Our Buffalo

Buffalo Watchdog takes a step back and puts a lot of things into perspective.

If you read one blog post in its entirety today, make sure it’s this one.

As a personal aside, when I use the term “New Buffalo”, I have in mind a general attitude that Buffalo & WNY remain – despite their flaws – a wonderful place to live, work & raise a family.

Part of the reason Bauerle’s negativity on Friday elicited such a strong reaction from me in particular is that I’m not a repat – I’m an immigrant. I chose to come here, and did so with open eyes. I understood and recognized the benefits and pitfalls of moving to a not-perceived-as-hot area of the country. Yet I did it anyway.

I moved here on Labor Day weekend 2001. It’s coming on the five-year anniversary – time flies. My wife and then one-year-old moved out about two weeks after I did, and I remember calling them on the day after Labor Day to tell them that when they move here, they’ll never look back.

Not once in my five years here has the thought of moving away crossed my mind, and I can’t imagine it ever happening.

There absolutely is a disconnect between the New Buffalonians of the trendy Elmwood Strip, and the gang wars on the lower west side and east side of Buffalo. That’s not unique to Buffalo in any sense. Every city has that. (That doesn’t make it a good thing – just a common thing.)

To me, the difference between new and old Buffalo is a love for the region despite its flaws, and a sense that we can work together to improve on those flaws.