Anthony Dolce, the current president of the Jamestown City Council and councilman for Ward 1 is running for reelection, unopposed this year.

Jamestown City Council’s Ward Two runoff includes incumbent Anthony Dolce, and he is unopposed for his seat. However, to better understand the platforms which the candidates are running on, The Post-Journal asked three questions to get a more clairvoyant view of each of the candidate’s platforms.

P-J: Is there one recurring theme you’re hearing from voters as you go door-to-door? How do you think the council can best address those voters’ issues?

Dolce: As a City Councilman, we hear many reoccurring themes when we speak to the residents. We receive emails, messages and phone calls daily on a number of issues. The major concerns include housing, neighborhood issues, public safety concerns as well as quality of life “nuisance” issues. The City Council, administration and Police Department recently added a Nuisance Officer to deal exclusively with these public safety and nuisance complaints. These violations include loud speeding vehicles including motorcycles, loud music complaints, fireworks and other disruptive quality of life issues. Since the implementation of this position, our nuisance officer has issued nearly 200 arrests for these violations, as well as misdemeanors and felonies. The nuisance officer works a flexible shift to accommodate and target the specific times that these offenses usually occur. This past summer, there were also a series of neighborhood meetings in various parks around the city to hear directly from our residents about their concerns in their neighborhoods so that they can be more effectively dealt with.

The Police Department has also implemented a Violence Intervention detail that deals with more serious crimes such as, drug activity, weapons, firearms and the serving of arrest warrants. This unit has issued over 300 various tickets to date.

The City Council is committed to working with residents and the Police Department to deal with the many safety, quality of life and general nuisance issues and concerns in our community.

P-J: Housing, Homelessness, affordable housing and code enforcement have long been identified as growing problems in the city. What actions do you think the city and the council should take to address these problems?

Dolce: This past term, the city has taken a number of steps to address the issues of Housing and Homelessness in our community. The Council has allocated over Five million dollars of American Rescue Plan, A.R.P.A Funds to specifically address housing needs in our city. Allocations to housing include our Senior Citizen Home Improvement Program, Roof Replacement, Private Sewer Lateral and Water Line Replacement Program, the 19a Homeownership Program which will help residents in buying and rehabbing homes for single family houses. Another program the city has undertaken is the Tree Damage Sidewalk Repair Pilot Program which will help repair many of our sidewalks in need. The council also allocated 1 million dollars to the Chautauqua Land Bank for the Post Pandemic Housing Initiative, which will aid in the demolition of condemned and blighted properties in our Neighborhoods.

While issue of Homelessness is nothing new to our city, there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of homeless on our streets and in our neighborhoods within the past couple of years. This problem is not unique to Jamestown, as many other cities and communities are facing similar problems. The city continues to work with many agencies, churches and community groups in an effort to come up with a plan to address this problem. Last year two groups, The Mental health Association and The Tree of Life Church opened their doors to help get the Homeless off the streets and into a safer environment. The city has also supported the development of a new Woman’s Shelter which is in the process of being developed. In addition, the city council and administration must continue to work with Chautauqua County Government, U.P.M.C, The Mental Health Association, local agencies and our faith community to develop strategies to improve the situation for the Homeless as well as protect our residents and Neighborhoods from the effects of homelessness.

P-J: Economic Development: Eight buildings were identified as key redevelopment opportunities in the urban Design Plan. Three of those parcels have found new tenants, while five are largely unchanged- the Furniture Mart building, Viking Building, Key Bank Building, the former Craft World and Action Hobbies building on Third St. and storefronts in the Hotel Jamestown. Are you satisfied with the progress made in new futures for these buildings over the past five years and how can the council stimulate development in those areas?

Dolce: Development especially in the downtown continues to be a challenge and a high priority for the city. There has been an increase in development, specifically in small businesses, since the pandemic. During covid, many businesses struggled to reopen and regain the success they had prior to the this. The city council allocated over four million dollars for programs that would help current or new businesses to develop and/or expand. These programs include, the Small Business Assistance Program, the Urban Development Action Grant, the Building Expansion and Acquisition Program as well as programs for downtown planning and events, building and property infrastructure improvements, small business evolution and work force development.

Furniture Mart, Vikings, the former Key Bank, Craft World and the storefronts in the Hotel Jamestown are in various stages of development. The Hotel Jamestown storefronts are all currently occupied by small businesses. There is currently a developer for the Furniture Mart building who is in the process of securing funding from various sources to begin developing that site. The Vikings Building currently has a flourishing business on the ground floor.

While a great deal of development activity is occurring downtown, especially post pandemic, more needs to be done. The Jamestown City Council and administration must continue to build upon what has already been developed and work closely with the State and County Governments to help foster a pro- business environment in Jamestown. We also need to continue to support the work of private agencies, including non for profits, The Jamestown Local Development Agency, Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency in the continuing redevelopment of our beautiful downtown Jamestown.