I can’t say it’s been 100% splendid looking for work in a small market that will just never compensate me like a larger market can and would. (I often looked at job offers and said, “They tried to ‘Buffalo economy’ me! *&%$#^#$%^@!!!”) But I have had the good fortune of working for and with some great people/companies during my time here, and slowly built the experience that local employers *are* willing to pay for.

The only regret I have about the last string of years is that I haven’t done more to change my surroundings. The whole “don’t whine if you don’t spend the time” response to complaints really resonates with me, and I’m taking more time this year in particular to join groups and get active as best I can.

I do agree with other respondents that the whole “good things are happening! move here! we need more bodies!” sis-boom-bah isn’t enough. If you move here, you have to willing to (eventually) put in the time and contribute, and the avenues to do that are finally easier to find than ever.

The first 6 months in the Atlanta suburb we landed in were tough. I felt lonely and isolated being a stay at home mom with no friends or family around. In addition to that, we were completely out of our element, in this new place, which happens to be smack in the heart of the Bible belt. We weren’t used to te first question after introducing yourself to someone being, “What church do you go to?” In addition, we were a bit caught off guard at being offered a seemingly endless supply of sweet tea (that’s iced tea with a whole bunch of sugar in it) at every meal enjoyed in a restaurant. And booze? Well, let’s just say I cannot count the times I’ve been given a dirty look in the supermarket as I wheel my toddler around in the shopping cart (AKA buggy) filled with a 12 pack and a couple bottles of vino.

For all of its differences, though, we genuinely are growing to like our new Southern home. As time has gone on, we have made friends and never feel at a loss for something to do or someplace to go. It seems that nearly everyone is a transplant in this town and so it’s easy to meet people and make friends. I do sometimes wish we could move back and be closer to family, mainly for the sake of our child, but that’s just not in the cards right now. See you in July, Buffalo….(when it’s hotter than hell in Atlanta and we’ll be happy to be home!)

After reading everyone’s comments, I am severely disappointed. Yes, the job market is not as promising as other cities, but do something about!! Don’t just leave and say you’ll come back when things are better. MAKE THINGS BETTER!!

To be honest I adore Buffalo; the people, the festivals, the general feeling of the area (oh the food too!). But it just can’t compete for skilled jobs. Thus those people leave and so do their tax dollars and the city and region die a bit more. I had job offers all over from silicon valley to Texas to DC to Boston. I even considered a good position in Cleavland. Unfortunately with out these jobs buffalo is doomed to loose thousands more like myself who get educated (many at UB) and leave not by choice but by necessity.

If somehow startups emerged or more technical (non medical) businesses made the job market better I would be back home in a heart beat. Even after living in Austin, a city thats up and coming and full of interesting people, music, and opportunities theres always that something about buffalo and the lakes and the falls. Its hard to describe but everyone from there knows what I mean.

I think Buffalo and the region needs to begin to work harder to utilize its resources better. These are the lakes, the international border, the university, and most of all the quality of people. Figure out how to do this…and well then you’ve got something.

Left in 1983 to go to graduate school in Kentucky; since then have lived in suburban Philadelphia, suburban DC and now ex-urban DC. I’ve kind of specialized myself out of the Buffalo job market (with a scientific PhD and experience in biotech).

* Are you planning to move home or have you already taken the plunge? If so, why?

Kind of a dream by wife has. No plans in the immediate future. I have nice memories of growing up in what is now known as Elmwood Village but which was, back then, just the area with all the bars, but it seems that there are no longer grocery stores within walking distance of our old house. Even memories of the blizzard, and being stuck at work at the old Executive Hotel by the airport (do they still have the Club 747?) for 5 days.

* Did you move away and close the book on a future in Buffalo? If so, why?

The book is not necessarily closed, but prospects aren’t the same as the DC/Bethesda MD area.

After college, I moved to Buffalo in ‘77, literally as the infamous blizzard melted. I had what was alleged to be a marketable computer science degree and a passionate interest in music. That’s right, I moved to Buffalo in part for the music. Back then there were progressive radio stations in Buffalo and Toronto (before commerce discovered FM) and WKBW-AM was still a legend. The classical, jazz, and rock scenes were active and world class. ‘Harvey and Corky’ rings a bell to those of a certain age: Harvey Weinstein, now of Miramax, started by promoting shows first at UB and then the Century Theater.

So my first “computer” job paid wages that entitled me for food stamps – but there was enough competition in town that people regularly went down the street to get the raise they couldn’t get staying where they were. After the steel company folded I slid into banking and until the rug was pulled from under the S&L’s it looked like Buffalo would become a banking center.

Of all the places I’ve lived I like the people in Buffalo best. The blindly ambitious have largely left for greener pastures. There’s a certain appreciation for qualities of life other than materialism. There’s less religious bigotry than I found further south. There’s appreciation for lifelong friendships and a sense of history – a few wisps of pride linger. There’s pride in making a living from hard work but also a sense of community based on shared hardship, difficult times and difficult weather, the well-kept secret of our flawless (if short) summers, water, ski-able hills, country living near a good-sized city.

I wonder if I’ll be able to stay for retirement – taxes could eat up the benefit of relatively cheap housing. We continue to blindly vote in people who seem best at shooting us in the foot. We play games with Authorities and pretend as long as the ‘Indians’ are benefactors of a vice of ours it’s really OK (oh and we’ll be needing a ‘taste’, thank you). We give tax breaks/bribes to corporate entities who vaguely suggest “someone” will benefit from their business – someday, perhaps. Meanwhile we whine about taxes and a tiny cabal in Albany but vote them in again and again. Government is such a large part of our local economy that everyone is related to or knows someone getting a check from the taxpayers. Who wants to vote Uncle Fred out of a job?

Buffalo’s the only place where I feel I have roots. The extended family is largely dispersed or deceased. But I can still see the family name on a window in a large church, see steets named after my aunts, and find some hope enough smart people remain here to build a sustainable economy. If my job is not transferred offshore to some bright young Asians, that is.

The timing was right, Robert was a stay at home “Mr. Mom” and our son was just one year old, so we picked up and went. Financially it was a great move. We bought a house twice as big and paid just about the same in real estate taxes as our Eggertsville home. We rationalized that New York had taxed us out of the state.

That was eight long years ago. One year to the date that we uprooted our family and moved to the middle of Ohio, my position with Global Crossing was eliminated so they could go through bankruptcy. We were a one income family and poof, in an instant that one income was gone.

So I spent the decade of my 30’s commuting home to Buffalo for every long weekend and vacation. There was a laundry list of people to see, places to go and a shopping list of essentials that had to last us until we could get home again. Incidentally, the closest Wegmans to Columbus, Ohio is in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The minivan would be loaded up with Chef’s sauce, Bison dip, Sahlen’s hot dogs, Weber’s mustard, Pea Meal Bacon from Federal Meat Market and Rutabagas. Who would have ever imagined that they don’t sell Rutabagas in Ohio?

At Easter, we visited the Broadway Market, to share the tradition with my son of getting pussy willows, a butter lamb and a poppy seed roll. In the fall, I loaded up on New York State apples, sponge candy and cheddar cheese! I had people in our neighborhood giving me orders for Labatt Blue and wine selections from Premier. Even though you can buy wine in the grocery stores in Ohio, it’s mostly California Chardonnay and Merlot.

In July of 2006, I was in a car accident on the New York State Thruway going to my company’s’ biannual meeting in Rochester. There was a horrible rain storm in between Batavia and Leroy, and I hydroplaned next to an eighteen wheeler. I ended up in the median hurling 60 miles an hour and crashed into the Conrail bridge abutment.

For years in Ohio, I had been trying to convince myself that I was ok. I was home sick for Buffalo, but I had a great job, was President of the elementary school PTA and Vice-President of our neighborhood association and yet I knew I was in the wrong place. We developed great friendships and amazing memories but Ohio never felt like home.

After the accident I wasn’t ok. I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Three months of physical and psychotherapy and I knew it was time to make a change. I’ve always said, “If you’re not happy, you don’t get to complain about it, unless you are willing to do something to change your circumstances.”
I had missed being by my friend Patti’s side when her father passed away, my friend Rebecca’s side when her father had a heart attack, my friend Joanne when she lost her father and then hearing all the stories of the October surprise storm and not being able to be there to help my mother in law. It was like watching the life I was supposed to be living as an observer instead of a participant.

It was decision time.

On April 8, 2007 we listed our house with a realtor. May 7, 2007 we both had job interviews in Buffalo. On May 14th we both had job offers. The Grant’s were moving home!

I am forever grateful to my husband Robert for earning his MBA in Finance from Ashland University. It was because of this degree; Delaware North recruited him as a financial analyst and paved the way for our relocation back to Buffalo.

I am also grateful to Don Hahn for introducing me to Paul Buckley at Applied Sciences Group. Every day I count my blessings that I get to be a part of the amazing work ASG does.

I lost my job as a logistics manager in Orlando and decided to come back home and stay with my folks for a while. After a year living in the basement of my parents house, I rented an apartment in North Buffalo. Work was tough to find and I didn’t want to get back into my old career field. I worked as a security guard for a couple of months and then did my time as a collections agent downtown. Now, I work for the county as a clerk and tend bar at nights and on the weekend. All in all, ther ehave been some hits and misses, but I like being back here and living a quiet life. The pay, pension, and bennies for the governemtn job also are pretty solid.

Fast forward to late 2007: Well, I won’t say that I hated Buffalo, but it certainly wasn’t the utopia that you guys were painting online. It’s not much different than when I left and I really have to wonder where all of this talk of a “renaissance” comes from. Is it all a marketing gimmick? Most of downtown is abandoned and boarded up, businesses open and close on Elmwood within one calendar year, Hertel seems like it’s trying real hard but is still kinda lame, and the suburbs are where everyone lives. I just don’t get it.

It’s a decaying shell of a city with a few positive developments sprinkled in, but those positive developments are so small that they are not indicative of a greater sense of progress. Perhaps I should have done more research before I moved home, but everyone seemed so certain that the turnaround was happening.

I had trouble finding work, was disappointed with the scene, and recently moved to Chicago. Buffalo will always be my hometwon, maybe I’ll move back when things are really turning around. Of course, I’m sure I’ll be smacked around for not contributing or making the turnaround happen, but I’m not cut out to be a community activist. I just want to live somewhere cool, have a good job, have a little scratch in my pockets, and go about my business. Does this make me a bad person? Probably, but only if I want to do that in Buffalo.