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In Our Opinion

County Should Let Public See Completed Jail, Airport Studies

Twice in recent weeks Chautauqua County legislators have seen studies regarding the Chautauqua County Jail and Chautauqua County Airport in Jamestown. They’re choosing to keep those studies close to the legislature’s collective vest. Given that public money was spent on the studies, the fact that the studies have been discussed in public meetings and the fact the studies detail future potential uses of public money, those studies should be made public now rather than when the legislature or its special committees decide to release them. We can see why legislators haven’t ...

City Makes Right Call On Housing Mini-Grant Program

Jamestown’s status as a federal entitlement community shows the depth of need in many pockets of our community. So it can be frustrating - for both city residents and those who administer the federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs - to see money sitting around gathering dust and a little bit of interest but not being used to improve housing stock in Jamestown. It’s good to see Crystal Surdyk try to use some of those small dollar amounts the city has had waiting to be used for other programs to extend an American Rescue Plan Act program that has proven to be ...

By This Time In 2025, We’ll Know If City’s Ambulance Bet Pays Off

Jamestown’s second ambulance is in service - and with it Jamestown’s latest financial bet has really gone live. Putting a second city-based ambulance into service, manned with city firefighters, has long been billed as a way for the city to help recoup some of the costs of its fire department. The ambulance will in theory allow the city to double the number of ambulance calls it can respond to each year when ALSTAR Ambulance is out of service, decreasing the times neighboring volunteer firefighters have to respond to EMS calls inside the city limits while at the same time ...

Celebrating Small Businesses On Saturday

On Saturday, Chautauqua County will join the rest of the nation in celebrating Small Business Saturday. It’s a celebration too big and too good to pass up. Geared to the start of the holiday shopping season and coming on the heels of Black Friday blowouts at national big-box retailers, the sole focus of the day is to encourage consumers to shop at locally owned and operated enterprises and thereby contribute to the myriad benefits that practice produces. American Express began Small Business Saturday in 2010, and in 2011, the U.S. Small Business Administration wisely joined in as a ...

Giving Thanks Today For All That We Have

Too often, we prosperous, free Americans take our many blessings for granted. Nearly all of us enjoy material wealth that is the envy of billions of people in other lands. We are free to do nearly anything our hearts desire, as long as our actions do not harm others. Our nation itself is a blessing. Our government is our servant. Public policy is meant to benefit us, not the other way around, as is the situation in many other countries. We govern ourselves by consensus, in effect - providing any agreement by the majority is not detrimental to those who happen to be in the minority. ...

Accepting The State’s Help Often Comes With Strings

Grants often have strings attached to them - as Jamestown officials were reminded last week when talking about a culvert replacement project that will be aided with a $1.5 million state grant. Jamestown won’t have a problem covering its $350,100 share of the project as long as nothing changes. Of course, that’s the big question raised by Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large. What if something changes? After the city was led down the primrose path when it came to the new fleet maintenance facility on Washington Street to the tune of millions of dollars of additional spending ...