Is it any wonder we continue to fail in looking to the future by maintaining our overabundance of government and schools in Western New York? Last week, one of the smallest municipalities in Chautauqua County actually had a gripe with a proposal to change the status of a highway ...
Jamestown and its nonprofit partners are going to pursue conventions in an attempt to bring people downtown. The Jamestown Meetings and Conferences Initiative is one of the first tasks given to the newly reconstituted Jamestown Renaissance Corporation. The effort includes the city of Jamestown, Chautauqua County Government, CHQ Chamber, Chautauqua County Visitor’s Bureau, Gebbie Foundation and Jamestown area attractions and hotels. It’s just the latest example of that which is old becoming new again. Jamestown has been down this road before - and actually had a modicum of ...
The idea of automatic cost-of-living-adjustments for Chautauqua County legislators is, and frankly always was, a bad idea. We weren’t in favor of legislators receiving a 64% increase in pay in 2024. While that was the first raise in county lawmakers’ pay in about 20 years. A $5,700 raise doesn’t look like much until you realize it equaled a nearly $110,000 increase to the county budget. Now, next year, legislators are set to receive another pay increase tied to inflation. Can all the county residents who work two jobs raise their hands if their part-time employer have ...
A five-year delay in the state’s electric school bus mandate would be a reasonable compromise if it is included in the state budget as some Albany insiders say it will be. The electric bus mandate was always far too optimistic that technology would be ready quickly. Early adopters of electric buses have found the technology isn’t ready for New York’s winters. And, in a state where Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed relatively flat state aid for many smaller districts, the cost of bonding for electric school buses was going to be more than most districts’ taxpayers were going to be ...
When was the last time you drove through the five corners of Busti and thought what would really make the intersection easier to navigate are new pedestrian signals, sidewalks and curb ramps? When was the last time you drove through the five corners to find a pedestrian? These are the great problems the state Transportation Department is going to spend your money trying to fix by acquiring private property near the intersection and then performing what has to be a limited reconstruction. What a waste of money. We’d prefer the state do something to redesign the entire intersection ...
There hasn’t been much publicity about it, but the Democrats are having a Primary Election on Tuesday, June 23rd. Democrats are noted for being somewhat scrappy and independent-minded, so this should not be a surprise. As a matter of fact, having elections is a good thing. There are two individuals who are now vying for the Democratic nomination to run against our current Congressman in the fall election—Aaron Geis and Kevin Stocker. Since Geis is from the Southern Tier (Olean,) he might be deemed the favorite as the 23rd Congressional District is primarily a Southern Tier ...
