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....