Buffalo is Next in Line

Below is a copy of an editorial from today’s Wall St. Journal.  Whether you are conservative or liberal doesn’t matter, the point is that we are on a fast march to bankruptcy for many of our cities in America and Buffalo is leading the pack.  If the pithy politicians of Buffalo, don’t change their short term, self-serving, I need to maximize my pension at all cost mentality and their protect my power base from any major changes policies, we will be following Detroit, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio and others on the road to true bankruptcy. Buffalo needs a new play book with new authors because the current book ends at Chapter 9 - Municipal Bankruptcy.   

Today's WSJ Editorial:  Last week's repeal of Ohio's collective-bargaining law was hailed as a victory for labor and a harbinger of Democratic gains next year. In truth, it is more likely that unless Ohio's public-union labor agreements are revisited, the vote could come back to haunt Ohio and its Democrats. For evidence look no further than Detroit, Michigan.

Yesterday, Mayor Dave Bing announced that Detroit will lay off 1,000 workers by early next year, about 9% of the city's workforce. Savings realized: $12 million. Savings needed: $45 million, which is Detroit's projected budget shortfall for this fiscal year.

As if reading a script repeated in many cities—and soon across Ohio absent changes—Mayor Bing asked unions for "concessions" on pension reforms and work rules. Without concessions, David Littmann, an economist with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, says Detroit could go into default in four months.

Vallejo, Calif. declared bankruptcy in 2008. Harrisburg, Pa. filed last month, followed recently by Jefferson County, Ala. The causes are a combination of unmanageable public costs and fiscal mismanagement. The results are the same: urban deterioration.

As to Ohio, an informed school of thought holds that the labor-reform law was defeated mainly because voters came to believe it would de-fund police and fire departments. But unless Ohio's legislature revisits labor reform quickly, the state's cities and towns will face cash crunches that force reductions in services and layoffs. Ironically, opinion polls taken before the vote on Issue 2 indicated that voters favored proposals to require public workers to make greater contributions toward their health-care and pension benefits.

Detroit, Vallejo, Harrisburg and Jefferson County may be only the first wave of U.S. cities heading to the brink of bankruptcy. Too many more labor "victories" like that in Ohio, and much of urban America is undone

Time to Think Different Buffalo!

Two quotes to reflect on from Steve Jobs. A great visionary who built the most profitable company in the world through relentless innovation. Every day he challenged the status quo and had a mantra that we should all embrace in Buffalo...Think Different!

 

#1.  Because almost everything − all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure − these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Follow your heart.

S. Jobs

#2.  The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

S. Jobs

The time is now...Let's think different, build new businesses and show the world that even Buffalo can "put a dent in the universe".

A $250 Million Idea for Buffalo

Here is an idea on how to drive jobs,  revenue, sustainability, healthy eating while utilizing our vacant lot and buildings.  Not a win win but a win win win win win. 

To many people Farm to table may seem like an old concept that applies only to white table cloth restaurants with limited market appeal.  Take a look at the below link from Entrepreneur magazine on how Farm To Table is Growing the Economy.  The numbers are staggering!  Below are some highlights of the article as it relates to a fellow rust belt town:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220357

“Consider Cleveland, which nobody would confuse with Berkeley, Burlington or Boulder. Set in the heart of the Rust Belt, the city turns out heavy, Eastern European food--the goulashes, paprikashes and schnitzels favored by immigrants from either side of the Danube. Clevelanders aren't particularly healthy--in 2007, Men's Fitness magazine dubbed the city the "junk food capital" of America--and their income falls below the national average. Whole Foods Market didn't put a store there until it had 183 others positioned around the country.

Yet you'll find farm-to-table dining thrives there, too, often hiding in plain sight. At the popular Fire Food & Drink in Cleveland's Shaker Square suburb, chef-owner Douglas Katz has filled his menu with local products in stealth-like fashion: a squash blossom here, a pork loin there, the eggs, honey and butter in the popovers. By August, when the growing season is in full swing, he'll be spending half his food budget on locally sourced items.

That's where we were when the locavore movement began in earnest a decade or so ago. These days, the average metropolitan area in America still grows or raises less than 2 percent of the food it consumes--and it consumes a lot of food, some $15 billion of it in northeast Ohio alone each year, including the breakfast cereals, fast-food burgers, bottled condiments, frozen pizzas and soft drinks that are the staples of many diets. That makes the economic arguments for farm-to-table food compelling. Moving the needle just 5 percent in Greater Cleveland would mean $750 million more in revenue for local purveyors.

The last time a $750 million business relocated to Cleveland was ... well, probably never. So it's easy to see why politicians and policymakers are excited about the possibilities. Recently, five entities combined resources to commission a study by local-business-development analyst Michael Shuman and his two partners on what would happen if northeast Ohio managed to produce 25 percent more of the food it consumed. The report calculated that such a shift would create more than 27,000 new jobs, increase annual regional output by $4.2 billion and grow tax revenue by more than $125 million. "Local food is fast becoming a powerful economic development strategy," it concludes.

Think of it this way….Over the last 30 years, we lost touch with where our food came from...shipping tomatoes from Argentina, buying bread made in California and never thinking twice about the location.  Like many sustainability movements across the world, with food we are moving back in time to make progress.  Bring back the  local milk man, the chicken farm etc.

So….Why not Buffalo?

·         Let’s assume Buffalo is a 3^rd the size of Cleveland...assume we can grab 5% of the local food purchases across and we have a $250 million business opportunity!

·         Convert the Central Terminal into a local food exchange where farmers can bring their food and sell to restaurants, retailers and consumers. 

·         Furthermore for our long winters we can convert part of the Central  Terminal into Hydroponic gardens growing tomato, lettuce, and fruit all winter long.

·         Lastly, we put a concerted effort against building community gardens across the city. Converting vacant lots into productive green space that provides local food options. 

The local economy increases its tax revenue, vacant Central Terminal becomes utilized,  vacant lots get converted into green space and we all get to eat local fresh food all year long.  

Ok, it’s one idea. Not the end all to turn things around. But it is a concept that is Real. 

Bills are 3-0...there is no traffic and you can always find parking

While reading the pathethic Buffalo News last Sunday, Get Real Buffalo was thinking of the equally pathetic leadership of Buffalo (Leadership and Buffalo - Is that an oxymoron?)

Example #1 

Byron Brown said it’s important not to let the concerns over the Dollar General part of the project overshadow the other good that will come from it, namely “the job creation and the cleaning up of a blighted property that has had environmental concerns for some time.

GRB Comment – Giving money to a retail store does not create additional wealth in a community. I am sure Byron will bring up the benefits of giving money to a Dollar Store with his visionary Citistat initiatives. Hey he may even call it Byron Brown’s Dollar General.

Example #2

The county’s IDAs rely on fees from the projects they support to fund their operations. Since the recession hit, the industrial and corporate projects that used to fill the IDA pipeline have largely dried up, so doling out incentives for adaptive reuse projects have become an important source of revenue. The Amherst IDA, for instance, was running a deficit through August, but agency officials said they expected to be back in the black this month, after the fees from the dubious Prime Wines project comes in. 

GRB Comment – What this really means is they just need their job saved so that they can get a lucrative retirement package and head to Florida and leave the landscape dotted with stores that no one will have jobs or money to shop at. Wait Buffalonians will at least be able buy trinkets at the Dollar General and drown their sorrows with a jug of MD 20/20 at the local wine store

Example #3  

Q: The Partnership, and you personally, have at times been criticized for not doing very much. How do you respond?

A: First, I (Sir Andrew Rudnick) think it’s bunk. We’ve reported on specific progress, and we’ve done that because we feel accountable, and we’ve done that every year since we were founded 18-plus years ago . . . I think our track record is clear and it’s very positive.  

GRB Comment – Let’s see what has happened in 18 years. City has lost 20% of its population; became America’s third poorest city, urban blight is rampant and Forbes voted Buffalo one America's Fastest-Dying Cities. We are glad that someone is feeling accountable….

Now that the Bills finally have a QB who is leading them isn't it time that Buffalo got a Real Leader?

The Bills are 2-0 and Buffalo is a Great Place to Live

The Bills are 2-0 and it was a beautiful sunny Sunday in Buffalo. These are types of days when people of Buffalo walk around saying… why would you want to live anywhere else?

Just as the Bills 2-0 start serves as a balm to Buffalo’s problems, Get Real Buffalo  is like Jack Nicholson from a Few Good Men shouting a the top of his lungs…”You can’t handle the truth" ...about the region’s economic problems, lack of innovation and resistance to fighting the status quo.  

However, in respect for the euphoria everyone in the city is experiencing we thought we would strike a more positive constructive tone in this month’s post.

The idea this month is about immigration.  To drive economic growth in dying rust belt cities like Buffalo, Detroit, and Cleveland why not encourage and incent immigrants to live in these cities.  We have the infrastructure to handle them, we need their work ethic and entrepreneurial passion to drive growth. Mayor Bloomberg brought this idea up last month with respect to Detroit.

Below is an article from the NY Post talking about his ideas:

Mayor Bloomberg has a fix for the nation's immigration debate: Send 'em to Detroit.

"If I were the federal government," Bloomberg told David Gregory on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning. "Assuming you could wave a magic wand and pull everybody together, you pass a law letting immigrants come in as long as they agree to go to Detroit and live there for five or ten years."Detroit has suffered a devastating population loss in recent decades, losing 25% of its citizens since the last census. Meanwhile, immigrants are clamoring to enter the United States.Bloomberg says he can fix both at once.The immigrants would arrive in Detroit, "start businesses, take jobs whatever," Bloomberg said. "You would populate Detroit over night because half the world wants to come here ... You can use something like immigration policy - at no cost to the federal government - to fix a lot of the problems that we have."

Sounds like a crazy idea?  These are types of ideas Buffalo needs to break out of its slump.  Look at the West Side now, teaming with Burmese refugee’s trying to start their own American dream. They are turning parts of the West side back into attractive city blocks. Let’s encourage more immigration to our city, provide them affordable housing, give them education and the capital to start businesses.  Some people may say why not give these opportunities to our current Buffalo citizen’s who are struggling. To which we would reply sorry, you had your chance and you blew it. As immigrants drive growth there will be more opportunities for the citizen’s of Buffalo to find work. It is time for new blood, who want to work hard, build businesses and who are not married to the past or anchored by a sense of entitlements. 

The Bill’s maybe 2-0 but Buffalo as a city hasn’t had a winning economic year in terms of real private sector growth in over 50 years. Time to shake things up and bring a new team into town. Bring on the immigrants! 

Buffalo or Ho Chi Minh City?

You decide....

A New Buffalo Bills Uniform Won't Fix This Issue

There is outrage all over the country on the national debt. Where is the outrage in Buffalo over our debt? More specifically our unfunded liability driven by other post employment benefits (health care etc.) that is growing every day?  Our city is on a course to make the Greeks look like disciples of Adam Smith but instead yesterday, thousands of people went to Ralph Wilson Stadium to see the unveiling of the new Buffalo Bills Team uniforms.  We see the same level of passion when the Sabres change their jerseys. 

On the flip side, in San Francisco there are two billionaires passionate enough to fight over the unfunded promises http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/02/san-franciscos-pension-smackdown/ .  

Why do we compare San Francisco to Buffalo?  Two cities with dramatically different economies? Lets start with the facts: 

San Francisco:

Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) Liability is $4.36 billon

Population – 805,000 (Population “grew” 19% in last 30 years)

Median Household Income - $55,221

OPEB/Capita (Population) -  $5,416

(OPEB/Capita) to Income – 9.8%

Buffalo:

Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEB) Liability is $2.15 billon

Population – 261,000 (Population “loss” of 27% in last 30 years)

Median Household Income - $27,850

OPEB/Capita (Population) -  $8,238

(OPEB/Capita) to Income – 29.6%

Look at Buffalo's OPEB/Capita ratios and compare them to San Francisco.  Time to Get Real and Deal.  Let's break down Buffalo's liability to its major component parts.

City of Buffalo - OPEB liabilities, estimated at about $945 million for the City, with an

annual contribution of $58 million (as of last year) will need consideration

going forward. Despite the fact that funding is currently not required, its

impact will start to be felt in the next few years and a course of action to

deal with this issue will need to be contemplated.

Buffalo School District OPEB liabilities will loom large over the period. Current assessments put the OPEB liability at $1.2 billion, with an expected yearly charge of $137.6 million. The annual required contribution would increase the District’s annual costs by another $89.4

million. Although currently there is no requirement to fund this liability, its impact on

the district over time cannot be ignored as the costs are very significant, compound

annually and could eventually impact on the City of Buffalo credit ratings.

A new Bills uniform, a new Sabres uniform or even a new suit for Byron Brown won't change the numbers and the outlook for the future.  Lets Get Real and start talking about the liabilities we are facing vs. the colors of our team logos.

2 Pictures of Progress

A picture is worth a thousand words and these two pictures below are emblamatic of the lack of progress, false promises and basic incompetence that plagues this region.  

The first picture was taken in May of 2009 with the Canalside project being shown fully completed with businesses, infrastructure and buildings. 

Fast forward 2 years later and here is the progress that has been made on the exact same site. 

 Let's Get Real Buffalo and start dealing. 





Buffalo = Detroit

Buffalo census results: 

·         Population declines by 10% or 31,338 since 2000

·         Even with this significant population decline Buffalo has the same amount of government workers now as it did in 1950.

Detroit census results

·         Detroit loses 25% of its population or over 235,000 people since 2000

·         Largest population loss ever for a city with over 100,000 people. 

In this past Friday’s Wall St. Journal  op-ed section there is a column on Detroit and its dramatic population loss.  The point of the article is that the decline in population is due to a lack of economic innovation not seen since the industrial revolution.  However, instead of investing in small businesses, the government continues to invest in futile make work projects resulting in higher taxes for the remaining citizen with no resulting economic improvement.

Below is the article and as you read it play a word game…Every time you read the name Detroit substitute it with Buffalo and everytime you read Auto industry substitute it with steel industry and/or heavy manufacturing.

After reading the article, you will find that  Detroit = Buffalo. It's not about building infrastructure it's about building businesses.  

Detroit is just a bit ahead of Buffalo in terms of the acceleration of their decline.  Detroit’s multi-million dollar investment in a useless people mover (light rail) is exactly the same as our investment in a rail system that runs through Main street.  Buffalo needs to stop investing in infrastructure, as we currently have the infrastructure for a city 3 times the size of our current population. Instead, we need the government to invest in entrepreneurs and small businesses that will drive growth and develop jobs.

Detroit's Decline and The Folly of Light Rail

The country needs to unleash entrepreneurs, who will only be held back by tax-funded make-work projects.

By EDWARD GLAESER

The Census just reported that Detroit's population dropped by 25% between 2000 and 2010, a stunning fall that is even larger than the 20% drop Detroit experienced during the 1970s. The story of this city's devastating decline reminds us that urban fortunes depend on entrepreneurial human capital. Failed public policies that tried to fix Detroit with urban renewal and transportation projects stand as stark evidence against the view that our economic woes call for more federal spending on infrastructure.The White House's fondness for transportation spending may reflect the fact that projects like the Erie Canal had great value when moving goods was near impossible. In 1816, it cost as much to move goods 30 miles over land as it did to ship them across the Atlantic. Public investments in waterways and railroads created a transportation network that made the natural wealth of the American interior accessible.

Cities like Detroit grew up as entrepreneurs came to the nodes of that network. Hiram Walker moved to Detroit from central Massachusetts in the 1830s and made his fortune shipping Canadian whiskey over the Detroit River. Detroit Dry Dock produced innovative engines and boats that plied the Great Lakes, and in the process, exposed the young Henry Ford to cutting-edge engineering.

A century ago, Detroit was crammed with smart innovators who competed and collaborated in their quest to produce the newest thing. Ford, the Fisher Brothers, the Dodge Brothers, David Dunbar Buick and Billy Durant in nearby Flint were only a few of the automobile entrepreneurs who collectively invented the mass-produced car.

But Ford's big idea—producing inexpensive cars with moving assembly lines on an immense scale—was better for short-run productivity than long-term urban success. Once Ford moved his operation into the vast River Rouge Plant, that plant no longer needed the interactions that come from cities and no longer generated a stream of new ideas that could be borrowed by its neighbors.

Millions of people throughout the world benefited from inexpensive cars, but there was little reason to keep automobile production in Detroit once unionization pushed up labor costs and access to the Great Lakes became largely irrelevant. The Big Three started moving car production out of greater Detroit long before they started losing market share to Japan.

All of America's older, colder cities faced de-industrialization crises in the '70s. Education proved the best source of urban resurgence. The success of Minneapolis and Boston reflects their high numbers of college graduates—43.3% and 42.9%, respectively—and the links between their universities and pioneering firms like Medtronic, the medical device giant based in Minneapolis. In Detroit, only 12% of adults have college degrees.

In other cities, entrepreneurial talent was more important than book learning. New York's garment industry—America's largest industrial cluster during the 1950s—was hammered by globalization. But entry into that industry was easy, and it was a training ground for young entrepreneurs. A.E. Lefcourt, who became New York's biggest skyscraper builder before the Great Depression, started out as a garment producer. The economist Benjamin Chinitz argued that in those days entrepreneurship was taught at the breakfast table, and perhaps former Citigroup chief Sanford Weill picked up a bit from his father, who had worked in the garment industry.

In Detroit, the very success of the Big Three squeezed out the kinds of self-starting entrepreneurs that New York had in scores. And the high wages earned on assembly lines meant that there was little reason for many to pursue higher education.

The city's big firms, with highly paid but less-educated workers, made urban reinvention difficult enough on their own. Public policies only made things worse. The defining characteristic of declining cities is that they have plenty of infrastructure relative to the level of demand. Detroit didn't need the People Mover—an expensive monorail that glides over empty streets. And today, a Light Rail project is being pitched by the federal government, which seems to have learned nothing from the failures of past follies.

Neither Detroit nor the U.S. suffer from any profound transportation problem that can only be fixed with vast federal spending. The country doesn't need more People Movers. It needs unleashed, educated entrepreneurs—and they will only be held back by taxes being funneled into fanciful make-work projects in a futile attempt to fix our economic malaise.

Mr. Glaeser is a professor of economics at Harvard and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of "Triumph of the City," just out from Penguin.

Get Real Mayor Brown

On Wednesday, Michael Bloomberg the mayor of NYC was speaking at a conference of developers.  He said New York City suffered from shortages of classrooms, roads and housing because it was a victim of its own success. This is where people want to be. “Buffalo,” he said by way of contrast, “would love to have our problems.” For developers, “there’s an awful lot of free space up in Buffalo, New York, if you want to go there,” he said, adding, “I don’t think you do.”

In response, Mayor Byron Brown expressed his anger with a urological metaphor and said Bloomberg owes local residents an apology. "When I heard those comments, I was pissed. It was a cheap shot. Thinking about those comments, listening to them two hours later, I'm still pissed off. Buffalo is a great city with great people."

Our response to Mayor Brown….Get Real. Here are the facts:

·        In Buffalo, 36% of families with children under the age of 18 live in poverty.

·        Buffalo has the third highest vacant housing rate in the nation, trailing only Detroit and New Orleans. Vacant lots and houses attract crime, violence and drug use…and it spreads like a virus.

·        23 percent of the housing units in Buffalo are vacant….18,000 houses, or about one of every five properties in the city. 

Of course Buffalo has great people, every city in America has great people.  It was once a great city but it is now in dire need of repair and a rebirth.  Bloomberg is absolutely right so instead of getting “pissed” at him let’s get pissed at our situation and start to make some changes. Here are some ideas:

·        How about a strategic plan to deal with vacancy in Buffalo, vs. just tearing down vacant houses with no foresight?  Detroit is downsizing their city, creating green livable spaces and moving people into livable areas.

·        How about a plan to bring private sector jobs and encourage businesses to relocate to Buffalo with tax incentives instead of saying “it is a great place to live”

It would be great to have the problems NYC has…traffic, congestion, crowded classrooms, high property prices are all a sign of economic prosperity.

So Mayor Brown...Don’t get pissed - Get Real

The Tyranny of Incrementalism or Nibbled to Death by Ducks

Buffalo we need big changes on big thing to drive results. Instead what we get is small changes on big things (incrementalism) or small changes on small things (a waste of time). Get Real Buffalo is not aligned with any political party we believe that none of the local or national political parties including the Tea Party have the courage and conviction to really challenge the status quo and drive the necessary change to fix our system. 

However, in Wisconsin we saw for the first time a big step change with the challenge to Public Service Unions. The issue is not whether you are democrat or republican, pro-union or anti union it is about balancing the books and paying people a reasonable and fair wage for their work. When health care costs spiral out of control and wages increase faster than inflation public service workers need to face the facts.  We commend Wisconsin for dealing with its fiscal issues today vs. waiting till tomorrow and for making the tough choices. This type of Big Change on Big things shocks the system it wakes the community up to the major issues and motivates people to act. As you can see from the protests in Wisconsin it is also painful and it makes people uncomfortable but in the end these are the moments where courage and conviction will bend the arc of history towards an economic system that rewards fiscal responsibility and encourages and inspires innovation and growth. 

For the naysayers who believe Buffalo is making changes for the future…Here are some Get Real Buffalo facts that show how we have been living under the tyranny of incrementalism:

• Buffalo has as many public workers in 2006 as it did in 1950, despite the fact that the city has lost half its population. (The Economist – Jan, 06 2011
• In the year 2000 employee pensions cost NY State tax payers $100 million in 2011 they will cost tax payers $1.5 billion
• NY State employees pay only 3 percent of their salaries to their pensions half of what most state employees pay elsewhere
• The salaries and benefits of state employees add up to $18.5 billion or a fifth of NY’s operating budget.

So…what we need is Big Changes on Big Things. Let’s pick three big things drive them to completion measure the impact and then pick another three and then another three and another three.  Let us hear from you on what your top Big Changes on Big things should be?

That Vision Thing

The citizens of Egypt and Tunisia have driven unprecedented change in a period of 2 months.  This is the type of disruptive  change we need in Buffalo.  But we don’t need change just for change sake, we need a clear vision for the future of  how we are going to resurrect Buffalo from the depths of economic purgatory.  So here is a start on a vision to bring about a rebirth of the Queen City.

Small high growth businesses are the life blood of our country they drive innovation, jobs and create wealth. Instead of investing $80 million dollars to develop retail stores on the water front lets invest money to incubate small businesses in Buffalo at a rate never seen before. Business incubators are all over the world from developing countries like Rawanda to high growth economies like Silicon Valley. The idea is to create a community of small start up businesses under one roof where they can share common infrastructure overhead and knowledge. By incubating these businesses and providing a connected culture so that they can share ideas the success rate of these incubated start ups tend to be much higher than if they were on their own.

The BIG Idea

Set up a Buffalo Incubator Group (B.I.G.) on the water front that has a partnership with the leading Western NY universities to monetize new technologies  and innovation around three areas that were the original old growth industries for Buffalo that have now since past their prime.

1.       From Grain products to Health and Wellness solutions.  The empty grain elevators that litter the side of lake Erie are a symbol of how strong Buffalo was in the food industry.  The future of food is now at the intersection of food and medicine. What we put into our bodies, how we treat our bodies is just as important to fight a disease as taking a pill or seeing a doctor. Buffalo can be at the forefront of investing in companies that figure out how to solve the growing diabetes and obesity epidemic which left untouched will cause our health care system to bankrupt our country.  For context, roughly 86 percent of Americans age 18 and older may be overweight or obese by 2030 and related health care costs would double every decade and could reach $956.9 billion in 2030.  Futhermore, 52 percent of Americans will be diabetic or prediabetic by 2020, up from about 40 percent today.  Buffalo can be at the forefront of developing food products, technologies and health and wellness solutions that address the growing obesity and diabetic epidemic.   

2.       From Electric power to alternative energy.  New technologies in alternative energies from solar to wind to hydrogen. We can be the leaders in clean alternative energies just like in 1900 we were the leaders in electric power.

3.       From heavy steel to alternative materials.  Material science is a booming field. Materials like  new plastic polymers, fibers made from recycled materials or material that has the strength of steel but the weight of plastic.  Just like heavy steel in the 50’s  alternative materials are a future high growth industry for Buffalo.

B.I.G. will prosper without government involvement and without government dollars. It will be funded 100% by private investors who will gain equity stakes in each start up.

The naysayers will have reasons as to why it will never work in Buffalo. Lack of talent, lack of ideas, lack of capital to name a few…For which I say…if it happened in Egypt and it happened in Tunisia….Why not us Buffalo? 

THIS PIG WON'T FLY

"I have an old expression, that you can nail wings on a pig but you can't make it fly, and I'm tired of trying to make a pig fly. This political community here is so screwed up that I'm tired of it. It's just a joke."  Larry Quinn 2/4/2011

The Facts:

·         In 2008, Buffalo was second to Albany NY as top unionized city in the U.S. at 26.5%. It has probably gone up for 2010 because the denominator keeps dropping.

·         Buffalo has as many public workers in 2006 as it did in 1950, despite the fact that the city has lost half its population. (The Economist – Jan, 06 2011)

·         People in the Buffalo Niagara region tend to be lifelong New Yorkers. 82 percent of all people in the Buffalo Niagara region were born in New York. Nationally, just 59 percent of the people were born in the state where they now live. That’s an important distinction, because it means that the vast majority of the people here have known nothing other than life in New York. For them, high taxes and a government structure that heaps the state on top of counties, on top of towns and cities, on top of villages, is all they’ve known.

Remember the episode in Seinfeld when George decides to do the exact opposite of what he has been doing for years and he ends up with a job with the Yankees and a girlfriend!   To make this city fly we need to be like George -  Just do the exact opposite… what’s the worst thing that could happen???

Citizens of Buffalo...It’s hard to fall off the floor!! Now it's time for some solutions let's hear from you!!

The Facts

Buffalo it is time to GET REAL. No one can argue that this is a city that has lots of potential but if we don't make dramatic changes fast the Queen City will be known as the Peasant City.

The first step is to Face the Facts and wake our fellow citizens up to reality.  Then we can drive change with innovation and with a ruthless pursuit of tangible results we will make a difference.

FACE THE FACTS:

• Population growth (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): The Buffalo area lost 3.9 percent of its residents between 2000 and 2008. The only metro to do worse was New Orleans, which was ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
• Young adults (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): Just 24.7 percent of the residents of Erie and Niagara counties are between the ages of 25 and 44. That’s well behind the study group’s median of 28.1 percent, and it trails every single market but Pittsburgh.
• Housing age (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): The Buffalo area has the second-oldest housing stock in the study, with just 10.6 percent of local homes being built since 1990. New York City is last.
• Self-employment (67^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): Entrepreneurship is not flourishing in the Buffalo market, where 7.1 percent of workers are self-employed, the lowest figure in any of the 67 metros. The median for the whole group is 9.4 percent.