Over a decade ago, the opening of the Calumet Arts Caf?(c) saved downtown Buffalo. The Chippewa strip became a popular entertainment spot, and its success raised the possibility that future business ventures can create a strong commercial district within the city.
Today downtown is a very active location. That is, it's active on Friday and Saturday nights, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., within the confines of the Chippewa strip. The Calumet has closed due to a lack of profitability - the business was not attracting enough older, prosperous clientele to break even.
What was once perceived as a key component of the Buffalo revitalization is now, for the intents and purposes of local college students, Main Street South. It's essentially spring break every weekend, a place to watch suburban kids dance and grope each other in the front windows of Utopia and McMonkeez. The Buffalo News has disparagingly referred to the area as "fraternity row," not an inaccurate description.
This problem ought to give the city even more incentive to take active measures to revitalize downtown . City Hall should step in and brighten up its own backyard by working with major business groups and consulting firms to develop long-term plans that will increase commerce in the area. To combat the city's perceived lack of profitability, these groups must pitch the city to local and outside businesses, emphasizing all of its benefits and what can be gained in the future.
Buffalo should develop and enforce zoning codes that encourage the development of community spaces and a diverse commercial population. The dark gaps - empty buildings and dreary parking lots on Franklin, Pearl, and Washington streets - must be filled to create an environment in which pedestrians feel safe. One way to do this is by offering matching funds and tax incentives to business that move onto the silent streets.
But these spaces should not be filled with any more bars, at least not around Chippewa. What downtown really needs are places to shop, an area similar to the Elmwood strip that offers unique boutique stores as well as anchor stores found in a mall. Shopping developments and restaurants go hand in hand, and emphasis should be placed on attracting restaurants with personality and flavor rather than bland chains that mandate their waitresses wear 15 pieces of flair. Integrating these elements would offer consumers a vibrant atmosphere capable of luring them out of the suburbs for the chance to shop during the day, have a nice dinner in the evening, and party at the night.
The only way downtown can ensure that such an area can be maintained, though, is by lighting the district's upper floors and populating its streets with residents. By providing residents with the support services necessary to make living downtown possible and the activities necessary to make it enjoyable, the city could soon foster new growth and development. As to the business community, the city could offer assistance programs to downtown property owners and prospective developers that make rental and rehabilitation more than just talk. While direct financial aid may be more than Buffalo can realistically offer at this point, business development seminars and even "How to Remodel Your Home" workshops would be more than worth the expense. Many of Buffalo's buildings may be empty, but even faded they remain glorious. With a little care, their hardwood floors and crown moldings could easily outshine the allure of spartan suburban apartment complexes.
Doing so will be costly, it will take time, and it will be difficult, but letting the sparks of new life downtown extinguish in a wash of beer would be the city's greatest failure yet. Instead, local officials should transform the intoxicating feeling of seeing Chippewa's sidewalks crowded at night into an energy that lasts through the day.
