Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul has high hopes for Chautauqua County.

The Western New York native remembers childhood days spent at Midway State Park and riding the Bemus Point-Stow Ferry. She has seen the county’s natural offerings, with the Chadakoin River traversing the city and Chautauqua Lake bringing in thousands of tourists each summer.

The area’s unique assets – from the incoming National Comedy Center to the venerable Chautauqua Institution – offer opportunities to attract tourists and to keep them here for extended visits.

The institution hosts more than 100,000 visitors each summer. Most of them travel to the gated community from outside the area. Fifty percent of Lucille Ball Comedy Festival attendees last year drove to Jamestown from beyond the county lines.

In a visit to The Post-Journal last week, the lieutenant governor challenged community stakeholders to promote more of the area’s unique attractions in hopes of enticing Chautauquans and Lucy fans to explore other local offerings.

“I think we should think big,” Hochul said. “Robert H. Jackson is not from anywhere else. He’s from here.”

The Chadakoin area will soon benefit from a $370,800 Brownfield Opportunity Area program grant. Hochul believes this will lead to economic development and a more attractive city for millennials as Jamestown begins to redevelop a once-vibrant area.

While Chautauqua County has the potential to draw more tourists, spur business development and improve the overall quality of life, Hochul made one thing clear – further funding from the state will be hotly contested. Waiting for trickle-down benefits from the Buffalo Billion initiative would be a mistake, according to the lieutenant governor. Local officials have control over the county’s economic revitalization.

Of New York’s 10 regional economic development councils, five received an additional $25 million in funding by earning “top performer” status for their strategic growth plans last year. The other five – including Western New York – landed an additional $5 million.

“There has to be a big vision from the people in the community who know it best,” Hochul said. “Control your own destiny.”

Local stakeholders did just that last year with the comedy center project, landing $1.5 million of Western New York’s piece of the pie.

The area has a plethora of opportunities for development – from the shores of Chautauqua Lake to the National Comedy Center along a potentially rejuvenated river. Community stakeholders must now take advantage of the county’s assets.

As Hochul said, the revitalization of Chautauqua County will begin with a local vision.