30 Wishes For Buffalo

I turned the big 30 this April!!!  All month I've been blowing out candles on cakes and making wishes. I started writing this list of my "Buffalo wishes" on my birthday, when I woke up early and couldn't fall back asleep. 

I can’t tell you what I wished for when I blew out my birthday candles (because then it won’t come true), but here are thirty wishes I have for this great city. I get some are far fetched, I know many may take another 30 years to happen, but some are already in the works and I can’t wait to see those wishes come true! 

Some of the wishes I have absolutely no control over, but in other cases I can do something, and I will. I hope you will too. 

So, in no particular order, here is the list...

Krystal's Wishes For Buffalo, NY

1. The obvious – The Buffalo Bills win a Super Bowl (I’ll actually take a playoff home game, preferably in the next few years).

2. The other obvious – The Buffalo Sabres win a Stanley Cup.

3. They tear down the skyway and create a version of NYC’s High Line.

4. The Trico building is reused and filled with new business in Buffalo.

5. The Richardson Center Corporation finds additional tenants to fill all the remaining ward buildings!

6. The Buffalo Bills Stadium moves downtown. Make. It. Happen.  

7. All the grain elevators are reused and filled with great new Buffalo ventures (it starts with Silo City Rocks…who will be next?)

8. More breweries in Buffalo.

9. More bike lanes on the streets of Buffalo.

10. New business booms on Main Street.

11.Kenmore/Tonawanda change the no parking on the street rule. I grew up there and it always seemed like too long of a time period to me. I don't live there anymore, so it wouldn't apply to me, but still want to see it changed. 

12. Continued development at Canalside and seeing the old site of the Memorial Auditorium filled with new business. 

13. Buffalo’s Roswell Park finds THE cure for all cancers.

14. The full dream of restoration at The Central Terminal is completed and we have a high speed rail in the area.

15. I’m all about shopping local, but if there is one chain store I love, it’s Ikea. I want an Ikea in Buffalo.

16. The unemployment rate reaches an all-time low.

17. The population of Buffalo trends upward instead of down (but, you know, not so much to where my 20 minute drive to anywhere is compromised…haha, okay, I’ll accept a longer commute if it means more bodies in Buffalo). 

18. A TV show, based in Buffalo, NY airs and is a huge hit shining a lot of positive light on The Queen City!

19. A handful of big name celebrities buy condos/apartments/houses in Buffalo because it becomes "the city" to live in. 

20. New leadership in Buffalo creates positive change for a city ready for greatness again.

21. The Buffalo Police Department receives additional support which in turn reduces the homicide rate in Buffalo.

22. The Buffalo Public Schools find a way to enact big changes to make it a desirable school district for families.

23. The issue of segregation in Buffalo is properly addressed and not kept a secret anymore. I’ve seen a lot of talk about this in recent months, now we need to start changing the dynamic here. 

24. I have touched on this already, but more college graduates choose to stay in Buffalo because the jobs they want are here.

25. A personal wish for me is that someday I can move into downtown Buffalo. It is a dream I’ve had for many years, but hasn’t worked out for one reason or another – not that I am complaining, the path I’m on right now is right where I want to be.  

26. More school districts in WNY add or add more Buffalo history into their social studies classes.

27. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus & UB School of Medicine work is completed bringing thousands more to downtown Buffalo on a regular basis.

28. Whatever needs to happen with the Peace Bridge Project happens (this is one project I haven't followed closely, but have been hearing about for years). 

29. Buffalo winters remain mild finally changing the national attitude that all it does in Buffalo is snow. A lot. 

30. For all of NYS - Government takes a hard look at air pollution and enacts stricter regulations for businesses. I'd like to see Erie County get an A in the American Lung Association's "State of the Air" report. 



What are your wishes for Buffalo?