CHAUTAUQUA - Let’s pick up where we left off 23 weeks ago, with a speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the University of Texas. Progressivism is a form of statism more commonly known in the United States as liberalism. Thomas explained that “progressivism”—the ...
News that Jamestown’s unassigned surplus - its savings account, if you will - is on the low end of auditors’ recommended range for a city should catch the eye of city residents. It’s a sign that, while Jamestown won’t have the same trouble paying for day-to-day expenses as Dunkirk, the city’s finances are still worth watching as we head into a budget that Mayor Kim Ecklund has already said won’t be pretty. What should city residents take away from the yearly audit? The fact that the audit was done by mid-September shows Ecklund and Ericka Thomas, city comptroller, ...
Falconer Village Board members did the right thing last week when they agreed to another one-year extension to purchase Main Street property that Peak Development has been working with the village to redevelop since a pair of fires destroyed the properties. The lot has been vacant for nearly a decade since the March 22, 2017, fire that destroyed 29-39 W. Main St. Efforts to redevelop the site have hit stumbling blocks for years, though the receipt of a NY Forward grant in June creates the possibility of additional funding for a redevelopment project. The NY Forward grant application ...
County Executive PJ Wendel is proposing a 58 cent tax rate decrease and no tax levy increase in his 2027 budget. Not increasing the levy is due, in part, to increased use of the county’s surplus while the county’s tax rate decrease is due, in part, to a 14% increase in the value of property in the county. It’s a good position for the county to be in - because we are pretty sure when we see budget proposals from Jamestown and Dunkirk in a couple of weeks the pictures won’t be nearly that pretty. In addition, the county plans to spend an additional $100,000 on Chautauqua Lake ...
Parking meter issues have been a point of consternation over the past couple of years - and they really shouldn’t be. A couple of years ago the city was having issues with batteries failing in some parking meters that caused some meters to stop working at all. In 2023 new parking meters purchased with a state grant in 2021 began to malfunction as their batteries died out. Some of those meters were replaced with coin parking meters until new batteries could be ordered, though some of the meters weren't able to handle the coin payments because of the way they were shaped. Earlier ...
I read with interest the recent coverage of the parking meter complaints being raised before City Council, particularly Councilman Bonfiglio's reference to a "yelling match in front of Pace's." Before anything else, I want to thank Councilman Bonfiglio for continuing to raise this issue and for the support he has shown Pace's throughout this entire situation. His willingness to bring this before the Council, more than once now, has not gone unnoticed, and we are grateful to have him championing this on our behalf. I also want to say, outside of this particular parking issue, that the ...
