What they are saying about Buffalo

[Live&DieBillsFootball]

Yeah--but do you want hassle or do you want more taxes driving people away---decreasing the tax base---and causing the need to squeeze more $ from fewer people.

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Taxes are already too high but the gutting of the parks and county services will make this area less attractive to tourists and people wanting to relocate. I think that most people will go along with a tax increase as long as there is fiscal responsibility involved. In other words, don't spend it on bureacracy and patronage. Spend it on making the area more livable.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Taxes are already too high but the gutting of the parks and county services will make this area less attractive to tourists and people wanting to relocate.  I think that most people will go along with a tax increase as long as there is fiscal responsibility involved.  In other words, don't spend it on bureacracy and patronage.  Spend it on making the area more livable.

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In other words... Spend it on things people use!

 

Unfortunately, that is what they cut first to hold the taxpayers hostage with their agenda.

 

Mgmt will always get their cut!

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Tax rates are realy a secomdary (actually tertiary or well down the list of the reasons I choose to live in a particular place.

 

Of course everyone prefers to pay less than more. However, I think this issue is pretty much a red herring in that taxes are not the leading piece which makes up the cost of living of s particular location.

 

Simple issues of supply and demand, logistics (Hawaii costs more for goods due to distance of travel, delightful weather and a small industrial base) and other issues determine far more than the relative tax hit the actual cost of living in a place.

 

I'd be happy and economically content in Buffalo even with a far higher tax hit because the real total costs of living here are so low. When I moved here from the DC area, friends would ask me about the cost of housing in a comparable neighborhood.

 

I'd say first there are no comparable neighborhoods because the lead economic engines (government in DC and a pretty diversified economy in WNY as the 40s-70s economic downturns cleared a lot of the centralized manufacturing economy out. However, in general you can choose to live in the size and type of house and neighborhood you want here and in general it is by onme get one free in terms of a housing comparison to DC.

 

From the Buffalo portions where are restaurants find it necessary to serve potions large enough for a diner to take 1 or 2 meals home in a doggy-bag if they so choose to availability of incredibly cheap housing Buffalo is an incredibly cheap place to live regardless of the tax bite.

 

We do have big time problems here with poor political leaders, but rather than this best being approached on the supply side with advocating tax cuts, a better outcome wiuld probably be had by seeing the same stupid fervor which Channel 2 and others devote to tax cuts would be to share inmformation and force more rational spending.

 

The problem here is not welfare queens like a recently passed away disabled senior citizen I knew, but the fact that for living in a high rise on Delaware Ave. near the hispital some rich developer got the the government to pay him over $1000 a month for her apartment.

 

Poot people are not getting rich off of taxes (hello they are poor by definition) rich people and developers are pocketing your and my taxes to remain rich.

 

I was raised om a Christain church an d I am sure most religions would easily see us pay far more in taxes if it went to benefit the poor. However, our money goes to benefit Andrew Rudnick and our local business "leaders" who run the GOP and to unions heads who seem a bit too cozy with organized crime who run the Democratic party.

 

I will pass on joining the tax revolt and instead am waiting for spending control which will still take care of the poor. elderly and disabled atop shoveling tax dollars to the insanely wealthy.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Tax rates are realy a secomdary (actually tertiary or well down the list of the reasons I choose to live in a particular place.

 

Of course everyone prefers to pay less than more. However, I think this issue is pretty much a red herring in that taxes are not the leading piece which makes up the cost of living of s particular location.

 

Simple issues of supply and demand, logistics (Hawaii costs more for goods due to distance of travel, delightful weather and a small industrial base) and other issues determine far more than the relative tax hit the actual cost of living in a place.

 

I'd be happy and economically content in Buffalo even with a far higher tax hit because the real total costs of living here are so low.  When I moved here from the DC area, friends would ask me about the cost of housing in a comparable neighborhood.

 

I'd say first there are no comparable neighborhoods because the lead economic engines (government in DC and a pretty diversified economy in WNY as the 40s-70s economic downturns cleared a lot of the centralized manufacturing economy out.  However, in general you can choose to live in the size and type of house and neighborhood you want here and in general it is by onme get one free in terms of a housing comparison to DC.

 

From the Buffalo portions where are restaurants find it necessary to serve potions large enough for a diner to take 1 or 2 meals home in a doggy-bag if they so choose to availability of incredibly cheap housing Buffalo is an incredibly cheap place to live regardless of the tax bite.

 

We do have big time problems here with poor political leaders, but rather than this best being approached on the supply side with advocating tax cuts, a better outcome wiuld probably be had by seeing the same stupid fervor which Channel 2 and others devote to tax cuts would be to share inmformation and force more rational spending.

 

The problem here is not welfare queens like a recently passed away disabled senior citizen I knew, but the fact that for living in a high rise on Delaware Ave. near the hispital some rich developer got the the government to pay him over $1000 a month for her apartment.

 

Poot people are not getting rich off of taxes (hello they are poor by definition) rich people and developers are pocketing your and my taxes to remain rich.

 

I was raised om a Christain church an d I am sure most religions would easily see us pay far more in taxes if it went to benefit the poor.  However, our money goes to benefit Andrew Rudnick and our local business "leaders" who run the GOP and to unions heads who seem a bit too cozy with organized crime who run the Democratic party.

 

I will pass on joining the tax revolt and instead am waiting for spending control which will still take care of the poor. elderly and disabled atop shoveling tax dollars to the insanely wealthy.

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Once again, I can count on you to explain it!

 

It is just so much easier to scapegoat various issues like taxes and the "welfare queens."

[Spiderweb]

Took the words right  out of my mouth.

 

Reading the quotes and remembering what a wonderful place Buffalo is in the summer and fall makes it even sadder. The local politics and economy have ruined a place that should be a place to grow a career and family, rather than just a place to visit occasionally.

 

You can say blame the politicians all day long, but the finger of blame has to go to the citizens and constituency that keeps electing the same bickering morons who can't even agree on something as simple as a frigging bridge. Wake up Buffalo before it's to late.

358308[/snapback]

 

That was the mantra 25 years ago, "wake up Buffalo"....

 

Sadly, I fear the bell has already tolled on our old fair city. Oh how I was it wasn't so, but alas.....

[SouthernMan]

 

At any rate, folks can whine all they want about Buffalo because they do not accurately describe the weather or even the economy (its not the Sunbelt for jobs but it isn't bad either-

 

 

 

 

 

You're out of your mind if you don't think the economy sucks in WNY.

 

Why do you think there are hundreds of former Buffalonians spread out throughout the south? Look no further than this board. There are hundreds of us, many of whom would love to be living back in WNY. What's that - the biggest coincidence in the history of the world?

 

We're not whiners - just hard working individuals whose careers were stalled by lack of opportunity, low wages, and high taxes. If your job is taxpayer funded, say in the public school system for example, you probably don't have any complaints. Total job security. But those jobs are hardly the foundation of solid economy.

 

Am I a whiner because I was fed up with the economic reality and left to make a better life for myself? If that's the case, we're pretty much a country of whiners since most of our ancestors took the same tack when they originally came here from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Israel, China, etc. In evolution it's known as adaptation. In Buffalo, complacency sees to be acceptable.

 

You're living in a dream world if you actually believe the economy "isn't bad either". It's only about the worst economy of any major city in America. It's people like you with that head in the sand attitude that prevents it from ever getting better.

 

Maybe your personal situation is fine, but for most graduates entering the job force, it's not exactly an ideal one. That's why most leave the area shortly after graduating.

 

When the day comes that you find yourself having to travel to South Carolina or Tampa to visit your grandchildren, you may finally understand what so many of us have recognized for years.

 

BTW - I'm starting to see a new trend that will undoubtedly effect Buffalo. The elderly parents of the boomers who left in the mid-80's are now moving out of Buffalo to escape high taxes and be closer to their children and grandchildren who have settled in places such as Atlanta, where I've lived for 20 years. Unless something drastic changes in the near future, Buffalo will be a ghost town in 25 years.