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Opinion

Amount of benefits fraud in county is beyond shocking

In Our Opinion

It is shocking, though not surprising, that two county Social Services Department employees have been charged in the theft of money from the people they were supposed to be helping. Amounts weren’t disclosed during a news conference last week, nor was the name of a second person allegedly involved in the alleged theft, but we’ve seen enough thefts of public money in the past to know that where there are large sums of money being passed around someone will eventually try to take some for themselves. We’ve been through this a time or two over the past couple of decades. That ...

In Our Opinion

In Our Opinion

Over the years we’ve seen duties that were once handled by volunteer firefighters taken on by paid government crews. The move really began with the advent of the Chautauqua County fly car system in 2017 to provide quicker response, particularly in remote areas of the county where struggles to staff volunteer fire departments were most acute. Over the ensuing nine years the fly car system has expanded to meet growing needs throughout the county, including the April decision to station a fly car at the Clymer Volunteer Fire Department. For many Chautauqua County residents the use ...

Welcome Electrovaya: the rest of the story

Local Commentaries

Electrovaya, a Canadian company that is making advanced proprietary lithium-ion batteries for industrial applications, is remodeling an existing manufacturing facility, located on 52 acres in the County’s Industrial Park in the Town of Ellicott. This will be Electrovaya’s first manufacturing facility in the United States, with a projected 100-150 jobs. This development comes against a backdrop of “Employment” in Chautauqua County having plunged from 64,000 about 15 years ago to 50,000 now. The rest of the story is necessary to understand why Electrovaya is coming ...

Three feet can make all the difference

Local Commentaries

Every day, people in Chautauqua County share our roads. Most of us do so behind the wheel of a car or truck, but many of our neighbors travel by bicycle—for exercise, recreation, transportation, or simply because they enjoy riding. When a bicycle and a motor vehicle meet on the road, there is an obvious difference in size and weight. A moment of inattention or a vehicle passing too closely can have devastating consequences for the person on the bicycle. That is why I am proposing a local law requiring motorists to allow at least three feet of space when passing a bicyclist. New ...

Dunkirk Battery Energy Storage project is another scam

Local Commentaries

The average cost of residential electricity in New York is 29 cents to 31 cents per kilowatt hour. The average in Chautauqua County is 22 cents to 24 cents per kilowatt hour. In Pennsylvania residential electricity costs 13 cents per kilowatt hour. Why do New York residents pay so much more? A recent article in the Post Journal provided clues. It was titled “Blistering temps take toll on state grid” It cited the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) dashboard indicator regarding how electricity is made in NY. It said total NY electricity produced by ...

The tails that wag the political dogs

Local Commentaries

There has been a lot of “hoopla” recently about how the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are taking over the Democratic Party. At least that is what conservative tabloids like the New York Post and their allies would make you think. In truth, the history of the Democratic Party, at least in New York State, is that there has always been a “free-for-all,” especially in New York City, between the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and what are called the “regulars,”—those with a more centrist view of politics. Back when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was Governor of New ...