When Beth and I go on vacation, be it Maine, Bruce Peninsula, San Francisco or even Newfoundland, we often look at each other and say “wouldn’t it be great to live here.”
Then we look at real estate prices and reality. How would we make a living? Could we afford a house? If we had visited the DeVeaux neighborhood of Niagara Falls more before we moved, we would have had the same fantasy.
Instead I listened to how Niagara Falls was branded by Shredd and Ragan and the Gazette and reacted to Beth when she first suggested moving by thinking she lost her mind.
We were safe and bored in Clarence, living on a fast country road framed by cornfields and the occasional stench of chickenshit.
I thought she had lost her mind.
Then she started homeshopping. A house that would cost $500,000 or more in Clarence Center, East Aurora, Orchard Park or North Buffalo was $185,000 in Niagara Falls because of how the Gazette and Shredd and Ragan have branded the Falls as a horrible place.
The reality about what I wrote above about fantasizing about living in cool vacation locales is we can live here but at less cost than Clarence. When the Gazette dies, Pfeiffer retires and Shredd and Ragan stop trashing the city, real estate values will explode.
I start most tours the same way.
“I work a full-time job and sneak away a few times a week to lead tours, because I want to tell people how wonderful my city is. It’s not about getting paid by the tour company or collecting tips. It is about making sure people have a good time and know there are legit family businesses owned by entrepreneurs here you can visit and support.”
Then I send people to places like Power City Eatery, Wine on Third, Goldbar, Judi's Lounge, Simply Soul and Mister B's. You can't go wrong.
