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Jamestown Receives Plenty Of Attention From Land Bank

County Legislator Fred Larson, D-Jamestown, wants to see Jamestown represented on the Chautauqua County Land Bank board.

It’s something that we would like to see County Executive PJ Wendel keep in mind when making appointments to the land bank in the future – but it’s really not a major issue, in our opinion. Lack of city representation on the Land Bank board would only be an issue if the city was being ignored by the Land Bank. That’s not what’s been happening. In fact, rural legislators could argue that rural areas aren’t receiving enough attention because Jamestown receives too much of the Land Bank’s time and money.

The land bank has been a longstanding partner in helping deal with the worst of Jamestown’s housing problems, with its creation coming in part as a way to deal with Jamestown’s crumbling housing stock. The city has had a longstanding contract with the Land Bank to handle housing demolitions in the city and the city allocated money from its American Rescue Plan Act funding to the land bank just a couple of years ago. Crystal Surdyk, city development director, and Gina Paradis, Chautauqua County Land Bank director, appear to be working well together in a continuation of the working relationship that has been in place since the land bank was founded.

Legislator Bob Scudder, who also serves on the Land Bank board, said the organization has touched 273 properties in Jamestown, representing 54.5% of the properties the Land Bank has been involved with since it was created, with 23.8% of properties with Land Bank involvement coming from the city of Dunkirk and 21.7% scattered around the rest of the county. Scudder also said he believes there have been at least 200 demolitions done by the Land Bank in Jamestown. A look through the Land Bank’s minutes shows a lot of discussion of Jamestown properties.

Having a Jamestown resident on the Chautauqua County Land Bank board would be nice, but it won’t have a dramatic effect on the way the Land Bank operates. We’d feel differently if there was tension between the city and the land bank, but that doesn’t appear to be the case now.

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