C'mon now, Charlotte is also home to Wachovia Bank amongst many other financial institutions. I don't think it's fair to say that the reason Charlotte is a clean, growing city is because their council is better than Buffalo's. You have to look at the large amount of coporate business that takes place in Charlotte, on top of the lack of unions in the south, lower taxes, etc... That being said, politicians can take most of the blame for the condition that Buffalo is in. I'm glad they're finally doing something with that land the Aud is sitting on. Now if they could ditch the skyway, clean up some of that Bethlehem Steel land, knock down the grain elevators, and get some decent leadership in there....they'd be back on track.