Is The City Of Buffalo For Sale?

There's been a lot of talk lately all over parts of the Empire State about the condition of New York's second-largest city's finances.

With a growing budget shortfall and the prospect of a significant property tax increase, along with rising costs for fees and services, Buffalo faces a challenging financial outlook.

With Buffalo still leading the nation as the hottest housing market, along with the value of city properties soaring to an all-time high value, things shouldn't be as bad as they seem, however after more than two decades of benign financial neglect, we're on the verge of facing a very tough choice as it's hasn't been a secret that the City of Buffalo has been having financial problems.
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Is The City Of Buffalo For Sale?

It was just last year that city officials took millions in federal stimulus money away from community groups and nonprofits to help balance the budget. This year, the city is facing a nearly $70 million deficit in its budget, and officials have suggested several measures to address this shortfall. However, recent reporting from Investigative Post shows how far some people may be willing to go.

One of the primary and key functions of local governments, such as Buffalo, is to care for the community. That happens by taking care of things like public safety and policing, plowing snow, ensuring we all have access to clean water, quality schools, and operating community-improving institutions like libraries, cultural institutions, and parks.

For some reason, it appears that Buffalo has not been performing well in many of these areas, and now it seems that Buffalo may be considering exiting the business of managing many of our community institutions.

Investigative Post has discovered that city officials may be considering either privatizing or outright selling some of the city's key cultural facilities and sports venues.

Facilities like Johnnie B. Wiley Amateur Athletic Sports Pavilion, Shea’s Buffalo Theater, Kleinhans Music Hall, The KeyBank Center, the Buffalo History Museum, the Buffalo Zoo, Sahlen Field, the Buffalo Museum of Science, the Broadway Market, Tift Farm, and more are all owned by the City of Buffalo (which mean are owned by the residents of the city). They may all be sold off as the city is looking to shift more responsibilities away from the local government.

This, of course, is generally a bad idea as these community gems benefit everyone in Buffalo, and city residents should not be punished after years of governmental mismanagement. While the Buffalo region has a history of making bad decisions, we don't need to continue this trend.

Before selling off our key cultural assets, perhaps Buffalo should consider selling the more than 7,000 residential properties that are being hoarded.