[jdcamb]

Originally Posted by benp

The local unemployment rate is down to 3.8%, which is the lowest it has been in at least 30 years. Population losses have stabilized in the last 5 years, and most of the neighborhoods are experiencing a level of restoration/renovation never seen before. Home prices are still relatively low, but in popular city neighborhoods prices have doubled in the last 5 years with high demand.

In the Metro area, crime is below the national average with Amherst among the top 1 or 2 safest places in the US. In the City itself, its violent crime rate has dropped (it was in the worst 10 cities a few years ago) but is still above the national average at around 22nd worst of the top 100 cities, between Houston and Philadelphia (or about half the rate of St. Louis or Baltimore).

In relative terms, the city is doing much better than most of its Rust Belt counterparts, but still lags nationally. There are still bleak parts of the city, but a large part of it has become brighter and more dynamic in just the past few years.

I tried to capture some of this in the other photo threads.

Your posts are awesome. They truly capture the rebirth going on. Thanks for sharing them with us. In the last 5 years Buffalo has done what my Brother calls "Thinning the herd". They have torn down a lot of the abandoned housing stock. This has lead to a severe reduction in crime. Project Exile has certainly helped crush most gang activity. At least on the westside. Grants for existing housing became available and were administered in a effective way. Reducing Public Housing has had a positive effect also. Those folks displaced have taken advantage of the available housing stock. Rebuilding the schools and expanding health care services has helped also. The amount of healthcare services and related employment has been a huge factor in the cities rebirth. BPD has also had much success in their community outreach programs.. Go Bills...