Buffalo Lets Get Real and Deal: Buffalo Lets First Face the Facts

Buffalo Lets Get Real and Deal: Buffalo Lets First Face the Facts: "· Population growth (66th out of 67 largest U.S cities): The Buffalo area lost 3.9 percent o..."

Buffalo Lets First Face the Facts

·         Population growth (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): The Buffalo area lost 3.9 percent of its residents between 2000 and 2008. The only metro to do worse was New Orleans, which was ravaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

·         Young adults (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): Just 24.7 percent of the residents of Erie and Niagara counties are between the ages of 25 and 44. That’s well behind the study group’s median of 28.1 percent, and it trails every single market but Pittsburgh.

·         Housing age (66^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): The Buffalo area has the second-oldest housing stock in the study, with just 10.6 percent of local homes being built since 1990. New York City is last.

·         Self-employment (67^th out of 67 largest U.S cities): Entrepreneurship is not flourishing in the Buffalo market, where 7.1 percent of workers are self-employed, the lowest figure in any of the 67 metros. The median for the whole group is 9.4 percent.

·         Public-sector unions can prosper simply by opposing rationalization: Buffalo, in New York state, has as many public workers in 2006 as it did in 1950, despite the fact that the city has lost half its population. (The Economist – Jan, 06 2011)