I disagree somewhat with the idea that our outer-ring suburbs cannibalize the older cities in our region. I'm going to use the example of my parents church congregation in Clarence. There are many there from among the upper middle class who are originally from other areas of the country and are part of the shifting middle management corporate chain. Yes there are others who were originally from the city of Buffalo or whose parents lived in Buffalo. Buffalo's suburbs act as suburbs do in other areas of the country--none of this should be a surprise. What is finally happening is that the city is beginning to understand the need to re-invent itself. My sister, an artist, is moving from Clarence to Allentown--opportunies for her are good there. Sully mentioned this earlier--cities and suburbs can grow together--one need not suffer at the expense of the other. Buffalo needs to accentuate its urban flavor and cultural opportunities. The surburbs will continue to provide a place for large companies to locate back-office operations on sprawling campuses. If companies like both, we need to provide both. I think Geico and possibly Citi benefit the area a great deal.
Secondly, I think people are down on the region because we have fallen from such a high place. Check out those
Gilded Age mansions featured on BR. Impressive! Buffalo will probably not recover the status it once had 100 years ago, but it can and should be and will be a great city and a great place to live and locate or start a business. We should preserve the past, but we need to learn from it and to a certain exent let it go. We haunt ourselves by looking at pictures from the past, from "the way things used to be," and saying, "what a shame--we used to great." We ought to be asking where the opportunity is and seek to bring history to life, even while reinventing ourselves for the future.
I'm definitely interested in hearing more thoughts...this is a great conversation to have.