Buffalo Before the Bronx?

In New York Magazine's newest issue, Adam Sternbergh attempts to understand why some New Yorkers find themselves fleeing the City to places in the so-called 'Rust Belt,' like snowy Buffalo, in his article Where the Urban Dream Life Is Going Cheap . The subtitle of the article is appropriately "What could possibly make someone want to leave New York and move to Buffalo?"

It seems a number of these new Buffalonians wanted more space for cheaper rent; more possibility; more blank canvases to work with; a new frontier.

Hey, I understand the aforementioned desires, and I don't begrudge any of these new hockey-loving residents, but Buffalo? Really?

There is an interesting section of the article where Mr. Sternbergh is on a bike ride with some of these Buffalo enthusiasts, including Newell Nussbaumer, the Buffalo cheerleader and cultural mayor, and the group is looking at an abandoned police station and wondering if they could turn it into a club.

If you are looking for blank canvases and neglected buildings to rehab we have them for you up here on the mainland U.S. in the Bronx.

"But New York, for all its mythology, is no longer a frontier. Buffalo is a frontier." Maybe Williamsburg isn't a frontier or even pre-gentrified Bushwick isn't a frontier, but the Bronx is. Before anyone up and moves to Buffalo for cheap rent, blank canvas abandoned buildings and lower salaries, please just move to the Bronx. You can get the first two without enduring the last.

FYI, this is what you have to look forward to for Buffalo nightlife. [photo courtesy of Buffalo Nightlife (Nightlife), RMC]

~Erlu