City Comparison
       Why do we keep this Government?

	NYC	Greater Baltimore	Greater Charlotte	Greater Indianapolis	Greater Buffalo
Governments	1	3	8	14	45
Elected Officials	64	33	60	159	341
2003 Population	8,115,135	1,670,119	752,366	863,251	941,293
Pop. Change Since '90	+792,571	+54,643	+240,933	+66,092	-27,239
Pop. Change Since '70	+219,572	+81,372	+397,710	+70,952	-172,198
Births per 1,000	15.4	13.1	17.5	12.1	11.3
Median African American Household Income	$31,366	$32,740	$35,038	$30,446	$20,898

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Overview - The above table shows several things clearly. First, Greater Buffalo, defined here as the geographic borders of Erie County, has a local government structure that is significantly different than other areas. We could conduct a significant reduction in the number of governments/politicians, and still be nowhere near as efficient as other successful regions. Further, the birth rate data reveals that the population trend is not reversing itself, and population declines will continue unless changes are made. The table also demonstrates that Buffalo’s decline is particularly felt in the African American community, whose household income falls well below that of competing cities. Please note that the number of elected officials includes elected executives, legislators, comptrollers, sheriffs, etc, but does not include justices and school board members. The chart to the right shows the number of elected officials per 1,000 residents.

NYC – New York City’s five boroughs (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island) contain approximately eight million people and are governed by one central local government. NYC has additional representation through a series of 59 community boards, whose members are recommended by city legislators and approved by the borough presidents. Community board members are not elected, are not paid, and serve a two year term. As the table above shows, New York City has managed to grow while Upstate cities have shrunken significantly like the greater Buffalo region. In Albany, Buffalo competes against NYC for state resources and appropriate regulatory treatment. While we are all represented by our State Assemblymen and Senators, New York State’s regions are also represented in Albany by our respective local governments. New York City’s eight million people speak with one voice in Albany, and Erie County’s 940,000 residents speak through the diluted voice of 45 local governments.

Baltimore – Baltimore is very similar to Buffalo in that it is a midsized, rust belt-era city set on the water. Like Buffalo, Baltimore is home to a largely abandoned Bethlehem Steel mill, and has suffered from large population shifts out of the urban core. However, local government in Maryland is much more centralized than in New York State. Local government in Baltimore differs from Buffalo in two critical areas: 1) county government has no overlapping town/village/city governments (Howard County stops at the street where Baltimore City starts), and 2) Maryland has a strong county structure, thus large geographical areas (which might contain hundreds of neighborhoods) are governed by a single local government. We invite you to visit Baltimore’s re-built waterfront, and ask yourself which region has a better local government.

Indianapolis - Indianapolis conducted a merger of many of its local governments on January 1, 1970. Several local towns and villages within the geographical footprint of the merged government opted to be “excluded” from the metro government, and still maintain a second layer of government. Citizens within the excluded towns can still vote for their representatives of the metro government, and also vote for representatives within their town. Unlike Buffalo, Indianapolis maintains a single, strong government at its center, and thus has no large-scale political turf battles between governments.

Charlotte – Many of the bright young people that have left Buffalo have moved to Charlotte. Charlotte and its surrounding Mecklenberg County have coordinated government between the city and the county, with only 6 incorporated towns within the county boundaries. “Charlotte-Mecklenburg” has rapidly grown its community in an organized, coordinated fashion for many years. A key to Charlotte’s growth is jobs. When a company wants to set up a new plant, they discuss incentive packages with only two entities: the state of North Carolina, and the Charlotte-Meclkenberg. Once the company has been attracted to the region in a coordinated way, company and government officials can discuss whether their needs are best served in a city or suburban location.