I would think most people in the world would consider Ottawa, the capital of a country with almost 1.2 million people, a major city. You however feel differently and I am sure you have a truth table somewhere to support.:roll:
Ottawa - 1.2million people
Buffalo -285,000 people
No comparison…
You obviously have no facts to back up your statements.
I’m done with this.
How does one find more information on this? I’m surfing the City of Buffalo website for information.
Oh, so all capitals of country’s are automatically major cities?
Besides it’s 880,391 of the city proper.
Including the surrounding metropolitan areas it is 1,146,790.
And since you want to base you population results on surrounding metropolitan area
Buffalo @ 1,170,111 is larger than Ottawa .
Here are the facts…
http://www.cityrating.com/citystats.asp?city=Buffalo&state=NY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa
But thanks for entertaining me during my MATLAB.
And here is the truth table…
880,391 < One Million
my standard
1,170,11 > 1,146,790
by your standard of including surrounding metrpolitan areas.
A tribute to how incredably stupid the government and administration here is.
No one is going to fix it because most people originally from Buffalo are too selfish to give a shit.
Audisniper is totally correct about people here being cheap fucks too. I would NEVER start a business here. People dont understand that quality and cheap dont go together in the same sentance. Its funny to hear them whine about being broke dick but they have no problem spending plenty of money on stupid shit.
Oh and by the way while we are discussing quality of life, people, economics, government, and other ways to compare Buffalo to other cities… WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK ABOUT STUPID CHICKEN WINGS??!
Unbelievable. Thats all I hear when people talk about this stupid city. Thats what it comes down to because thats the only thing you have left as a positive. FUCKING chicken wings.
Ok - not to stick my head into a conversation, but i’m gonna throw myself in feet first.
Western New York, compared to the rest of the United States, is pretty much the armpit of the Northeast. Let me clarify.
The local government (specifically the City of Buffalo and Erie County) is a fucking joke. Politicians continually work to do what’s best for themselves rather than for the region. Can someone explain to me why Masiello and Giambra needs/needed drivers??? Why is was it necessary to increase sales taxes rather than decrease government and government services to levels which meet the diminishing population? With all this talk of a sporting goods store moving into the Aud, why isn’t this done yet (which I will follow with this point - how is it possible that the Senecas broke ground on their downtown WATERFRONT casino seemingly within weeks of selecting their location?)
Why is it that a $150k house in Amherst is taxed at over 4%? In California, residential property tax is 1.25% of purchase price.
Why, despite Buffalo being centrally located within 400 miles of 50% of North America’s population, still suffering from an economic downturn stemming from the last 30 years?
For those of you that believe that being able to purchase a 2000 sq ft house with 1/2 acre of land for less than $150k is a good thing, then I hope you’re happy living under that blissful rock of ignorance. It is definitely not a good thing when the average residential transaction in the US is over $275k and your region had less than 450 transactions over $150k in 2004.
Aside from economics, taxes and the government, Western New York does have a number of attractive features. Schools are pretty good. Shopping is convienent. The change of seasons is nice, and the summers are comfortable. But every other plus ( cost of housing, lack of traffic, etc…) comes with a heavy price. The fact that the average household with 2 incomes makes less than the price of a BMW 5 series.
FUCK WESTERN NEW YORK. I refuse to live in a place where I am doomed to be stuck in an economic hole you cannot climb out. WNY is perfect for people already making 6 figures. But if you think that climbing the ladder in WNY is going to get you that salary, better think again.
I actually like WNY and I will cherish the 13 1/2 years I spent there. But I am so fucking happy I left.
For those of you thinking of leaving, you’ll regret taking so long to leave once you do. Life is nice when everyone around you is making good money.
i have to disagree with that one
i think i have been to a fair amount of states/cities and even off of this continent, and i have NEVER gotten wings from outside this area that come close to what i am used to
buffalo wings > *.
I love this city, always will. I grew up on its East Side and I wouldnt trade that for anything. Ive been through our super bowl losses, blizzards, and no-goals. Ive watched the subway to no where go no where. It kills me that a town with a rich history and good education (private + collegiate anyway), cant get its act together, but I wont give up on it. Maybe some day I’ll be at a point where I can even help it. In the meantime, I take our flaws for the benefits I receive: Good weather, fast commuting, cheap land, proximity to big city and small town alike, my family, friends, and a town with a chip on its shoulder, which is something Id like to see them actually build around.
Im also a product of Buffalo’s pizza/wings industry, and I’ll put my work up against any. Ive traveled, Im well aware that you get shit beer and shit pizza in most places. In the places that do ‘get it’, they often got it from us.
Anyway… You have to realize that yes, there is corrupt politicians… but there are everywhere. They might be a little worse here, but it is nothing we cannot work around at this point. We need to make this city better for ourselves, we cannot depend on the government to do it for us at this point.
There are people making differences around here, but you cannot see it with blinders on.
I am glad you left if this is the way you feel… I hate to see people leave, but hey, if thats what you feel will make your life better, well more power to you, I wish you the best.
I will try make a difference in this city, whether I can make one shitty corner beautiful, start my small business in buffalo, or maybe someday have the opportunity to make a bigger difference, I am dedicated to doing my part.
I have moved out of buffalo… I moved out for 3 years. I love it here, and even though i used to have some of the same feelings as you, once I opened my eyes, I realized there is just so much potential, so much already happening and so much to offer here.
Here is an article someone sent me a couple months ago that is pretty interesting.
he 1990s couldn’t have been better
in California’s Silicon Valley. Dot-
coms and other high-tech business-
es popped up on a daily basis. Entry-level
workers became millionaires almost as
rapidly (on paper, anyway). Prosperity
seemed boundless and endless.
As for Western New York? Well, you
remember the 1990s. Factory closings,
layoffs, a stagnant real-estate market.
Fairly depressing, all in all.
But things have changed.
Silicon Valley’s economy may have
inflated like a balloon in the past decade,
but it deflated even more rapidly at the
dawn of this one. Western New York, on
the other hand, has been showing some
life. Just look at three key indicators:
Job growth
The numbers still aren’t that good
here, with the Buffalo area losing 10,800
jobs between 2000 and 2004. But that’s
fantastic compared to the loss of 183,100
jobs in San Jose, a/k/a Silicon Valley.
And Buffalo showed some upward
movement during the final year of that
period, gaining 1,700 jobs in 2004. San
Jose lost 8,900.
Housing affordability
No contest. The typical home in
the Buffalo area is valued at $93,900;
the same house in the San Francisco
Bay area (which includes San Jose) is
$689,200. Paychecks would have to
be 7.3 times larger in Silicon Valley to
offer the same purchasing power as in
Western New York. The differential is
actually just 1.6.
Income growth
Per capita income — the amount
earned by the average person — has
been growing in Buffalo at the annual
pace of 2.3 percent since this decade
began. That’s faster than the national
average (1.8 percent), and it’s light-
years ahead of San Jose, where income
levels are shrinking 4.8 percent a year.
A word of caution from Gary Keith,
M&T Bank’s regional economist: It will
be tough, given the job situation here,
to sustain Buffalo’s current pace of
income growth. “I wouldn’t expect it to
last a long time,” he says.
Keith has a good point, but we’ve just
scored a clean sweep over the economic
champion of the 1990s. Let’s savor that
for a moment first.
CamaroJoe: PM me, I have some of the paperwork and Lou is sending me other paperwork. I can also send you to some websites.
Everyone else… Bookmark www.buffalorising.com
Check it out… daily. You will find out SOOOO much about this city that you have never known about, or have forgotten about.
LOL - I find it so twisted that you would actually choose an editorial blurb that tries to compare the economic powerhouse that the Bay Area / San Jose still is and WNY’s so called economy.
Out of curiosity, can anyone name any Fortune 500 company headquartered in Buffalo?
LOL - the blurb goes even as far as saying that the salary differential b/w Buffalo and San Jose is 1.6x. That means that if you made $24,500 / year in WNY, you would be making over $39k /yr on the West Coast. BTW - in 2000, the median HOUSEHOLD income in Buffalo was $24,500. I believe 2% increase of that is roughly $500 dollars - or equivilant of the tax refund GW gave us a few years back.
How about some more perspective - the local fast food burger chain has promiment signage offering jobs starting at $10/hour.
By the way, that was a trick question I asked - there are NO Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Buffalo.
don’t feel like reading the whole thread, but i did read the whole article, and it brings me to think about all the people you talk to around here, " oh i’m getting out of this shit hole of a town as soon as i can "
and most of them never do, nor do they want to…they are simply conforming with what they hear in the media and from people that live from outside of buffalo…
this is truly a great city to live in, economically, it’s had it’s rough times, such as now…but overall, this is a very historically important city to the entire country’s past, and as far as the ever so common complaint about the weather, we are among the best climate patterns that exist up here…
there are very few places in the whole country that have NO natural disasters…other than a blizzard, which even here is relatively rare…we get a '77 once every 50 years or so…and even in bad winters, we get maybe 6 to 10 feet at most the whole time…
and i’ve said this many MANY times…to all the people that hold the fact that we have some cold and snow half the year against us and against our decision to stay here…
i would MUCH rather shovel snow every now and then out of my driveway, than shovel mud out of my livingroom…rather than picking up tiles from my roof, rather than digging through devastation for memories and pictures once inside my house, now all over my yard that is not littered with a pile of what use to be house…
we have it VERY good up here, and many people that hate it just dont realize what good there is to be said and had about this city…
/rant
You are so clueless its almost funny but kinda sad
i 
buffalo, i’m a hometown boy and probably always bill be, and i’m totally cool with that…
you go south and get all those great job opportunities they have, i’ll be doing just fine up here…not having to spend all my money rebuilding my home…and i’m not just saying that because of the events of this past hurricane season, but because of all of history, almost all of the southeast gets hit every year, and no hurricane is an easy one…nor are tornados…
dont hate me for having pride in where i live, it’s not like i’m hating on other places in the country…i’m sure i’ll have a few winter homes a bit further south in the future no doubt about it…i’m just hating on the blind one-sided mentality that so many people have, from here or not, that just hate the city
The ironic part is the blind one sided people are the ones that live here, say its so great, but have not been anywhere else to make a comparison. I think its ok if you like it here and want to stay here. A person has a great deal of attachment to where they were born and raised. There is nothing wrong with that.
My hatred for this city is not blind … I have lived in other places and visited many more to actually have perspective. Nor is it one sided. I am one of the most practical, open minded, up front and honest people you will meet. I tell it like it is, good or bad.
Headquartered, no, but I work for a Fortune 100 company here in Buffalo…
I find it funny that some who hate it says the ones who support it are ignorant or blind. Pretty bold statement, and a pretty foolish one.
I dont know how many places I need to see: new york, toronto, cleveland, orlando, charlotte, honolulu, pittsburgh, philadelphia, atlanta, washington, etc etc Is that enough for me to know there are good and bad in each and make a judgement? I guess I have to ask bc I apparently cant do it on my own.
Buffalo is what it is, low paying jobs, good education, idiot politicians, cheap land, and most importantly, home. Love it or leave it, Id rather see people fix it than bitch about it
o.k. NAME a place in Buffalo, off the top of your head, that has good wings.
I jumped out of this because I wasn’t around a wireless connection, but I am here at work, so I have 8 hours to bitch now… Ha!! J/K…
Anyhow, In all the places that I have lived, I just don’t see anything here worthwhile. I am not really a fan of the chicken wings anyways, so that really doesn’t matter to me. As for the food, that really doesn’t matter to meanyways because my family never really had much until we moved up here so I was used to eating dirt anyways.
Mostly what I am disturbed about is the people. Honestly, I have never met such lax, ignorant, selfish, distrustful etc… and just overall unfriendly people here. Recently, I was in Dallas Texas for a customer visit for work, and I had a 20 minute conversation with the gas station attendant and a few customers because they recognized my accent, and just wanted to shoot the shit with me. All, “Just because” I wasn’t from around me, and wanted to “poke and prod” me to see what I was about. It was nice to have small talk with a fucking gas station attendant just because we were friendly. While I was walking around the mall, it was the same thing. I would stand in line waiting for some grub and would chat with teh person in front or behind me, and they were very receptive to me…
I challenge anyone to go into a gas station, and stand there after you pay, to see if the attendant will just say “What’s up, how’s it going etc…”
Never happens. They would be thinking in their head, “OK, why in the fuck is this dude just standing there?” instead of just starting a small talk conversation…
Even while in Target to get a few things, I talked with this lady who happened to be picking up an item right next to mine…
Never happens here…
It just seems as though around in this town, if you try to talk with someone, it is more abnormal to them than to think that it is just to be friendly. Everone around here is more concerned about themselves, and don’t get in their way, than to realize that the small talk and socialization would let alone make this place 50% better than it is.
But, as for now, i need to get back to work…
is that why the wingfest is in buffalo, why have it in a town with shitty wings?
How come I hear from people throughout the nation that we have the best wings
And…say the best wings are in the middle of Northern NY…okay…
Normally though, I’ve seen that even away from Buffalo, the best wings are from those who orginiated in Buffalo
you know what alot of places outside the NY area do? They mix wings in plastic tubs
You have a very hateful attitude of our town, I hope you don’t come back after your 9 months are up
You might have us mixed up, I am outtie in 9 month’s.
I do have a hateful attitude of this town because of the PEOPLE here, the disrespect, selfishness, attitudes etc…
Trust me, you won’t have to worry about me comming back…
I will be happy in my new residence wishing that most people in Buffalo could come and join me and be my friend only because one more friend in your life makes your life more complete. (Not sarcasm) Teach them that when you are a friendly person, you naturally feel better about yourself and makes you a more respectable, friendly person.
This general shitty second rate attitude of people here is what get’s to me the most…
so whats HIS reason for staying then