College Town: Can Academia Unlock Buffalo's Future?

By Ryan S Kozey, Phd.

Recently, the following question had been posed to me; “Could Buffalo become an academic town?” After a good bit of pondering, a short answer to such a question on my part is, “possibly?” Allow me to unpack a few things to provide more to the brevity, which will provide justification to my answer. Before doing so, I think it fair for the reader to know that I’m from the rust belt. In my 32 years, I’ve spend 31 on them in Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toledo. In all three towns, there are things that I absolutely love about each of them.

Let me focus my attention on Buffalo and some of what I absolutely adore, especially as it relates to the question of if the city could become a veritable sort of academic town. Local food, festivals, a relatively strong local art scene, organic artists, and great architecture—although these factors seem random, they aren’t. As an academic, I’ve spent my time touring college towns, and staples within all of them lean toward good food, festivals, arts (formal and organic), and something ascetically pleasing (architecture). For skeptics to this line of thought, I beg of you, please spend some quality time in Ann Arbor, MI or Madison, WI.

A Local Hub of Commerce

Within the context of a college town, the college is the local hub of commerce. For Buffalo, we have one mammoth university and a series of others that contribute to an incredibly cool academic scene. The University at Buffalo is a beast of an economic engine in the Northeast. Personally, I’m proud to have done both my PhD and post-doctoral appointment at the University at Buffalo, serving alongside a faculty that was nothing short of excellent. Further, I was the benefactor of some incredible national research grants. This is where my hope for Buffalo as an academic hub begins. Dr. John Simpson (president of the University at Buffalo) is getting the job done. I have had the opportunity to watch him work at the University for over five years now (my time at the University). Recently, in an interview with Thrive, Simpson noted:

I think the community in Buffalo has been marvelous in supporting the University and being engaged with what we are doing and in participating. And I mean participating not just in obvious ways like telling their elected officials that this is an idea that benefits the whole community, which I sure hope they keep doing.

UB 2020 Initiative

The UB 2020 initiative is something that provides a good deal of hope for the city. Not only are we fortunate to have the North and South campus, an aggressive initiative is underway for an urban center medical corridor as well. When you consider the movement and development of UB in addition to Buffalo State, Daemon, Canisius, ECC metro and suburban, D’Youville, and Medaille, you have a city that not only possesses some very strong universities, you have them in a context in which neither of them is incredibly far from one another.

Local Fare

Consider the previous variables mentioned earlier. What city possesses such local fare as Buffalo when it comes to fine eating in the city? I’ve gained close to 30 pounds since moving to Buffalo and when eating food here, it’s hard to apologize because it’s so unbelievably good. Contextualize such eateries in neighborhoods like Elmwood, and you not only have good food, but you have creative and architectural pull as well. Next is the question of festivals (which are hard to discuss without food). Polish, Greek, and Italian festivals, along with a variety of flavors for art, culture, and music from the urban center all the way down the Allen, Hertel, and Elmwood lines are profoundly apparent. In terms of arts, it’s hard for me to ignore the Allentown and Elmwood district of the city, from Elmwood and the 198 all the way into downtown. The Albright Knox and the Burchfield-Penney are fantastic formal places of artistic expression, but there are also great organic pockets as well (feel free to check out 464 or Amherst Street along with other folks in the Amherst/Grant Street area that I am becoming more familiar with). Finally, in terms of architecture, stroll the homes of Buffalo and the architectural imprint of the city. Cities like Cleveland (Treemont and Slavic Village), Toledo (The Old West End), and Buffalo (pick a neighborhood—Elmwood, Allentown, Canisius area, etc.) keep me in a continued state of awe when I stroll the neighborhoods and pay close attention to the details of architectural feats gone by. Not to mention, the artwork of buildings downtown is absolutely gorgeous.

Old Buffalo & New Buffalo

With all of the strengths associated with such an argument, here is where the response of possibly comes into play. I think that one must consider the history of Buffalo along with the current state of government in the city. Buffalo, historically, is blue collar. I say that with a sense of pride as it reminds me of my upbringing in southeast Cleveland in the Garfield Heights district. Within that, there is a history which resonates in the city, and it’s one that I’m not so sure that we should ever forget. In the embrace of identity comes the sacrifice of other identities for something new. I’m not sure that the DNA of the people is willing to relinquish such ties to the rust belt of years gone by. When you reference “old Buffalo” and all that comes with it, there is a pride and identity that I don’t yet see easily abandoned for the ambiance of academic culture (at least exclusively). At the end of the day, history and the infrastructure of years gone by communicate a story that I personally find troubling to do away with. Marrying the two (the old and the new)? That’s a task difficult for any city to navigate.

Above and beyond that is the question of government. In my 20 year affiliation with the city, I’ve not heard of a town threaten to develop more than Buffalo. We’ve talked about the waterfront forever. In that time, Cleveland did it and continues (although with very real struggles) to stumble forward.² Cleveland followed the Baltimore Harbor front development. In Buffalo, I remain unconvinced of if something ultimately could happen. The Ann Arbor’s and Madison’s of the world really haven’t had such struggles with identity transformation history. I’m not saying that it couldn’t be done; rather, I’m posturing that I think that it’s a sigfinicant uphill battle.  

Sources:

1. Personal Communication, Dr. John Simpson with Kyle Patterson of Thrive Magazine, 2010
2. For more information on the continued proposal of waterfront development above and beyond the Cleveland flats and Project Gateway, see: http://www.portofcleveland.com/assets/attachments/file/091006_ClevelandFinalSummaryReport_Final_reduced%20file%20size.pdf