Buffalo Nation

Mayor for a week

    Nation citizens, here's your chance. What would you do if you could make decisions that could bring real change to the city and region?

     It's been quite a week. New Census figures show the city's poverty rate has increased, securing Buffalo's status as the second poorest big city in the country. Mayor Byron Brown counters by citing trends that show Buffalo is turning the corner on its attempts at a recovery. Meanwhile, the area enjoys one of its best summers ever, showing up other regions with serious hot-weather blues.

      Everyone seems to agree that the city and region face a crossroads. What happens or doesn't happen now will determine whether Western New York's perceived "recovery" is real and will continue, or whether the region drops farther behind the rest of the country.

     If Nation bloggers have shown anything, it's their sophisticated ability to grasp the issues of their region, even if they no longer live in their hometown. So how about it? Poverty, crime, education, sprawl, that waterfront. What would you do if you had absolute power for awhile and could decide how to improve these problems that still plague Buffalo?

      Think big. You've got the ability to get things done. What leadership would you bring that would really make a difference?

    -- Charles Anzalone   

Suburbia and sprawl

Bruce Andriatch hit chords near to the hearts of Buffalo expatriates in today's column on the changing look of suburbia and the effects of sprawl.

Some depressing material in there (what else is new?), but it speaks directly to many of these issues discussed front and center on this blog: Where to live? Whether to move back? What will you find when you get here?

     "The column originated after getting an e-mail from a friend I have known for 30 years," comments Andriatch, suburban editor and native of the Town of Tonawanda "He cannot figure out why people would choose to leave places like the Town of Tonawanda and Amherst for Clarence or Wheatfield.

     "I kept trying to come up with an answer for him, but I kept coming back to the fact that this is a continuation of a migration that our forefathers and foremothers started in the '40s and '50s. The Tonawanda that my grandparents moved to in 1953 had fields everywhere, a lack of services like garbage pickup and mail delivery, roads and schools that weren't equipped for the number of people that were using them, and houses with yards and garages that were completely unlike what they had left behind in North Buffalo.

     "To me, that sounds like the Clarence and Wheatfield of today. And I wonder then what that means for the first-ring suburbs of today in 50 years."

      Feel free to talk back to Andriatch about his suburban saga.

-- Charles Anzalone

   

Start your engines

     Cars. They rule, both as transportation and toys. So Niki Cervantes' story on Western New York's car culture opens several doors into what life is like around here.

     A growing number of families have three or more cars, her story says. Most people still would rather drive than use mass transit (rider increases are minimal). And cars seem to be as much a symbol and extension of the way we live as they ever were.

     Fifteen to 20 years ago, young drivers with souped-up wheels used to drag race Friday and Saturday nights on Fuhrmann Boulevard. Police and a few accidents stopped that racing in the streets ritual. But cars still define our lives around here. They're essential to our livelihood and leisure. And they're more popular and prevalent than ever.

     "This is America," Clarence Councilman Joseph Weiss says. "You are what you drive."

    OK, Buffalo Nation. Your turn. Do you find yourself more or less vehicle-dependent where you live? Are cars more a part of your life where you are now than when you cruised Elmwood Avenue and Maple Road? What are some of the vehicle rituals you observe where you live? Are there any car-friendly spots around there (drive-ins survive on Transit and Harlem roads, and you can still pull into Anderson's on Sheridan Drive)?

       Do what we're going to do: Take a ride, put a car song on the CD player, let the wind blow through your hair and ponder the possibilities.

-- Charles Anzalone

   

Buffalo: A 'real' city?

Is Buffalo a “real” city? You know what we mean – technically it is, but is it true in name only?

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines a city as “an inhabited place of greater size, population, or importance than a town or village,” a description that seems to fit Buffalo. But just try and talk about the Queen City like it’s a real metropolis (especially to New Yorkers, who tend to refer to their hometown as “THE City”), and you can probably expect to be ridiculed.

I guess our challenge here is twofold: 1. What defines a city? and 2. Does that include or exclude Buffalo?

Either way, our City Hall’s cooler than yours.

-- Joe Sweeney

Requiem for summer

    In Buffalo, we observe rites that announce the end of summer. I just finished one today, watching the incredible Jim Tudini Band close out Buffalo News week at the M&T Bank's Plaza Event Series in downtown Buffalo. The News' week is always toward the end of August, and every year it's a sign that the glory days of summer are coming to an end.

     Is it that way for transplanted Western New Yorkers? Are there somewhat somber rituals that indicate September is coming where you are, and with it, the end of the summer lifestyle?

     I know what carries that message around here: Shopping with your kids' for school supplies ("Do you really need another calculator? Didn't we buy one last year?") Those honking geese flying over your house. Tables and desks with neat piles of papers and envelopes, an admirable but vain attempt to "be organized." To-do lists. These surprisingly cool nights and early sunsets. Shooting stars over the Canadian shoreline (August has always been the time for good meteor showers).

     That's my chronicle of the end of Buffalo's celebrated summer. Anyone want to add their own, either from where they live now or their memories of their hometown? In a few weeks, you'll see how much has changed.

     -- Charles Anzalone

Buffalo alumni

     Click here to read a story in today's News on Dennis R. Schrader, a Buffalo native and Hutch-Tech grad who as deputy administrator in the Federal Emergency Management Agency puts him in charge of disaster preparedness for all of the U.S.

    Schrader, 54, had high ambitions, telling his teachers he was going to be president someday. That's not unusual for Buffalo natives, many of whom have landed in influential spots in a variety of professions.

There are the usual suspects: Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Hollywood writers Tom Fontana and David Milch, actress Christine Baranski, etc.

Which brings up the subject of the greater Buffalo community. We'd like to hear about Western New York natives in high-profile positions or those doing meaningful work where you live now.

Give us their names and tell us about the contributions they are making (hey, you can include yourself or someone you know personally). Think of this as a roll call.

Buffalo pride comes in many forms and from many addresses.

-- Charles Anzalone
    

The Bass Pro question

     Those with any level of Buffalo awareness know the city's waterfront is a symbol of potential and dysfunction. And that's why the ongoing Bass Pro soap opera continues to trigger as many emotions as "The Days of Our Lives."

The panel overseeing development of Buffalo's much-maligned waterfront is now considering moving the big box store away from the historic part of the redeveloped waterfront. Click here to read Sunday's story.

Others don't think that's far enough. The real action and potential these days is heritage tourism, they say, and Buffalo's rich history as the original site of the Erie Canal gives the city a big card to play. Allowing Bass Pro to occupy prime location would taint something that one News writer called Buffalo's "plot of American history."

Which should it be? Does Buffalo's long-squandered waterfront need some commercial draw to attract the kind of visitor traffic that would transform it into something other than a national joke? Or would it cheapen the old Canal Village environment at the center of a history-based plan already approved by the state and citizen groups?

Tell us what you think. How does waterfront development work where you live? Is cultural or heritage tourism enough? Or would Buffalo be better off making Bass Pro a central part of its development? After all, the waterfront needs something, right? Or is catering to an out-of-town retailer just another example
of a city so desperate for any kind of progress, it's ready to sell its authenticity?

- Charles Anzalone

New neighbors

To all those people out there weighing the pros and cons of life in Western New York, consider the outlook of Rick and Jess Su, a young couple who have moved to Buffalo. (Full disclosure here: they're my neighbors.)

The couple moved into a big house on the corner the first weekend of July, starting their Buffalo experience by going to the Taste of Buffalo. They came from Boston, where they both worked professional jobs and relocated so Rick, 28, could take a job teaching at the UB law school. Jess, 27, continues the research she did for Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The Sus only previous connection to Buffalo had been warnings from their relatives, but their experience so far sounds like a page from the book of Buffalo's virtues.

"It seems like a good place to put down your roots," says Jess. "We lived in Hollywood before. It's a fun place to live, but not someplace to raise your children. I really loved Boston, but it's very difficult to afford a house. You can afford a different quality of life here."

That quality of life has impressed them. Shakespeare in the Park, the summer Garden Walks, the diversity of restaurants, the warmth of the people. Jess says -- believe it or not -- she even liked downtown and loved the tour of City Hall.

"There's a different feel here than other urban environments," she says. "Everyone is very warm. People are more likely to look you in the eye. It doesn't sound like a big thing, but it makes a difference."

Feel free to give the Sus the benefit of your experience. Any tips on what they should see and do? They welcome suggestions because they plan to be here for awhile.

- Charles Anzalone    
 

Celebrated stereotypes

  Buffalonians tend to be a friendly, relaxed folk, but there are a few things that will make us pop an outsider in the mouth.

To the rest of the world, Buffalo means snow, chicken wings and other fatty foods, and monumental sports choke-jobs. We all know the drill: Bring up any of these topics and expect some serious mocking. And grumbling.

But are we missing anything, dear expatriates? Are there any stereotypes about Buffalo that we haven't caught onto yet? When you tell people you're from Buffalo, do you ever hear anything other than a snow or Super Bowl joke?

If there's anything else for us to get mad and self-righteous about, we need to know. But speak up --it's tough for us to hear, with the snow piled up to our ears and the rush of everyone under the age of 60 leaving for the Carolinas.
    
     -- Joe Sweeney

Johnnie Ryan in a bottle

  Pop made by Johnnie Ryan Beverage Co. was the soda of choice for scores of people who grew up in Niagara County.

   Today the company in Niagara Falls is run Paul Jr. and John Janik, the sons of the former owner. They are expanding the number of drinks made and selling them in more places.

   Their latest beverage is a throw-back soda made with real cane sugar and served in glass bottles. The Janiks say sales are growing fast.

    Johnnie Ryan pop is one of those products, like Sahlen's hot dogs and Anchor Bar chicken wings, whose reach exceeds its geography. Do you think people will go for the new old fashioned Johnnie Ryan?

   -- Grove Potter