Most people (especially outsiders) hate this city. It is depressing, dark, and behind with the times (go watch
Buffalo '66). I guess it was big in the time when the steel industry was around, but now there is nothing much holding the city together.
Most of the population of Buffalo live outside, in the suburbs such as Amherst, Cheektowaga, Tonawanda, Clarence, Orchard Park, Niagara Falls and so on. Slowly people are leaving this city - you hardly meet people who are not from Buffalo unless they are students.
The only good thing about Buffalo is that the people who have grown up here love the place and vow never to leave, which at times, amazes me.
Buffalonians tend to think that Buffalo is one of the best cities around, and won't even admit that Toronto is a better city (only 1-2 hours away). In fact, most Buffalonians I have met here, haven't even been to Toronto which is quite pathetic.
There really isn't much here. Most graduating students (a well known college is UB which thrives in Engineering) leave Buffalo immediately.
There is not much of a tech industry in Buffalo, which is suprising, considering Rochester, NY (home of Kodak, Xerox) is an hour away.
What also amazes me is how dead Niagara Falls is compared to the Canadian side of the Falls. I always tell visitors who come to the Falls, to spend 3 minutes on the US side and the rest of their vacation time on the Canadian side.