard Goldman,
aka Buffalo Bloviator
bloviate@buffalobloviator.com