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Everything is roses right now. All is fine and dandy for those who can afford to concentrate on such things.
The Pegulas saved the Bills (and Sabres) and everyone is high on what they have accomplished in downtown Buffalo.
Buffalo is on the rebound, right?
I'm not so sure about that anymore. Reality seems to be crashing down hard lately in all sorts of ways.
Reality really bites. Keep in mind that the Pegulas got a lot of tax breaks to do what they have done. They're not permanent. They are temporary.
What has taken place in downtown Buffalo over the past 3 years has been a 1 couple show, and that's about it.
Take away everything Kim and Terry Pegula have done, and what's left? SolarCity, your latest food truck, and another bar or two, or three or more.
The New Buffalo Shirt Factory in Clarence is closing August 1st. 85 good paying jobs gone.
Got the news yesterday that my neighbor and his family are planning on moving to South Carolina this summer. They're purchasing a 1,400 square foot new build home in a neighborhood just outside of Myrtle Beach.
The main reason they're leaving?
"Property taxes," and better job opportunities for his son who still lives at home but can't find a good paying job even though he's a hard working kid with a good head on his shoulders and has a college degree.
My neighbor is currently paying about $4,500 a year in property taxes for a small ranch in Cheektavegas. I asked him what his property taxes are going to be in South Carolina for his new home.
"$400 a year."
Four hundred freaking dollars! My jaw literally dropped, and so did the hose I was using to water the lawn. It was quite eye opening to hear that.
In 10 years my neighbor will save over $40,000 in property taxes alone.
Then I got the double whammy news today that a friend of mine is moving to North Carolina. He's 25 years old, just got engaged and is leaving Buffalo in the fall. His fiance doesn't want to buy a house in WNY because she wants to save the money in property taxes for her kid's college tuition.
She sounds like a smart girl. Can you blame her?
Driving home from work this evening I saw a small business on French Road that specialized in auto transmission parts closed. It's the third small business I've seen shut their doors in the last two weeks.
Ruben's NY Deli in Amherst also just went out of business. Meanwhile, the Garden Village Plaza on the corner of Union Rd. and French Rd. in Cheektowaga sits totally empty as it has been for the past 20 years.
Kenmore is losing businesses like crazy. Premiere Liquor moved to Maple Rd. in Amherst, Morgan's closed a few years ago, Demetri's closed, John & Mary's just recently closed, the last Sears Hardware store in the State of New York closed last year, and the once booming Sheridan Plaza is now half vacant.
I went to a deli in the Sheridan Plaza about a week ago and the business owner said he's probably going to close in the next year, sell his home and move his business down south.
"It's not hard to beat Subway, I did it for 9 years," he said. So true.
The owner lost half of his business the day after the Town of Tonawanda shut down the road for construction that has lasted for over 2 years and is still ongoing to this day. "You can build a ****** brand new NFL stadium in 2 years for Christ's sake."
I couldn't agree more, especially after seeing what the owner of Lunettas on Cleveland Drive has had to deal with lately.
Road construction crews are destroying small businesses in WNY. In Canada and most other States in America, road construction is primarily done at night so as not to interfere with daytime business activity.
The towns of Kenmore and Tonawanda, along with New York State could give a rats ass about small businesses, and it shows. If they had any respect for small businesses, they would change their outdated, business interfering road construction ways.
Try building a new stadium in downtown Buffalo during the business daytime. Good luck, Kim and Terry because road construction alone is going to take years and will ultimately kill off any remaining small businesses downtown.
Mowing the lawn this evening on my $5,000 a year in property taxes home, all of these thoughts kept racing through my head and I've finally come to some kind of conclusion.
People are leaving WNY for what are essentially business reasons, duh.
"It's nothing personal, it's just business," someone once said.
It's pretty simple, doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math. If a homeowner moves from X to Y, they will have an additional $40 Grand in their bank account in 10 short years, guaranteed.
That's a better return on investment than playing the stock market.
After the Pegulas purchased the Bills, I was under the impression that Buffalo was rebounding and the mass exodus was finally over.
Apparently not. Buffalo recently had its first increase in population since the 1960's due to immigration. Most of the immigrants are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and a host of other third world countries. I seriously doubt they will be able to afford to purchase tickets to a Bills game, let alone have any interest in American football.
If people keep leaving Buffalo, especially young people with kids, (future fans) and small businesses keep closing left and right, how in the world can the Buffalo Bills remain viable in WNY for the next 30 years?
Given the situation and 10 more years of the same old song of business incompetence in Buffalo, who could ever blame the Pegulas for moving if they eventually decide to do so?
Can you blame your neighbor for moving?
The Pegulas saved the Bills (and Sabres) and everyone is high on what they have accomplished in downtown Buffalo.
Buffalo is on the rebound, right?
I'm not so sure about that anymore. Reality seems to be crashing down hard lately in all sorts of ways.
Reality really bites. Keep in mind that the Pegulas got a lot of tax breaks to do what they have done. They're not permanent. They are temporary.
What has taken place in downtown Buffalo over the past 3 years has been a 1 couple show, and that's about it.
Take away everything Kim and Terry Pegula have done, and what's left? SolarCity, your latest food truck, and another bar or two, or three or more.
The New Buffalo Shirt Factory in Clarence is closing August 1st. 85 good paying jobs gone.
Got the news yesterday that my neighbor and his family are planning on moving to South Carolina this summer. They're purchasing a 1,400 square foot new build home in a neighborhood just outside of Myrtle Beach.
The main reason they're leaving?
"Property taxes," and better job opportunities for his son who still lives at home but can't find a good paying job even though he's a hard working kid with a good head on his shoulders and has a college degree.
My neighbor is currently paying about $4,500 a year in property taxes for a small ranch in Cheektavegas. I asked him what his property taxes are going to be in South Carolina for his new home.
"$400 a year."
Four hundred freaking dollars! My jaw literally dropped, and so did the hose I was using to water the lawn. It was quite eye opening to hear that.
In 10 years my neighbor will save over $40,000 in property taxes alone.
Then I got the double whammy news today that a friend of mine is moving to North Carolina. He's 25 years old, just got engaged and is leaving Buffalo in the fall. His fiance doesn't want to buy a house in WNY because she wants to save the money in property taxes for her kid's college tuition.
She sounds like a smart girl. Can you blame her?
Driving home from work this evening I saw a small business on French Road that specialized in auto transmission parts closed. It's the third small business I've seen shut their doors in the last two weeks.
Ruben's NY Deli in Amherst also just went out of business. Meanwhile, the Garden Village Plaza on the corner of Union Rd. and French Rd. in Cheektowaga sits totally empty as it has been for the past 20 years.
Kenmore is losing businesses like crazy. Premiere Liquor moved to Maple Rd. in Amherst, Morgan's closed a few years ago, Demetri's closed, John & Mary's just recently closed, the last Sears Hardware store in the State of New York closed last year, and the once booming Sheridan Plaza is now half vacant.
I went to a deli in the Sheridan Plaza about a week ago and the business owner said he's probably going to close in the next year, sell his home and move his business down south.
"It's not hard to beat Subway, I did it for 9 years," he said. So true.
The owner lost half of his business the day after the Town of Tonawanda shut down the road for construction that has lasted for over 2 years and is still ongoing to this day. "You can build a ****** brand new NFL stadium in 2 years for Christ's sake."
I couldn't agree more, especially after seeing what the owner of Lunettas on Cleveland Drive has had to deal with lately.
Road construction crews are destroying small businesses in WNY. In Canada and most other States in America, road construction is primarily done at night so as not to interfere with daytime business activity.
The towns of Kenmore and Tonawanda, along with New York State could give a rats ass about small businesses, and it shows. If they had any respect for small businesses, they would change their outdated, business interfering road construction ways.
Try building a new stadium in downtown Buffalo during the business daytime. Good luck, Kim and Terry because road construction alone is going to take years and will ultimately kill off any remaining small businesses downtown.
Mowing the lawn this evening on my $5,000 a year in property taxes home, all of these thoughts kept racing through my head and I've finally come to some kind of conclusion.
People are leaving WNY for what are essentially business reasons, duh.
"It's nothing personal, it's just business," someone once said.
It's pretty simple, doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math. If a homeowner moves from X to Y, they will have an additional $40 Grand in their bank account in 10 short years, guaranteed.
That's a better return on investment than playing the stock market.
After the Pegulas purchased the Bills, I was under the impression that Buffalo was rebounding and the mass exodus was finally over.
Apparently not. Buffalo recently had its first increase in population since the 1960's due to immigration. Most of the immigrants are coming from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and a host of other third world countries. I seriously doubt they will be able to afford to purchase tickets to a Bills game, let alone have any interest in American football.
If people keep leaving Buffalo, especially young people with kids, (future fans) and small businesses keep closing left and right, how in the world can the Buffalo Bills remain viable in WNY for the next 30 years?
Given the situation and 10 more years of the same old song of business incompetence in Buffalo, who could ever blame the Pegulas for moving if they eventually decide to do so?
Can you blame your neighbor for moving?
l o o n s..
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