The Decline of Western New York: From Prosperity to Uncertainty

When I was growing up, Western New York was booming, and people were optimistic about the future. The region had hundreds of manufacturing plants offering high paying union jobs.

Buffalo's population was at its peak, and the area boasted some of the best school districts in the region. My family had prospered since the 1920s, and it seemed that the good times would never end.

Sometime in the 1960s and early 1970s, however, that optimism began to fade. Whether it was the influence of antiwar activists, environmentalists, social reformers, or a combination of these movements, the region's priorities seemed to change.

I became increasingly concerned that educational standards were being lowered rather than encouraging excellence and rewarding achievement. I purchased our family construction business and witnessed the decline firsthand.

Between 1970 and 1990, I lost more than 100 clients who either closed their operations or relocated out of state. My competitors faced the same challenges.

We lost major construction firms, including Siegfried, Cowper, Afore, and Elia, as well as industrial contractors such as Higgins Erectors. Our clients included Bethlehem Steel, Republic Steel, Mobil Oil, Ashland Refining, Shenango, Carborundum, and Hooker/Occidental.

One by one, these industrial giants disappeared or scaled back their operations.

We had to adapt to survive. In the late 1980s, we experienced our first financial losses because we could no longer generate the volume of business needed to sustain our operations.

We responded by adding a swimming pool division and bidding on municipal projects for the first time. Over the following decades, I watched New York State impose increasingly burdensome regulations and bureaucratic requirements on businesses.

Rising energy costs, environmental mandates, and policies discouraging traditional power generation further complicated the business climate. The closure of coal-fired power plants, without sufficient reliable replacement capacity, has contributed to concerns about affordability and energy reliability.

Today, politicians complain about high electricity bills and insufficient power for data centers. Yet these challenges reflect years of decisions that have made it increasingly difficult to attract and retain industry.

As I watch the state continue down this path, I wonder how individuals and businesses can prosper in an environment that seems increasingly unfriendly to productivity and investment.

More importantly, how can Western New York reverse this decline before even more of its productive population leaves for states offering greater economic opportunity?

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