On the road: Buffalo’s ‘Buffalo Billion’ project continues to evolve

The year was 2007. Albany, N.Y., former home of NBA-champion New York Knicks was bathed in gloomy news from New York City that the financial hub of the world was in dire need of a bailout. Congress was already reeling from allegations that Wall Street firms were influenced by massive bonuses, and each of the 28 New York senators accused of double-dipping (or pocketing part of their campaign cash while still receiving taxpayer aid) had already announced their resignation. Not to mention the recent passing of newly-elected Barack Obama and New York’s election of Malcolm Smith, the chairman of a state Senate Democratic caucus, to a US Senate seat previously held by Al D’Amato, the last senator to routinely abuse and exploit his office for private gain. The city was in dire need of a fresh start and a coalition of Western New York politicians and businesses rallied to produce the Buffalo Billion, a $1 billion plan to inject substantial private investment into the city. According to BuffaloNews.com, the Buffalo Billion was born of a joint effort by local business leaders, area politicians and influential federal officials. Buffalo’s ouster from its long-time economic and political hold on the Western New York economy set the stage for changes to the place that would make the Buffalo Billion so important to the city’s growth. The press clippings are slim, but I had the privilege of researching and writing about the Bloomberg Buffalo Billion Project for my book The Presidents Club: The Grand Experiment in Writing and Crafting American Politics (Penguin, 2010). It was an intense experience and several months later I had the good fortune to be in Buffalo to interview the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s public affairs director, George Gero. Three years later, my story is even more telling. … Now, Buffalo’s resurgence is well underway and city officials have yet to retire the last of the “Buffalo Billion” emblazoned in light of the glass office buildings and gleaming new schools that grace the western New York waterfront. In fact, the Buffalo Billion project is still going strong: Before leaving my hometown for the Cayman Islands, a group of business and political leaders attended a reception in Washington, D.C., marking the Buffalo Billion’s second anniversary and the 40th anniversary of President Johnson signing into law the 1967 Buffalo Harbor International Terminal Lands Act. Twenty-six local executives attended the reception, including one who is still seeking federal funding to expand the Buffalo River manufacturing and service businesses that started the revival. The activity – whether it’s the business initiative or the public works projects – doesn’t end there. Buffalo is receiving support, assistance and support from the Obama administration in a range of fiscal support as well as tax credits, such as those set to kick in if companies agree to stay in the Buffalo region or create jobs and headquarter those operations here. “They’ve given the city more than a billion dollars with a lot more on the way,” said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, who is playing a visible role in the Obama economic recovery efforts. The “Buffalo Billion” has been the “flash point” that has taken local leaders to new heights, according to BuffaloNews.com. Buffalo’s rebirth and economic growth are still efforts in progress, but Buffalo has hit what experts call a growth rate that is unprecedented for the area. Buffalo, Ohio – population 330,881, according to 2011 U.S. Census estimates – is the largest city in Buffalo, New York, and no one doubts that the long-time regional industrial capital is thriving again. Caught in the Canadian off-season, several green spaces along the Hudson River are full of people, their boats and their boats. Buffalo is on a fast climb and its standard of living continues to surge. But as I learned in reporting on this project, the Mayor’s office has performed very careful studies and evaluation of the costs and benefits of the Buffalo Billion project. The Mayor’s office did an additional review after the $900 million deal for the Buffalo Billion and revised the report. According to the “Buffalo Billion Financial Impact Study” released in 2014, the City of Buffalo’s investment in the construction projects between 2010 and 2013 “was mainly used to create thousands of construction jobs and related construction jobs, generated $813 million in job revenue across all sectors of the economy and returned a total net gain of $4.1 billion in the region.” The positive impact will be felt for years to come and will certainly be “intrinsically transformative.” Last July, Mayor Brown told a budget seminar sponsored by the New York State Finance Association and IHS Global Insight that Buffalo’s resurgence “has only just begun.” …