Marsha Henderson, KeyBank N. A. Western New York district president, who chaired the economy task force, agrees. Not uniformly bad, not uniformly rosy. Most of all, it's a reminder that we as a region can control our destiny. The area's high rate of health disease and teen pregnancy is slowly declining, but teen smoking levels remain above the national average and are rising. Education is suffering from struggle to meet Regents standards, high minority dropout rates and teacher diversity.
Most communities have a master plan or zoning requirements, but regional planning remains spotty.
Public transit ridership is down.