So I took a little trip today.... - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

kipperfan · 12-09-2006, 03:23 PM

Down to Buffalo....not knowing what to expect as I have never been before, but was bored today and wanted some Camel cigs for cheap, so I went.

Wow......I have never in my life been to a more depressing and sad city in my life. EVERYTHING is old, I spent 3 hours driving around and saw like 2 new buildings the whole time(and by new I mean 1980's).

The streets, all of them except the Interstates were horrid, potholes every where, cracks and chunks of pavment coming up everywhere.

Never before have I seen so many boarded up factorys, buildings, houses.......almost like a big ghost town. Not to mention the factories that still run are right in the middle of residential housing. Also everywhere you go you see rements of buildings that have been knocked down, but no one has ever bothered to pick up and dispose of the rubble.

Then I decided to go into one of the "big malls"....ohh boy. Half of the stores had nothing in them, with for lease signs on the boarded up exterior. It is saturday afternoon 2 weeks before christmas yet there was NO ONE in the mall.

Every residential community I drove through looked like they were "projects", I saw a guy smoking what I assume to be crack right on his front porch.

I think HSBC owns the city, Iam not kidding. The arena, a tower, 3 buildings all named HSBC. Signs and billboards everywhere for HSBC, sided of buses with HSBC, I saw two cars with HSBC on them, I even saw I guy with a HSBC tattoo......ok the last one isnt true.

The wierd thing is a I didnt see a single liquor store the entire time...I found that kind of odd considering they are all over most cities.

They are no parks....well thats not true I saw one but believe me you wouldnt want to be in it without company.

HSBC arena is probably the nicest and newest building in the city....but the city has built nothing around it (ie..red mile, whyte ave) there is just this big rink surrounded by old buildings, and like 2 OLD pubs...really dumb setup.

Anyways I had to share..I was shocked...Buffalo makes Detriot look like shangrala.....acctually Buffalo reminded me of a really big Sudbury.

Phanuthier · 12-09-2006, 03:26 PM

Sounds alot like Edmonton, with a few changes...

Quote:

Wow......I have never in my life been to a more depressing and sad city in my life. EVERYTHING is old, I spent 3 hours driving around and saw like 2 new buildings the whole time(and by new I mean 1980's).

The streets, all of them except the Interstates were horrid, potholes every where, cracks and chunks of pavment coming up everywhere.

Never before have I seen so many boarded up factorys, buildings, houses.......almost like a big ghost town. Not to mention the factories that still run are right in the middle of residential housing. Also everywhere you go you see rements of buildings that have been knocked down, but no one has ever bothered to pick up and dispose of the rubble.

Then I decided to go into the "big malls"....ohh boy. Half of the stores had nothing in them, with for lease signs on the boarded up exterior.

Every residential community I drove through looked like they were "projects", I saw a guy smoking what I assume to be crack right on his front porch.

I think Northlands owns the city, Iam not kidding. The arena, a tower, 3 buildings all named Northlands. Signs and billboards everywhere for Northlands, sided of buses with Northlands, I saw two cars with Northlands on them

jzA · 12-09-2006, 03:30 PM

Sounds like you have never been to Newark...20x worse then buffalo.

kipperfan · 12-09-2006, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Sounds alot like Edmonton, with a few changes...

LOL

Honestly man Edmonton is a hole...but it looks like Palm beach compared to this joint.....downtown Buffalo is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and I think most of the orginal buildings still stand!

kipperfan · 12-09-2006, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jzA

Sounds like you have never been to Newark...20x worse then buffalo.

I have never been....but I mean Buffalo is a big city with 2 pro sports teams, I expected more...Newark being a dump is pretty common knowledge.

Phanuthier · 12-09-2006, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipperfan

I have never been....but I mean Buffalo is a big city with 2 pro sports teams, I expected more...Newark being a dump is pretty common knowledge.

Well... Buffalo was a place I was considering to go to next. If I think Edmonton is this bad, I guess maybe Buffalo probably isn't the best place to go.

Every week, there is at least one stabbing within one block I live (on Whyte Ave). At every community (minus 1) of my friend, there is always something going on. One of my other friends, he casasually walks around cop cars doing drug busts or domestic violence calls on his way home every day from class.

Another one of my friends, from the LRT to their house, you walk by about 5-6 homeless people pushing shopping carts full of pop cans and such.

As I walk home from University campus (about 5 blocks from campus) I get asked for money from homeless people about 4 times a week.

In my apartment building (and my girlfriend's apartment building, both within a radius of 5 blocks from campus) there are always homeless people sleeping in the enterenace. (I know its cold, but you'd think there would be a homeless shelters here?)

jolinar of malkshor · 12-09-2006, 03:41 PM

I have been to a few places in the US (Montana, Utah, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon). What I have noticed is that in most cases....the buildings and infrastructure seemed to be less quality than Canada's. (Alberta atleast). The roads suck ass, buildings are built anywhere (seems like no building codes)....just plain inferior.

I drove the road between laughlin NV and 29 Palms CA. When they made that road....they simple paved as they went. No shoulder and no even grade like here in Canada. It was like riding a roller coaster....up....down....up....down for a hundrend miles.

It just seems things are built really cheap in the US.

kipperfan · 12-09-2006, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I have been to a few places in the US (Montana, Utah, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon). What I have noticed is that in most cases....the buildings and infrastructure seemed to be less quality than Canada's. (Alberta atleast). The roads suck ass, buildings are built anywhere (seems like no building codes)....just plain inferior.

I drove the road between laughlin NV and 29 Palms CA. When they made that road....they simple paved as they went. No shoulder and no even grade like here in Canada. It was like riding a roller coaster....up....down....up....down for a hundren miles.

It just seems things are built really cheap in the US.

I agree...but having been to Chicago, NY City, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Spokane, Portland, Seattle, Detriot and Boise.... Buffalo is in a league of its own. I thought Spokane was bad, but this is much worse. But your point stands...I think a big reason is the infastructure in most US cities is alot older then ours, thus not as well thought out or constructed.

fredr123 · 12-09-2006, 04:25 PM

I took a trip to Niagra Falls earlier this year. We took an hour to try and drive over to Buffalo but we were too cheap to pay the toll to take the bridge. That road that goes around the river/lake... oh boy that was some bad scenery there. Looked incredibly dumpy and run down. From one side of the falls to the other is a HUGE difference.

Vulcan · 12-09-2006, 04:26 PM

I was living in Toronto the summer of 67 and watching the Buffalo news was all about fires. The racial riots seemed to result in trying to burn the city down. I guess they didn't succeed.

Sainters7 · 12-09-2006, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Sounds alot like Edmonton, with a few changes...

Nah Edmonton's not that bad. It definitely isnt as nice as Calgary, and most people here will tell you that. But its not too bad. You can tell its experiencing the Alberta boom too, theres construction everywhere. Its funny because its essentially the same size and population as Calgary(maybe slightly smaller), yet when youre in Calgary it feels like youre in a big city, whereas in Edmonton you dont.

btw Whyte Ave is not really close to Rexall, its not like the Red Mile where you could walk there after games. Its just an area of the city right by the University, where all the clubs are so everyone decided to party before/during/after games, and make asses of themselves.

MRCboicgy · 12-09-2006, 08:15 PM

Two words:

Gary, Indiana

'Nuff said

Hack&Lube · 12-10-2006, 02:48 AM

And people say Drury didn't work out here because "he didn't like the city". Yeah right.

I wonder how most Buffalo players feel about Buffalo? Well, probably none of them actually live there and just commute around the NY area.

The only memory I have of Buffalo is visiting as a kid in a run-down small mall where I for some reason bought a Sega Game Gear and was sad because my parents made me throw all the packaging away to avoid customs.

Sidney Crosby's Hat · 12-10-2006, 02:54 AM

Did you make it to the Anchor Bar? Great place for Wings.

kipperfan · 12-10-2006, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

And people say Drury didn't work out here because "he didn't like the city". Yeah right.

I wonder how most Buffalo players feel about Buffalo? Well, probably none of them actually live there and just commute around the NY area.

The only memory I have of Buffalo is visiting as a kid in a run-down small mall where I for some reason bought a Sega Game Gear and was sad because my parents made me throw all the packaging away to avoid customs.

I was thinking about where all the rich hockey and football players live when I was driving around. I am sure there is a nice community somewhere in the city, but I certainly couldnt find it.

Mr.Coffee · 12-10-2006, 10:41 AM

Are you sure you didnt just miss the nice parts? Every city has its poorer and richer parts I'd think...?

Flames in 07 · 12-10-2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

I have been to a few places in the US (Montana, Utah, Nevada, California, Washington, Oregon). What I have noticed is that in most cases....the buildings and infrastructure seemed to be less quality than Canada's. (Alberta atleast). The roads suck ass, buildings are built anywhere (seems like no building codes)....just plain inferior.

I drove the road between laughlin NV and 29 Palms CA. When they made that road....they simple paved as they went. No shoulder and no even grade like here in Canada. It was like riding a roller coaster....up....down....up....down for a hundrend miles.

It just seems things are built really cheap in the US.

JoM, I wouldn't say cheaper. I'd say a wider range. There's no shortage of bottom end infrastructure, butplaces like Phoenix, Boston, NY, Chicago, parts of Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco and parts of LA make Canada look like a 3rd world country.

That's a good way to compare almost everything in the US, pick your variable, economic standing, quality of infrastructure, friendliness of people, education ... In Canada the difference is within a narrow band, in the US it extends much higher and much lower than what we are used to.

Flames in 07 · 12-10-2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

And people say Drury didn't work out here because "he didn't like the city". Yeah right.

I wonder how most Buffalo players feel about Buffalo? Well, probably none of them actually live there and just commute around the NY area.

The only memory I have of Buffalo is visiting as a kid in a run-down small mall where I for some reason bought a Sega Game Gear and was sad because my parents made me throw all the packaging away to avoid customs.

Well, ot be more specific it didn't like the Country. He just wanted back to the US, I was glad we were able to give him his wish ... in Buffalo.

kipperfan · 12-10-2006, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Are you sure you didnt just miss the nice parts? Every city has its poorer and richer parts I'd think...?

Like I said I am sure the are some nice communities, but I drove around for three hours and didnt see much of anything that was decent.

There was one stretch on one street just outside of downtown that was the only bright spot, I think it was the club district, everything was kinda new and they had it decorated for christmas. But the theatre disrict and downtown was very bad, their city hall building is cool though, if you are a fan of art deco architecture you would enjoy it.

There was this cool castle as well, from the early 19th century I believe, that was neat.

kipperfan · 12-10-2006, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipperfan

Like I said I am sure the are some nice communities, but I drove around for three hours and didnt see much of anything that was decent.

There was one stretch on one street just outside of downtown that was the only bright spot, I think it was the club district, everything was kinda new and they had it decorated for christmas. But the theatre disrict and downtown was very bad, their city hall building is cool though, if you are a fan of art deco architecture you would enjoy it.

There was this cool castle as well, from the early 19th century I believe, that was neat.

I found a pic of city hall:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:B...Hall_-_001.jpg