The Great Industrial Sadness

I am, for the first time in many years, back in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. It's a bittersweet trip; most of my friends have moved away from the city, and of those who've remained, only a select few seem to really be making progress.

I took a trip down the Elmwood strip today. In my youth (not as long ago as I'm making it sound) this was the place to be...a hipster haven, before hipster became a self parody. Walking down here now I see that most of the shops are boarded and shuttered, littered with "for lease" signs that will, in all probability, remain there for some time, being that the city is currently bankrupt. Panhandling seems to be moving its way down the Ave as well. Once confined to the area south of Lafayette, I'm noticing it more and more in front of the remains of Don Apparel and Mondo Video, and further down by Delevan, in front of the former ETS location (they have since moved into a former Burger King...at least one thing to be proud of, I suppose).

More and more, though, what truly surprises me is the dedication of people from here. We ran into someone carrying a Lexington Co-Op bag in Remedy Teas back in Seattle, We chatted a bit, small talk, and then Em in a friendly gesture, made a joke about whether or not he was "glad to have finally made it out of there." The defensive reaction we received was unexpected, to say the least. And a part of me can relate to the sentiment behind it. But not in the sense that the place is what it once was. I came here hoping to find some glimpse of what I'd left behind. Instead, I've found nothing. Just the scarred remains of a city too proud to admit defeat and try a new solution, still holding out hope for the return of the unionized blue-collar middle class of yesteryear. I want to root for my hometown (although the sabres make that harder and harder with each successive game) but there's a reason why educated professionals keep looking outside of the city for gainful employment. Cheap housing will not be enough to revitalize this city, and it's time for Buffalo to stop thinking in terms of what it can offer current city residents and start thinking of what it can do to attract potential residents. If the job market within the city shifts to more college educated pursuits, it might just be the wake-up call the city needs to bring itself into the 21st century. Though with a former city motto of "talkin' proud," it's definately an uphill battle.