×

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down

Thumbs up to a proposal to change the name of Chadakoin Park to honor the late Isabelle Jackson and Lula and Vivian Taylor. Wanda Cooper recently spoke to the City Council about renaming the park Jackson Taylor Park. Jackson was a longtime Jamestown Community College professor who directed the college’s educational opportunity and veterans affairs programs, facilitated a number of other special outreach efforts. was a member of JCC’s Minority Community Advisory Council, was the director of the Jamestown YWCA Co-Ed Center and won numerous civic awards. The Taylors, meanwhile, founded the Chautauqua County Black History Committee and chaired the Jamestown Interracial Forum while also serving for years on the Chautauqua County Legislature and Jamestown City Council, respectively. All three longtime city residents left an indelible mark on the Jamestown community. Naming Chadakoin Park in their honor is a wonderful honor that we hope takes place sooner rather than later.

Thumbs down to New York’s poor ratings on quality of its roads and bridges in a recent study by the Reason Foundation. The foundation ranked New York 45th overall and Pennsylvania 35th. North Dakota ranked first. While New York spent the third-most money in the country on road and bridge improvement and the fourth-most money in the nation on maintenance, yet ranked 41st in the country for percentage of rural interstates in poor condition, 46th in terms of urban interstates in poor condition and 49th in the country for traffic congestion. Neither the amount of money nor the poor quality of our roads are surprising, but it is surprising that the state’s rural and urban areas finally have something they can agree on — everyone’s state-maintained roads are disgraceful.

Thumbs up to the idea of a new option for schools that want a School Resource Officer but can’t afford the position. The Chautauqua County Legislature’s Audit and Control Committee discussed the creation of special patrol officers in the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Dept. The position is similar to a school resource officer and can be a retired police, correction or probation officer who would only during the school year in the facility on an hourly basis. The position would not be full-time and would receive no benefits. Having a full-time presence in a school is preferable, but kudos to Quattrone for giving school districts another option.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today