Welcome

Welcome to Build a Better Buffalo, an organization dedicated to the revitalization of Buffalo New York.

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 What makes more sense economically for Buffalo, a stadium in Orchard Park, or a Downtown Stadium/Convention center in the heart of Buffalo's downtown, looking over Buffalo's waterfront?  Just imagine-70,000 fans exiting the stadium to frequent businesses in downtown Buffalo - the idea of the first ever Green Professional sports Complex like no other in the United States; creating an entirely new job sector in Buffalo.   A stadium/convention center will offer more entertainment options, and economic growth, for the citizens of Western New York.  If we look at the current state of economic development projects coming to downtown Buffalo, the ideas may be a good start, but none offer any guarantees of a real influx of patrons to stimulate plans for new restaurants or retail market places downtown.  Having an anchor stadium/convention center with regular attendance of 70,000 plus will feed new businesses downtown, translating into real economic growth in Buffalo, having a ripple effect, and in turn stimulating the regional Western New York economy.

The pundits will proffer arguments such as:  "a stadium /convention center will not do anything to stimulate Buffalo's economy", and to some extent, this argument would hold true If Buffalo was the size of cities like Boston, NYC, or Dallas.   A stadium project may not be the economic bullet in larger cities because a critcal mass of commercial development is usually already in place; the larger cities have the corporate backing to support the business class suites and luxury boxes and VIP ticket packages that are critical to the success of a state-of-the-art stadium project.  

In contrast, Buffalo's landscape is distinguished in size and scope; the suburbs of Buffalo are to a certain extent intertwined with the City of Buffalo - many suburbanites come to the City of Buffalo for their entertainment needs, but Buffalo lacks the critical mass of development and activity to support a 24-7 residential/commercial mix.  For example, HSBC arena is nice, but business owners may start a new pizza shop or retail store banking on 20,000 patrons from the Sabres' season or the sporadic concert event.  However, those same entrepreneurs may take greater chances and be likely to invest in downtown Buffalo if they had 70,000+ fans from a stadium/convention center AND the 20,000 from the HSBC arena AND a stable clientele of customers who reside in the downtown core.  Bringing all of these elements together is the key.

To attract business to Buffalo, Buffalo must have more to offer then low labor costs and a strong educated workforce; it must offer entertainment options, and a bustling downtown business environment.  Bundle this with Buffalo's great restaurants, night life, the Niagara region's gaming facilities, and Buffalo WILL become a commercial mecca.  Concerns about who will purchase the luxury boxes will become a thing of the past, not to mention a downtown stadium is closer to our friends in the north, making it easier for everyone in this region to frequent Buffalo. 

To build on the stadium concept, incorporating "green" building elements will create highly touted Green Sector jobs, and could even put Buffalo on the forefront as a leader in the country for sustainable living and practices.  This will also bring new business to Buffalo, and spring new research and development again creating even more jobs for the residents of Western New York.   

A convention center concept can also draw large convention activity to Buffalo, which capitalizes on all the Buffalo Niagara region already has to offer - it's time the City of Buffalo taps into the tourism industry as well.   This city saving idea, would not only put Buffalo back on the map, Buffalo would become a leader in Urban Development.  

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Why is Buffalo a dying city? 

Image Is Also a Part of It- business week, 11/20/08

Scott Simmons is vice-president and founding partner of Crist | Kolder Associates, an executive recruiting firm in Chicago, said it's easier to find workers willing to move to big cities such as New York, Chicago, or San Francisco than it is to convince people to move to a midsize city such as Erie, Pa., which is a one-hour 45-minute drive from either Pittsburgh or Cleveland. People on the coasts, especially in California, are reluctant to move, he said. And workers often would rather not move to cold rust-belt cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Buffalo, he said.

Excellence is: the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical and expecting more than others think is possible.

Check this link out A green football stadium.

Click to view What is happening on the Buffalo Waterfront NOW!

Come on Buffalo - are we really going to just sit by and wait for Buffalo to fall off the map? Buffalo is such a great city, please invest in it. The revitalization of Buffalo's outer harbor is the key to putting Buffalo back on the map as a marketable city worth investing in.  REAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 

Look for us at Bills games, if we build it they will come!

This idea has worked for other cities:

High Stakes is the inside story of how a coalition of the city's movers and shakers successfully did an end-run around the electorate to build these sports complexes. As it turned out, everybody appears to have won: taxpayers were relieved of any funding obligation, the coalition got the new facilities, and the new arena jump started downtown redevelopment.

For an idea like this to work for Buffalo, there has to be a combined effort from all sectors, public and privat. Professional sports have become a primary tool for the downtown redevelopment of large cities.  Decisions about the construction of new sports facilities invariably raise the issue of who will pay for the development-the public or the private sport entrepreneurs?  Inevitably, as community conflict develops between those wanting the public to pay through increased local taxes and those opposed to local tax increases.  These issues are fought out in the overall context of the local political economy, culture, and history.  When the public says "No" to tax increases, private sector entrepreneurs can profitably take on the construction costs of the sports venue IF A BOLD DEVELOPER FOLDS IT INTO A LARGER AND IMAGINATIVE NEIGHBORHOOD REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT. (Curry, Tim. 2004)

 The fans of Buffalo want in on the decisions of what and how the waterfront gets used for development. Article on waterfront development , Buffalo needs a downtown football stadium/convention center for real economic development to take place.  Buffalo's Waterfront can become a hot spot for renewable energy. 

The revitalization of Buffalo's outer harbor is the key to putting Buffalo back on the map as a marketable city worth investing in.  REAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 

After reading all the great info on this page please visit our stadium/convention center page in our objectives and opportunities page to view great new stadium/convention centers that have just been built in other similar sized cities to comparable to Buffalo.