Buffalo Needs More Pirates

With Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides in theaters and raking in millions of dollars it seems like a good time to write a blog post about the scourge of the seven seas. In a post on Tech Crunch Michael Arrington says that entrepreneurs are like pirates. They’re not just willing to take risks. Entrepreneurs  enjoy taking risks. It gives them a thrill, and even epic failures do not dissuade them from seeking out their next great adventure. Entrepreneurs try things, learn from failure, and use that knowledge to increase their chance of success on the next go round.

Anyone who knows Buffalo’s history understands that Western New York has been home to some great “pirates”. The Bflo Made exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical society highlights many of the products that were invented and produced in WNY. Our region has witnessed the birth of many great innovations, from air conditioning to the jet pack used in a James Bond movie. Unfortunately, our current economic situation is one that can’t be corrected simply by extolling great achievements of the past. In 2011, and for many years prior, our region has been severely lacking in entrepreneurial activity. The College Destination Index, which ranks college towns across America, gave Buffalo very high grades in categories such as “arts and leisure” and “cost of living”. For the category “entrepreneurial activity”, however, Buffalo was tied with Milwaukee for second worst among mid-sized metros. 

It’s difficult to argue with this assessment of our business climate. Countless roadblocks stand in the way of entrepreneurs, including high taxes and miles of red tape. With all of these challenges facing local businesses, it seems almost impossible that Buffalo might regain the economic mojo it once had. Nevertheless, there are some steps that our region could take that would set us on a path to economic rejuvenation.

First and foremost, Western New Yorkers need to move forward with a collective focus on creating new businesses rather than simply trying to hold on to the businesses that we still have. Our elected officials, our government agencies, our colleges and universities, and even some of our citizen activists and non-profits need to tap their inner Jack Sparrow. Rather than focus on keeping and attracting the HSBCs and Geicos, Buffalonians should be working together to come up with ways to promote the small businesses that one day may become the next industry leader. Rather than offer millions in tax breaks to lure big businesses here, let’s set the stage for entrepreneurs to build the businesses that other cities will one day try to lure away from Buffalo. 

For decades Buffalo and WNY has been very good at investing in old ideas for economic growth (i.e. downtown mall, casino gaming, tax breaks to large retailers) when what we need is more investment in our greatest asset, our people. There are countless ways that we could do a better job harnessing the human resources that are already present in our region, and we don’t have to look very hard to find ideas. Microcredit, an economic development strategy pioneered by Muhammad Yunus in Bangledesh, is designed to facilitate entrepreneurship by giving small loans to the poor. Though microcredit is primarily an economic  development strategy of the developing world, microcredit recently came to America in the form of Grameen  America. This offshoot of Yunus’ Grameen Bank is currently located in New York City and Omaha, Nebraska and they are expanding to several other cities. Unfortunately, Buffalo isn’t on their list, but it should be. As the third poorest city in America there are few places in America that are in greater need of microcredit. 

Another human resource that can be harnessed is our growing number of immigrants and refugees. A large percentage of American startup firms are initiated by immigrants. This is good news for Buffalo, since our city has a growing number of residents who come to us from all over the world, including countries such as Burma and Somalia. In a region that has been losing population for decades, the fact that many people from overseas are choosing to settle here is a big plus for Western New York. We can see the entrepreneurial spirit of many of these new Buffalonians in the various ethnic stores and restaurants that enrich our community. We need to be asking how we can make the process of starting a business easier for immigrants, refugees, and every citizen of Buffalo. After all, navigating the rules and regulations of starting a business is difficult even for those born and raised here. The process is even more daunting for someone who has lived in an entirely different legal system. 

This is where business incubators like the one started by the Westminster Economic Development Initiative (WEDI) have the potential to slowly transform inner city business districts. Business incubators give entrepreneurs the support they often need to grow and develop their business until it is strong enough to stand on its own. Like an old salt (that’s pirate talk for an experienced sailor) who teaches a young lass the ways of the sea, incubators prevent young businesses from being sent to Davy Jones’ Locker. Western New York has several business incubators, such as UB’s Technology Incubator and nxtArrow, but there is room for many more. Incubators come in many shapes and sizes because the design and function of the incubator depends on the types of businesses and/or the people it serves. Buffalo needs more of them, and they need to be as innovative as the businesses they hope to grow.

There is no doubt that we have put ourselves in a very challenging predicament. Despite some accomplishments in recent years that put the region in better shape to compete in areas such as the health sciences, other regions aren’t sitting still and waiting for us to catch up. This is an all hands on deck situation. More than ever we need to work together to devise and implement solutions. We need new ways to connect people who have ideas with people who have resources to make those ideas a reality. An article from the Chronicle of Higher Education calls this strategy “Connecting Smart Risk Takers.”  The Rebuffalo.com site, though still only a theoretical website at this point in time, will make it easier to do just that. It will give Buffalo’s pirates a place to congregate online, share ideas, pool resources, and construct solutions to the problems facing our city.

By combining and adapting strategies that have worked elsewhere to fit the needs of Buffalo, we can achieve a critical mass of pirate minded entrepreneurs who can provide the impetus for economic growth.  There’s no time to waste. The economic plight of Buffalo wasn’t created overnight, and it will take time to innovate ourselves out of this mess. We need to start trying things, especially when they don’t cost much money. It’s time to weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen (pirate talk for “pull up the anchor and the sail and get going”)!

Soul of the Community

Why do we live where we live? This is a question that any proud Buffalonian can easily answer. It's also a question that the Knight Foundation's "Soul of the Community" project is attempting to answer. The Knight Foundation focuses on promoting journalism and community revitalization. One of its many initiatives was to commission the Gallup Organization to help them figure out what community characteristics create greater attachment to a community. After polling close to 43,000 people Knight produced a list of key drivers that affect attachment. Most of these drivers were to be expected. Things like the economy, education system, and safety were high on most people's lists when it comes to choosing a home base. This is not surprising given that jobs, schools, and crime are three things that define the quality of our cities. These also happen to be three areas that people tend to list when they discuss Buffalo's shortcomings.

The surprising part of  "Soul of the Community" is that these three qualities were not the most commonly listed drivers. Neither was a community's leadership/government. The top three drivers for attachment turned out to be...

1. Social Offerings - "opportunities for social interaction and citizen caring"
2. Openness/welcomeness - "how welcoming the community is to different people"
3. Aesthetics - "physical beauty and green spaces"

Not the most pragmatic list of urban qualities, but one that can give us a window into the minds of both current and potential Buffalonians. Though we  must continue to work on improving our local economy, schools, and crime prevention programs, we also need to focus some of the "touchy feely" aspects of our city. We might want to take stock of how we are doing in these areas when compared to cities across the U.S. and the world. How do our social offerings compare to Pittsburgh, Raleigh, and even Beihai, China (our 4 a.m. bar closing time might help us here). How open are we to "outsiders", whether they are from across town, across national borders, or across racial, socioeconomic, or sexual orientation barriers? How pretty are we (Olmstead parks plus 1 point, vacant buildings minus 1 point).

Once we have some empirical evidence regarding local perceptions of these qualities we could start to craft plans for improving in these areas. Knight Foundation consultant Katherine Loflin suggests that there are concrete things that communities can do to improve perceptions, such as widening sidewalks, improving/creating tree canopies, and improving transportation to entertainment venues. She also seems to suggest that there can be a difference between reality and perception that can be exploited by communities to increase attachment (e.g. when the economy is bad cities can promote "staycations" by marketing little known local attractions, thereby increasing attachment and stimulating the economy by keeping tourism dollars local). This "perception gap" might also point to the need for rebranding a community, but that is a topic for a future post. Loflin also makes the claim that young people today often "pick a place first, and then try to figure out the job". This would seem to lend some credibility to the oft-maligned theories of Richard Florida, who claims that cities should do everything in their power to attract people that he characterizes as the "creative class".

There are some fascinating implications to be explored when we start to consider how all of the drivers identified in the Knight study interact. For instance, how does the social capital present in a community effect other drivers such as civic involvement? This is one question that ReBuffalo.com will hopefully provide some answers to, as the site will attempt to increase both social capital and civic involvement. If these two drivers are mutually reinforcing, then ReBuffalo.com can increase both at the same time while facilitating new projects and partnerships across the many boundaries that divide us. If it turns out that the two are completely unrelated, well, let's not think about that right now. As a friend of mine once said about a project he was working on, "It might not work, but it will work."

Together We Can ReBuffalo

For many years Buffalonians have wondered when their hometown would finally shed all the negative stereotypes and very real problems that have plagued us. Anyone who has ever resided in Western New York, and many who live outside of our region know them: "Rust Belt", "Snow Belt", poverty, vacant housing, etc. The list is long, but those of us who know Buffalo also know why we choose to be here, because that list is even longer: "City of Good Neighbors", "Blue Collar Work Ethic", "Sports Town", historic architecture, art, culture, great neighborhoods, etc.

With so much going for us and so many people who are passionate about our city how is it possible that we have been facing some of the same challenges for so long? Many have addressed this question, with brilliant answers that point to economics, politics, culture, and other factors. Though all of these factors undoubtedly have played a roll, my favorite answer to this question points a finger at a lack of collaboration. For many decades Buffalonians and Western New Yorkers have found too little common ground from which to take on the challenges facing our region.

If it is a lack of collaboration between citizens, government, businesses, and local organizations that is holding us back, then we Buffalonians have two directions to choose from. We can either continue to follow our countless individual agendas or we can get serious about finding common ground. We can continue to focus on our problems or we can turn the challenges we face into opportunities for new and innovative solutions. As Jack from the TV series Lost used to say, "if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."

The purpose of his blog, and of the ReBuffalo.com website that is currently in development, is to facilitate new and innovative community projects that will improve the quality of life of everyone who calls themselves a Buffalonian, whether they happen to live within the city limits or in the burbs. The ReBuffalo.com website, once it is launched, will be kind of like Match.com (the online dating site), but for community projects and collective action. It will allow individuals and groups to find common interests, ideas, and projects and develop action plans for taking these projects from the drawing board to the community. It will give businesses and foundations the opportunity to find ideas and projects that they would like help fund, and it will provide non-profit organizations with more volunteers to assist them with their ongoing efforts. ReBuffalo.com will facilitate community revitalization through online collaboration that leads to real world progress.

The ReBuffalo blog will complement the ReBuffalo.com website by providing examples of innovative urban projects that are happening in Buffalo and throughout the world. My hope is that the examples provided in this blog will inspire ideas, plans, and projects in Buffalo and show that real progress is possible when we choose to put aside differences to find common ground. I hope that you enjoy the blog, and I hope that you will join me as together we ReBuffalo.