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In Our Opinion

Group Effort Needed For Bemus Point Businesses Affected By Bridge Project

For the past couple of months, Bemus Point officials have fielded complaints from village businesses that sales are down in part, they say, because travelers are struggling to get into the village with the exit to the village closed as work continues on the Veterans Memorial Bridge over Chautauqua Lake. In February, the problem was tractor-trailers getting off at the wrong exit for Jamestown and ending up in the middle of the village. Last week village officials discussed issues raised by village businesses. Mayor Jeff Molnar is trying to set up a meeting with the state DOT and Larry ...

City Should Invest In Gateway Lofts Project

City Council members will have an interesting question before them at this month’s voting session regarding the Gateway Lofts project. Thus far, the supportive housing project - whose price tag has grown to $77 million - has been kept somewhat at arm’s length from City Council members with most of the discussion taking place at the Planning Commission level. The project is beginning to pick up steam for seemingly the first time in years, and it’s time for the council to weigh in. Crystal Surdyk, city development director, is proposing to reallocate $640,000 in previously ...

Panama Presents Opportunity To Share Administration

The Panama Central School Board of Education has been meeting over the past week to discuss candidates to serve as the district’s interim superintendent after Aaron Wolfe resigned to take a position in Wellsville. Wolfe had been in Panama since 2022 after the retirement of former Panama superintendent Bert Lictus. Once an interim superintendent is hired, we hope the district continues down a path it started with Lictus and looks to share the position with a neighboring school district. Paama and Clymer were ahead of the curve when it came to sharing positions, including sharing ...

Mini Bikes Are Really A State Problem

We can understand the concern and irritation some city residents have regarding mini bikes or e-bikes that sometimes feel like they’ve overtaken city streets. For some people the e-bikes are a vital means of transportation. They’re inexpensive to operate, relatively cheap to purchase compared to gas-powered vehicles and require no visits to the DMV to renew a driver’s license or to register the vehicle. While much of the discussion of e-bikes at the state level has focused on battery charging fires caused by early models of the e-bikes, legislation to create a safer riding ...

Impact Of Uncertainty At Chautauqua Institution Extends Beyond Gates

For many who live and work in Chautauqua County, the Chautauqua Institution might as well be another world. Many county residents are so busy earning a living that the thought of taking a trip to Chautauqua for daytime lectures or exposure to the fine arts is rarely given a second thought. In many cases, despite the institution’s efforts reach out to the surrounding community through performances outside the institution’s gates or programs involving area schoolchildren, Chautauqua Institution feels to many county residents as a venue for others. The December discussion at a ...

DEC’s Testing Of Mayville Soils Is Needed, Welcomed

Uncertainty over how the state DEC will administer its legislatively required work under the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act can sometimes color area residents’ perception of the DEC. But the agency’s work in Mayville underscores the agency’s importance on less controversial, but no less important, areas that affect county residents. DEC officials have begun testing soil in the Mayville area to determine the extent of previous PFNA acid in the wake of the December 2020 discovery of PFNA chemicals in a village drinking water well. A new well was put on line about three weeks ...