Buffalo Rising Online

Buffalo is sitting on a great opportunity to bring in people from across the country by offering inexpensive housing and opportunity to those who are suffering from the financial crisis. We should dedicate tax dollars and private funds, potentially from a tax on suburban homes over 3,000 square feet, to fund construction and remediation of the blighted and abandoned homes in Buffalo. These hoomes would be marketed to those Americans who are suffering hardships at the hands of greedy corporations and unscrupulous mortgage brokers.

Entice these people to move here, let them bring their specialized skills, trades, and businesses to Western New York. Give them incentives to open new businesses and to make Buffalo their home. This would be a much better use of our tax dollars than bailing out greedy executives and the cronies of Congress.

Quijibo - I agree with your sentiment. The company I work for brings in employees from all over the world, and the majority of them are shocked at our housing affordability, quality of life and great sense of community and place that we have. It may not be new tax dollars that are needed, but redirection from other programs that aren't working, but have the same goal. It's about thinking smarter and long-term about what we need to do rebuild these city communities. We complain about our taxes being high here, and that's undeniable. But, here's a question we should all consider: Would you rather pay less in taxes, drop a ridiculus amount of money on an oversized house in Charlotte, Boston, Atlanta that you then have to furnish, but have worse schools and local services? Or would you rather have reasonably priced housing, and pay higher taxes but have your raods plowed, have safe communities, and have a fairly stable economy (we're not about to potentially lose 20,000 employees like Charlotte is with Wachovia). I've looked at living in other cities that are more metropolitan, and they can't take Buffalo on affordability of living here, and the cost of living we have, and that all goes to quality of life (oh and I like my 15-20 min "commute" to work too).

I like how they are focusing on one small area. Better an entire stable border community than randomly plucking away at a house on the east side here and a house on the west side there. Though I would have preferred if they were focusing on the west side. It has more hope and potential in my opinion.

Quijibo, You would just drive out the suburbanites too.

I think Quijibo is on to something here, the economic crisis and high cost of oil could shift population and development back into the city. Sprawl is just too expensive and we all pay the price that benefits the few.

PaulBuffalo: '...I'm all for Quijibo's desire to entice residents to Buffalo, but the best way to do that is to form a metropolitan government that includes all of Erie County in order to streamline government and reduce operating costs. I'm shocked that citizens in the area are not forcefully pushing for that to happen...'

First, for better or worse, that's not going to happen - mainly because a lot of city residents want to feel represented by urban politicians and won't want to cede a lot of political power to the big majority (70%) of Erie Co. residents who live outside the city and risk occasionally falling under Republican governing. Also residents outside the city would be leery of having to fund the city political machine.

Second, even if it happened there's no reason to think it would make much reduction in operating costs, most of which are personnel (salaries, benefits, pensions) for non-magangement public employees who would still be needed in roughly the same numbers as now. Police, fire, teachers, parks workers, highway and public works, etc., etc. A smaller number of politicains and administrators would be nice but just doesn't make up a big percent of the budgets when all added together. I'm not saying it wouldn't be worth doing, but the upside seems exaggerated a lot.

Third, even if it did amazinigly happen, and if it did somehow make a serious reduction in operating costs, there's no reason to think that would entice a lot of people in the suburbs decide to move in the city as Paul says it would. Whatever reasons people currently have to live where they live would still exist. How would a municipal govt make someone want to move into the city who currently doesn't want to?

Other than all that it sounds like a great plan.

I have a dumb idea..........Let's reform Medicaid and free up some $$$$$$$ that funds irresponsibility. JUst a stupid thought!

Alo,

Socialism is a bad idea! We have the best healthcare system in the world and by socializing it would ruin them prestige, if you will. Talk to anyone from Canada and they will tell how their system sucks!

al-alo

Yeah, that would be a hard sell. Imagine some Canadian politician trying to run on the "I promise to take your healthcare away and replace it with a costly in-crowd insurance racket like the US" platform. Once a nation enacts a universal healthcare plan, it seems only a coup would displace it.

Alo,

I know of several Canadian's who come over to the US to get better care. There complaints are due to long waits and lack of experts in the medical community! Its the same with socializing the banking industry. Without the free market, all of the brilliant minds will be gone due to no incentive. Granted we are dealing with the corruption issue right now, it is still the truth

Paul you are correct that there are 40 million without heathcare but that is for good reason. We as a society punish productivity and subsidize irresponsibility. I own a some property in the city and have tried sec 8 and got a good education on our societey's problem. They abuse their utility use, sell food stamps for drugs, and one tenant of mine never was able to pay the rent but she has a 60 inch tv. Those 40 million are entitlement seekers. That's the problem. Government is supposed to monitor, not be the caretaker.

Paul - I see what you're saying about metro govt efficiencies making WNY at least less unattractive. However I just don't think it would make the city more attractive compared to the burbs more than the current set up - which I think was what was suggested, but sorry if I misunderstood your previous comment.

The optimism vs. pessimism doesn't seem relevant to me. Political views of city residents in general are very anti-suburb. Of the nine common council districts in the city, maybe one (Delaware) might approve a referendum to ceede political control to a metro govt in which city voters have a third of the power. The eight other districts, especially more economically struggling ones, I think would overwhelmingly want to keep an urban-elected local govt - mayor, council, city court. And that doesn't even consider resistance from suburban voters.

I agree with you that a tax scheme on the burbs is a bad idea that would drive even more people and business away from WNY. Suburban residents and businesses already see a lot of their very high NY state taxes spent on disproportionate transfers into the city via state aid to City Hall and to the Buffalo public schools. That's already plenty of wealth redistribution.

Yep I get it now, you were responding to Q's city vs burbs with a constructive different idea re metro govt.

Metro govt could be a good idea in many ways, although the percent of govt budgets spent on politicians and administrators isn't near the top of the list of expendatures. Way-above-average spending on entitlements and public employee worker bees are much bigger amounts. I suspect in NYS even if the politicians could be cut down to 10% of how many htere are now, they'd still be making the same kinds of decisions about spending, taxing, mandates, business impediments, etc., and budgets would be pretty much the same as now. Root causes are mostly the anti-business, pro-taxation, pro-union, anti-privatization philosophies of most voters here. Politicians are an easy scape goat but my observation is they generally reflect what most NYS voters want.

Btw about your last sentence - WNY and NYS can discount the advantages of many things for a very long time. Just watch!