Justin Hubbard, Director of the Jamestown Justice Coalition provides the council with a list of some items that constituents would like to see from them in the upcoming year.

The Jamestown Justice Coalition has a list of items it would like the Jamestown City Council to pursue this year.

The coalition often posts discussion posts on its Facebook page for community discussion on what Jamestown residents would like to see from the council in the upcoming year, and Justin Hubbard, coalition director, brought some of the most talked about issues before the council during Monday’s voting session.

Hubbard began by welcoming the new council and council president, saying that these posts have been something they have been doing since the last council election.

With all of the posts together, there were three specific issues that the Coalition heard the most that were things suggested that the city council could focus on doing.

“That’s not saying you are not already prioritizing these or not already addressing them, we just would like to let you know these are the things constituents really care about,” Hubbard said.

The first issue was housing, specifically looking at affordability and accountability. Housing concerns and frustrations were the number one thing that came up, Hubbard said, especially around slum lords, unsafe units, abandoned buildings and rising rent costs. Additionally, he said homeowners believe these issues are lowering housing values as well.

“For this, residents are asking for abstract reforms, they’re asking for physical enforcement,” Hubbard said. “So, some of our suggested actions include establishing maximum response timelines for housing complaints, creating a priority tier system for violations involving heat, water, electric hazards and structural safety, and then requiring annual safety inspections for all rental properties.”

A landlord licensing program was also suggested to help with the slum lord problem, including having a license required to operate rental units and creating incentives to keep landlords local. Hubbard additionally suggested establishing a repeat offender registry and limit on the number of properties owned by a single entity.

The second priority from the community given to the Jamestown Justice Coalition was having knowledge, dignity and respect for residents experiencing homelessness.

“Many of our community residents emphasize dignity, shelter, treatment and support for the homeless population,” Hubbard said. “We need a city government that treats homeless people like it’s a human crisis, not a nuisance.”

Suggested actions include partnering with the organizations that are working with the homeless population such as UCAN City Mission, Chautauqua Opportunities, YWCA, St Susan’s Center, Conduit Ministries, and more. Hubbard’s suggestions also included bringing more support and awareness for neighborhood pantries operated by city residents, and overall treating city residents experiencing homelessness with dignity and respect, specifically remembering that they are city residents and people’s neighbors.

Government outreach, transparency and communication was the third big issue that the Jamestown Justice Coalition has been hearing about that Hubbard brought before council.

“People want to know what the city government is doing, whether it be the council, our police, our fire department, our Department of Development, or the mayor’s office,” Hubbard said. “They want to know why decisions are being made and how to participate. City government should be working towards removing these barriers to entry.”

Specific suggestions for this issue included; reestablishing the Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission, restoring and creating new commissions if possible, such as a Housing Advisory, a Youth Advisory, Small Business, and a Human Rights commission, along with potentially getting citizens involved in things like the hiring of a new police chief. Hubbard said regular outreach from council members and the mayor’s office has been asked for, and is something that could amplify civic participation in the community.

“Just as a social studies teacher and someone who teaches civics, the lack of civic knowledge in this community is a very big gap and it’s a massive barrier to entry for most of our residents,” Hubbard said. “So, regular communication with residents in as many ways possible, including regularly replying to emails, phone calls, creating public council member pages on social media, door knocking in local wards, tabling at those local cultural summer festivals that we all love, and regular public town halls.”

The items discussed, Hubbard said, are a summary of the items that the coalition came up with, and he said he would email it to all council members and the mayor’s office as well.