Coming back to Buffalo, New York after five months abroad, it feels like a lot has changed. When going to lunch downtown on a weekday, every place seems packed - with people in medical scrubs pouring out of the growing medical quarter to patronize the revitalized districts around it. Buildings are getting complete renovations and new ones are being built in the Elmwood Village, on Niagara Street, in areas written off as "sketchy" when I was in high school as. There are cranes on the skyline of Buffalo (a sight maybe too common for comment in cities like Boston and New York) but a sign of significant change in a city that has suffered from severe suburbanization for five decades.
The loss of Buffalo's strong industrial base over the course of the mid-20th century put the city into a state of economic limbo, with no sector providing a strong base for continued growth. While by no means as devastated as some other Great Lakes region cities, such as Toledo, it still has one of the lowest median household incomes of large cities in the US, which lead to high rates of poverty and a cheap housing market.
However, the past five years have seen huge noticeable growth within the city proper, with new businesses opening up, old ones expanding, creation of vibrant community spaces around the harbor and restoration and use of historic architecture. This recent visible growth, however, is born on the back of at least a decade of private and public investment, with the most successful and vital projects springing from a combination of the two. By bringing both new jobs, restaurants, community venues and more downtown, Buffalo has a chance, though not guaranteed, to recenter the region and rebuild a bustling city.
The public spaces and parks of Buffalo have always been at the heart of the city - with the Buffalo-Olmsted Parks Conservancy being a highly visible and important part of city life. Stretching across a huge portion of the city, the mixture of large tree-lined medians, open parks, gardens and small lakes, with Delaware Park at its symbolic center, have always been a point of pride for the city. With the creation and growth of places like Canalside, the Outer Harbor, Larkinville and Allentown, new spaces are joining the century old park system as gathering points, concert venues, morning yoga locations, sandboxes and much more.
Working in conjunction with the growing medical corridor and other jobs, the new parks and public spaces are bringing an unprecedented number of people back into the city and thus, supporting further businesses and restaurants. While primarily supported allegorically, as reversing population trends takes significant amounts of time, the energy, growth and continued cheap housing market seems to be convincing a noticeable number of people to move downtown.
However, despite the many exciting developments happening in Buffalo, it can't just be assumed that it's becoming a perfect city. While a cheap housing market and many entry level jobs make it a very livable city, (also bringing in many refugees in recent years) job growth is still sorely needed. Projects like Solar City still haven't been completed, and the growth of the medical corridor and construction can't support the entire city. As more and more people are attracted to the downtown area, it also brings problems of gentrification with it, driving up property prices for the individuals who still haven't economically benefited from Buffalo's growth. In addition, the informal segregation in certain parts of downtown (as experienced in many other large cities) continues to be an unwelcome reminder of the “white flight” that plagued Buffalo for so much of the 20th century.
The recent rebirth of downtown Buffalo is by no means a guarantee of a future bustling cosmopolitan center, but I still can't help to be excited for the coming years. The number of events, restaurants and breweries I want to try that just didn't exist when I was in high school makes for an exciting time to live in Western New York. If investment and community engagement can continue in future projects, the former commercial hub of Lake Erie may yet rise again to national renown.
