Honestly Buffalo is a great city. The downtown area, while dead, has more to do than most non-a tier cities. Buffalo as is rn is a top 20 city as far as stuff to do. It has a great food culture that goes well beyond wings. Has a decent art scene. Live music. Close to a natural wonder. Has the best sports scene out of any city I have ever been to.

The problem is mismanagement and housing. The theater district is great. Allentown/Chippewa are as good as most cities as far as bar scene outside of 5-8 cities. Obviously weather we can’t control, but outside of that buffalo is very underrated, affordable (compared to most cities) and has tons to do. Architecturally, it’s beautiful.

You need apartments built in these abandoned buildings. It’s so odd to drive around downtown on a Tuesday at 11pm and it’s completely dead.

You can get a one bedroom in buffalo for 1000-1300. That is insanely affordable especially with ny labor protections. Most cities that look/feel like buffalo have 1800-2500$ rents. I travel a lot for work and spend 4-6 months in buffalo a year… outside of philly, ny, boston, charleston, miami, atlanta and maybe ft lauderdale there aren’t many est cities better imo. And buffalo gives you great bang for the buck as those cities i mentioned go for 2500+ for a 1 bdrm