The article about Buffalo is really interesting. Especially the author's conclusion about "shrinking to greatness," which given the level of outside interest and private sector development that's hit in the last year (4 billion compared to 100 million over the last ten years combined), it's evident that somebody is betting on that strategy. This guy Bashar Issa has been sinking a tremendous amount of cash into downtown lately. His last playground was Manchester, England. It remains to be seen if he has the same impact here.