Councilman Daniel Gonzalez, D-At Large and chair of the council’s Public Works Committee, reports to the full City Council work session on the committee’s discussion on safer streets. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

A little more than 9.5% of Jamestown’s 154 miles of road are considered problem areas as Safer Streets for All work continues.

The City Council’s Public Works Committee is involved with the Safer Streets for All discussions, and committee chairman Daniel Gonzalez, D-At Large, gave a brief update about what was discussed during this week’s committee meeting.

“We also went over where the problem areas were,” Gonzalez said. “There are about 15 miles that make up 93% of where the problems in the city lie. So, we’re continuing to work on that and figure out a good process for the Safer Streets For All initiative.”

Another street related note that Gonzalez addressed is that once the weather breaks work will begin by CatCo on Second Street, taking care of the potholes that are beginning to resurface there after a temporary patching job last summer. Other council members noted that they saw them out working already on the day of the meeting, and that CatCo is now responsible for fixing the potholes on Second Street as they were contracted for the project, and the city is not responsible for that specific area and street.

A steering committee meeting for the Safer Streets initiative is coming up, and while that meeting is not open to the public, there will be public meetings as well. Council members also agreed to hold a joint Public Safety Committee and Public Works Committee meeting in April.

Councilman Doug Scotchmer, D-Ward 4, asked if electric bikes were also something being considered in the Safer Streets plan. Scotchmer said he remembered former councilman Bill Reynolds discussing last year an agreement that was put in place in East Aurora to limit electric bikes, following the current state law but adding that they had the ability to impound bikes and scooters not being used correctly, with a fine to get them back. There were also some educational sessions being done there with police officers at schools on bike use.

“It appeared that the police chief in the village of East Aurora was very in favor of it and I’ve heard quite a few complaints,” Scotchmer said. “I guess what I’m wondering is, is that something we can input here and is that something the police department would want to kind of have as something to use that they could impound it and then it would take a fee in order to get it back?”

This would specifically be for bikes being ridden in violation of the law, he added, and there are community members that have expressed at city council and to council members concerns about potential accidents with electric bikes.

Interim Police Chief Scott Forster said they would have to look at what East Aurora is doing and how, as far as seizing the bikes and the legalities of that, to see if it would work in Jamestown.

“Obviously for us bikes and scooters and stuff every summer are unfortunately an issue for us as far as how they’re being ridden and who’s riding and where, so anything we can do to try and mitigate that would be great,” Forster said.

There are some safety initiatives and events the police department is working on with the school in regards to these bikes as well, such as a bike helmet hand out and informational event held last year. Scotchmer said last year there was a law passed in regards to a noise ordinance in the city, that a car could be impounded if it was the third violation involving the car, and wondered if something like that would be possible as well. The possibility of having a safety fair was also brought up, and Forster said some other organizations do some events like those and they maybe could try and do something like that.

Crystal Surdyk, city development director, said that with the Safe Streets For All recommendations that come following the public outreach and meetings before the final plan, there may be a possibility to incorporate electric bikes into the final plan.