South Buffalo Blogger

By: Cindy K. A few weeks ago I visited the waterfront downtown, I got to see for my own eyes the wonders of development that our taxes are paying for. It is beautiful, and for a time I felt like I was watching the sunset in a different city, that is, until I arrived back in South Buffalo, where the streets are filled with potholes and the streetlights are rusted beyond quick fixes, other than a couple cans of black paint.

I remember thinking that night about how second-rate South Buffalo has become, and I remember thinking how the Congressman & Assemblyman have put all of their eggs into one basket, as per the new Commercial Slip and other harbor projects. When you take a walk down any given street along Seneca though, we get to see vacant/boarded up houses, some empty storefronts owned by the Plaza Group, whom is asking for rents too high for any businessperson to consider. We get to see loss of business, loss of population, loss of pleasure & pride… because years of promises have turned this part of Buffalo into shambles. How much of South Buffalo’s look could be, would be tolerated if in Orchard Park or West Seneca, or Hamburg? Have our politicians created this second-rate South Buffalo?

We get to see a skirmishing to retain County funding for County construction projects never to touch the infrastructure in South Buffalo.

The look and the mood of the waterfront and harbor are furthering of Buffalo’s honor, a boost needed for a very long time, and yet I wonder about the rest of the city. I’d like to believe in the “commitment of working together” that our elected leaders use when addressing block clubs, I’d like to believe that one day South Buffalo will have earned it’s privilege to be among the same vigor and attention currently focused on the waterfront and other harbor projects. Perhaps one day we’ll have to see if a new set of lawmakers can make it all happen for the people of South Buffalo, because the future is looking more desolate than present.

Having lived in Buffalo all of my life, there’s love for this city…. compassion, understanding and sorrow in feeling like there’s so much to do in so little time. Of all though, there’s frustration from the (election grandstanding) lies, frustration from the waiting & wondering when our time will come for new changes, for new focus…. for that feeling of splendor I had as I sat on a bench down at the Commercial Slip.