"Regionalism" is major buzzword in Western New York’s political and economic circles. According to the many people, supposedly WNY’s best and brightest, who are relentlessly pushing this concept, we in WNY need to drop our fiefdom mindsets and leverage ourselves as a whole, not as a Buffalo or a Niagara Falls, in an collective effort to make the area better, returning some semblance of prosperity to the region.

This regionalism sounds good, but sounding good and actually being good are two entirely different things.

The concept really can’t work as intended when those most promoting it maintain their fiefdom-serving behaviors behind their regionalism facades. Western New York has historically been - and continues to be to this very day - overly "Buffalocentric". It has been believed by those in the Queen City and its richest suburbs (not to mention far away in Albany’s control rooms) that everything in WNY begins and ends in Buffalo or the wealthy parts of Erie County.

All efforts to bring progress to the region blindly focus on Erie County while Niagara, Orleans, and the other WNY counties are left to pick up the scraps. This is most insulting to Niagara County whose moniker was stolen and corrupted by the myriad regionalists who zealously label everything under the sun as "Buffalo-Niagara". Symptoms and symbols of this meaningless regionalism can be seen where development and progress occur and where they don’t occur.

This issue of Buffalocentrism recently reared its ugly head in a conflict that seems trivial at first but after closer analysis truly represents something bigger. The State Legislature voted almost unanimously to label Buffalo as the end of the Erie Canal. This created a donnybrook amongst the local municipalities with the Tonawandas (the true end of the Canal!) rightly calling the bill fraudulent while, miles away, the Buffalo crowd cried for joy. The local press became a sounding board pitting the have-nots against the haves (once again, Buffalo).

This legislation and its resultant conflict should never have occurred for the legislation defies all geographical sense. A quick look-see will show that the Erie Canal ends at the Niagara River in the Tonawandas. Common sense and logic should have ruled this issue. But alas, they didn’t. Remember, we are talking about Albany and the regionalists.

It’s the regionalists who brought this on, somehow twisting reality to their own Buffalocentric ends. If they had really cared about the "region" component of "regionalism" they would have accepted with open arms the Tonawandas as the true Canal terminus for, after all, by their definition we’re one big happy neighborhood. But, as with anything, it’s all about money: By bringing the Canal in spirit (and law) to Buffalo they have brought with it an important label that can now bring limitless grants and tax dollars to Buffalo, much to the detriment of the rest of the region.

Don’t get me wrong, I love regionalism as it was intended. I truly believe that in order to turn around this tired upstate economy - and bring about a better tomorrow for we and subsequent generations who call this "home" - we all need to understand that we’re all in it together. Only by working cohesively can we positively affect change.

But, despite, these beliefs, I become disillusioned and disbelieving when those who tout regionalism relentlessly promote their false religion while continuing their self-serving sins. We simple people outside of Buffalo and the suburbs see very little from regionalism efforts and it’s high time that we did. So, until the regionalists straighten their act out and promote the entire region, I’ll continue to be a non-believer and understand that everything really does begin and end in Buffalo, knowing that maybe, just maybe, that’s why this area is in distress.