The following article from today's Buffalo News talks about one prospective businessman's frustrations in dealing with the Permits, Licensing, and Inspections Department in the city of Buffalo. Why wouldn't it be difficult to start a business in Buffalo? So many businesses are looking to move into this bustling city. It's a hub of activity.
What this article doesn't talk about are the two types of help potential businesses get from the department. If you're an outsider like the guy in this article, you get no help at all, just rude service followed by one roadblock after another. You get entitled, incompetent bureaucrats in city hall telling you all the things you need to do. Most of these people wouldn't know how to operate a lemonaide stand but they'll give you a million hoops to jump through before you can even get started. Good luck running a business when the city works against your dreams and not with them.
If you're one of the Doctor brothers opening a pizzeria or Dennis Donovan's daughter starting a purse store, the city will bend over backwards for you. They will give you all sorts of low interest loans and grants. You won't have to worry about any red tape. Cut to the front of the line just like you have your entire lives. Ironically, both of these businesses failed miserably. Eventually, blood and sweat, competence, and a good product will supercede any and all political connections. Just ask Tony the Barber or any other successful local businessman.
In typical fashion, East Aurora resident Jim Comerford offers one excuse after another. He says the department is improving from a couple of years ago. Well, I hope so. You're following the notoriously corrupt and inept Ray McGurn. There's only one way to go from there, and that's up. Those are some incredibly small shoes to fill, pal. Buffalo should get rid of Comerford and fellow Muskateer McGurn.
What this article doesn't talk about are the two types of help potential businesses get from the department. If you're an outsider like the guy in this article, you get no help at all, just rude service followed by one roadblock after another. You get entitled, incompetent bureaucrats in city hall telling you all the things you need to do. Most of these people wouldn't know how to operate a lemonaide stand but they'll give you a million hoops to jump through before you can even get started. Good luck running a business when the city works against your dreams and not with them.
If you're one of the Doctor brothers opening a pizzeria or Dennis Donovan's daughter starting a purse store, the city will bend over backwards for you. They will give you all sorts of low interest loans and grants. You won't have to worry about any red tape. Cut to the front of the line just like you have your entire lives. Ironically, both of these businesses failed miserably. Eventually, blood and sweat, competence, and a good product will supercede any and all political connections. Just ask Tony the Barber or any other successful local businessman.
In typical fashion, East Aurora resident Jim Comerford offers one excuse after another. He says the department is improving from a couple of years ago. Well, I hope so. You're following the notoriously corrupt and inept Ray McGurn. There's only one way to go from there, and that's up. Those are some incredibly small shoes to fill, pal. Buffalo should get rid of Comerford and fellow Muskateer McGurn.
Hey local residency violator: stop making excuses and give people a reason to start businesses in the city. The buck stops with you.
Donn Esmonde: City Hall is no friend to business folk : City & Region : The Buffalo News
Donn Esmonde: City Hall is no friend to business folk : City & Region : The Buffalo News
Here's rare footage of one of my friends from the South Buffalo underclass wishing he could someday be as lucky as a Comerford, Higgins, McGurn, Kane, Gould, Scanlon, and whatever other families pretend to care about the region for their own personal gain:
