Change Buffalo PAC Committee Report | October 17, 2026
The Situation
Two pieces of news this month show both the fragility and the resilience of the Buffalo-Niagara economy.
Goodyear is closing its Niagara Falls chemical plant. In a September 29 SEC filing, Goodyear said it approved a plan to close its chemical manufacturing facilities in Niagara Falls and Bayport, Texas, with about 85 job reductions across both sites, total pre-tax charges of $55 million to $75 million, and completion expected by the end of 2027 (see also Buffalo Business First). The 56th Street plant in Niagara Falls will shut down October 31 after about 80 years of operation (WKBW). The local job count is not final: as of early October Goodyear had not filed a state WARN notice (WKBW), and CNHI reported that Goodyear confirmed 60 employees would lose their jobs (CNHI). Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino told CNHI the jobs will be hard to replace and that the city is looking to attract light manufacturing to land north of Porter Road and expand building-trades training. The plant has also drawn long-running community concern over air emissions (CNHI; WKBW).
Regional job growth is flat. The New York State Department of Labor reports that private-sector jobs in the five-county Western New York region fell by 600, or 0.1 percent, to 538,700 in the 12 months ending September 2026. Gains came in private education and health services (+900) and professional and business services (+900). Losses came in financial activities (-800), trade, transportation and utilities (-500), manufacturing (-400) and mining, logging and construction (-400). Government jobs fell by 200.
Not every indicator is negative. Erie County’s 2027 Budget Message cites a regional economy of about $81 billion in GDP, county unemployment below the state rate, and sales tax receipts up 5.7 percent year to date in 2026.
What It Means for the Change Buffalo Agenda
The pattern is the problem. A single plant closing is not a regional crisis. But a region that adds jobs in health care and education while losing them in manufacturing, finance and construction is treading water, and treading water is what structural stagnation looks like. Our Turnaround Agenda exists because this region has the assets to grow faster than it does.
Fragmented economic development makes it harder to respond. When a plant closes in Niagara County, the response involves a city, a county, a county IDA, state agencies and a regional council, and Erie County’s development effort is itself split among multiple IDAs. Our One Region, One IDA initiative and proposed IDA Accountability Local Law call for one professional countywide agency, no incentives for moving jobs across town lines, clawbacks, and every deal published online. Our regional agenda calls for one economic strategy across Erie and Niagara, and our county agenda proposes a formal bi-county partnership.
The Goodyear site is a test. Redeveloping a long-running industrial site responsibly, with environmental cleanup and a clear path to new use, is exactly where predictable, coordinated decisions matter. Mayor Restaino’s focus on trades training also lines up with our call for skills that match real jobs.
Growth sectors need room to grow. The sectors adding jobs depend on talent. Housing supply, transit and quality of place, all covered in our regional agenda, are economic development policy, not side issues.
What Members Can Do
- Follow the Niagara County Legislature. Its 2026 schedule lists meetings on October 20 and November 17 at 6:00 p.m., budget hearings on December 1 and a budget vote on December 8, at the Niagara County Courthouse, 175 Hawley St., Lockport (Niagara County). Ask how the county and its IDA will coordinate a response to the closure.
- Watch for the WARN notice. When Goodyear files with the state, it will confirm the local job count. Share credible information, not rumors.
- Make the case for regional coordination with your county legislator and state representatives: one strategy, one set of published incentive deals, and real accountability.
- Lend your expertise. Join the Global Economic Prowess working group or the Professional Expertise Corps through our Get Involved page.
- Organize locally. Become a Neighborhood Captain or contact us to share how economic change is affecting your neighborhood.
