Among the most-read stories are several that continue into 2020. In no particular order are several of our most-read topics that could be resolved, one way or another, this year.

Before we get to those stories, however, is a caveat. There is no way anyone could have predicted, back on Jan. 1, 2019, some of the stories and headlines that appeared on our pages. It’s a good reminder, as we look ahead to 2020, that the headlines that make this type of list in 2021 are likely to come out of nowhere in the coming year.

THE FIRST TERM OF MAYOR EDDIE SUNDQUIST

Sundquist will take his oath of office today, becoming Jamestown’s first new mayor in two decades. Taking the oath is the next step of Sundquist’s story as mayor, but there are several critical issues that will face the mayor-elect in his first term.

P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

The ongoing annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities’ Dow Street Substation is sure to take many twists and turns over the next several months. Sundquist has in the past signaled his opposition to annexation, and the mayor-elect will have a BPU board with some new faces that may want to move in a different direction regarding annexation. State Sen. George Borrello has offered to broker an agreement between the city and Ellicott, Falconer and the Falconer Central School District, which adds another wrinkle to the discussion.

Sundquist will also have to navigate the ongoing situation of Alstar Ambulance’s increasing times out of service and the corresponding increase in the number of times Jamestown firefighters are using the city’s ambulance to take patients to the hospital. In 2018, the fire department responded to 5,528 total calls, which included structure fires, EMS calls, car crashes and requests for service. That was an increase from 5,159 calls in 2017.

The city’s two biggest employee contracts remain in a state of limbo as well, with the city challenging an arbitrated contract for 2016 and 2017 with the Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association and contract talks with the Jamestown Professional Firefighters Association headed for arbitration once paperwork is filed. How those contracts are resolved will play a large part in determining the city’s finances over the coming years. While the city has a surplus currently, city officials don’t know how much will be paid in retroactive pay raises to police officers and firefighters or if there will be changes to the amounts the employees pay for their health care.

Adding to the uncertainty is the uncertain nature of the $1 million in additional state aid the city has been receiving. Not only could the city be looking at increased costs for its two biggest bargaining units, it could have less revenue to pay those obligations.

JAMESTOWN HIGH

P-J file photo

SCHOOL’S PRINCIPAL

Recent stories regarding Jamestown High School’s principal have piqued the public’s interest. Dr. Rosemary Bradley has resigned her position, with Dana Williams named the interim Jamestown High School principal with Allyson Smith named Jamestown High School Dean of Students.

While a fight at Jamestown High School on Nov. 6 drew headlines, teachers and staff at Jamestown High School had a laundry list of issues regarding Bradley unrelated to the incident that drew their ire. Parents, meanwhile, spoke at public meetings decrying changes in discipline in the entire school system, including Jamestown High School.

Bret Apthorpe, district superintendent, and the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education will now go through a second hiring process for the position in two years as they look for a person who is a better fit for the position and someone who can implement the plans the board and Apthorpe have for the high school as well as communicate the district’s goals effectively to the public and the teaching staff.

CLOSURES

Jamestown High School P-J file photo

The past year saw several notable businesses close their doors — Kmart, Alfie’s, Ruby Tuesday, Jimmy’s Family Restaurant, Fresco Pizza & Wings, the Southside Pharmacy, Friendly’s, Craft Burgers and Brews and Castelli America, to name a few.

Some of the buildings didn’t remain vacant very long. Bruce Stanton has applied for a special use permit to open a new restaurant in the former Craft Burgers and Brews space while a new restaurant has also opened in the former Fresco Pizza & Wings building.

Sam’s Club wasn’t vacant terribly long before Runnings chose the vacant Fairmount Avenue building as a home, so perhaps the K-Mart building, with its location in West Ellicott near Wegmans and Home Depot, will similarly find a new use quickly. The same could be true of the former Ruby Tuesday location, though it is worth wondering if the Lakewood area is becoming saturated with chain restaurants.

Other buildings may be vacant longer.

Castelli was the third business in a decade to be located on Route 474 in Blockville. The former Brooklyn Square home to Friendly’s and Jimmy’s, similarly, struggled to generate enough traffic to sustain restaurants this year.

SOUTHSIDE PLAZA SITE PLAN OK’D

At least one new building will be coming to the Southside Plaza. In October, a site plan was approved by the Jamestown Planning Commission for a 3,337-square-foot building that will have space on either two or three units, according to David Rhinehart, a Clark Patterson Lee associate who presented the plans to the Planning Commission.

The owners of the southern half of the Southside Plaza were waiting for city officials to approve the site plan before trying to attract potential businesses owners. Rhinehart told the commission that Southside Plaza officials will reach out to the ownership of Robo Enterprises, who operated the Tastee Corners & Cafe, to see if they would be interested in leasing space in the new building.

REPEAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS

An ongoing story has been New York state’s much-discussed criminal justice reform package. There will no longer be bail for many offenses while reforms to the state’s discovery statutes will mean prosecutors and police departments will have to get possible exculpatory evidence to defense attorneys much faster than they have in the past.

There have been near-constant calls to repeal or delay the criminal justice reforms over the summer, fall and early winter.

The reforms take effect today, which means the public will be able to judge for itself if concerns over the reforms’ impact has been overblown or if the concerns of public safety officials has been justified. And, if the concerns of district attorneys and police officers are, in fact, justified, how will Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature respond?

REAL ID

Starting Oct. 1, 2020, the federal government will require a person’s driver’s license, permit or ID card to be Real ID compliant for those who want to board a domestic flight, enter a military bases or enter certain federal facilities.

There are three state driver’s licenses county residents can receive from the DMV — standard, real ID or enhanced ID. The enhanced ID cost $30 more than a real ID or standard, but also allows people to use it to cross a U.S. border by land or sea coming from Canada, Mexico and some Caribbean countries.

Chautauqua County Clerk Larry Barmore said most people are switching to a real or enhanced IDs when it is time for the driver’s license renewal. He said for county residents that don’t have to renew their license before October 2020, they might want consider visiting the DMV to acquire a real or enhanced ID.

“You don’t want to wait until September of next year,” he said. “My advice is to get it done. Don’t wait till the last minute. Online you can find a list of everything you need. I advice people to look there, which might save them from coming back in.”

Visit dmv.ny.gov/driver-license/federal-real-id for more state Real ID information.

COCKAIGNE

A story nearly a decade in the making is likely to take its final step this month.

Jason Spain, Cockaigne general manager, told The Post-Journal recently that despite the long history of Cockaigne, which opened in 1966, state officials are classifying the resort as a new installation because skiing will once again happen on the Cherry Creek hills for the first time since 2011.

Cockaigne Resort will be open for skiing for the first time since the fire that destroyed the Austrian pavilion lodge on Jan. 24, 2011. Spain said Cockaigne has to go through the state requirement process like a new facility. He said Cockaigne officials have hired a consultant to help with the certification process, especially with the new renovated lift at the resort. He added that once the consultant approves of the upgrades, state officials will inspect Cockaigne to open the resort for ski season. Spain estimates that the inspection process should be completed by the first or second week of January.

“There has been a lot of extra steps because we are starting again,” he said.

Once skiing is allowed at Cockaigne again, Nick Teresko, skiing/snowboard director, said there will be a “big celebration” to welcome everybody back to the resort, located at 1493 Thornton Road, Cherry Creek.

CHILD SEX ABUSE CASES

There have been several cases filed in state Supreme Court in Cattaraugus and Erie counties bringing claims against alleged child sex abusers in the six months the state’s Child Victims Act has been in effect.

Cases are still trickling in, with several filed in the past few days in Erie County, the legal home of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo. This year will begin the process of attempting to adjudicate those cases. That adjudication process will begin to determine if those who criticized the longer statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases and the one-year elimination of the statute of limitations on such cases were right when they claimed that defending against decades-old claims is nearly impossible.

“Civil action is not only against the perpetrator, but the real defendant is the school district or the not-for-profit or the church that hired them,” state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown and an attorney, said after the Child Victims Act was passed in the state Assembly in 2018. “If you can wait until the alleged abuse is almost 50 years old and file a lawsuit and say you were sexually abused by a teacher in high school, that high school is not going to have any records whatsoever. There is no way for them to tell if the person was ever in the presence of that teacher, whether they complained to anyone or what your complaint even was. After 30 years, a principal, school nurse or guidance counselor, there won’t be anyone with a clear recollection of what happened.”

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