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In Our Opinion

NYS Lawmakers, Remember We Have An Affordibility Crisis

Sen. Pam Helming has a simple request of her fellow New York state lawmakers - tell people the projected costs of bills that would expand insurance coverage requirements. Last week, senators passed legislation that shines a light on why Helming’s bill (S.8619) is so desperately needed. Senators approved S.4497 to remove an existing restriction on infertility preservation services that would make more of those services something required to be covered by insurers in New York state. As is the case with most insurance coverage bills that come before the state Legislature, supporters ...

Housing Policy Is New Council’s First Real Test

We had said before the end of 2025 that new City Council members faced a steep learning curve before taking office on Jan. 1. Judging from community suggestions brought to the council recently by the Jamestown Justice Coalition, there are some who want the new four Democrats on the council to move quickly - particularly when it comes to housing. We don’t disagree that there is too much substandard housing in Jamestown. And we hear far too often about people who pay their rent only to struggle to get things like broken furnaces fixed or to have water problems fixed quickly. ...

Housing Policy Is New Council’s First Real Test

We had said before the end of 2025 that new City Council members faced a steep learning curve before taking office on Jan. 1. Judging from community suggestions brought to the council recently by the Jamestown Justice Coalition, there are some who want the new four Democrats on the council to move quickly - particularly when it comes to housing. We don’t disagree that there is too much substandard housing in Jamestown. And we hear far too often about people who pay their rent only to struggle to get things like broken furnaces fixed or to have water problems fixed quickly. ...

New County Clerk Carlson Is Hitting The Ground Running

County Clerk Greg Carlson is hitting the ground running. Less than a month into his first four-year term in office, Carlson is asking the Chautauqua County Legislature to create a position of senior motor vehicle representative to help provide frontline customer service and help supervise daily operations at the DMV. Carlson plans to take an existing position on the payroll to fill the new position rather than adding to the county’s job count. It’s a good solution that provides some operational flexibility in the DMV offices given a state rule that sets a minimum of two staff ...

Will Dems Support GOP Domestic Violence Registry?

Everyone agrees that domestic violence is a scourge on our society. The question before New York state lawmakers this legislative session is whether or not they want to try something new to deal with domestic violence. Two bills (A.9538, S.8932) have been introduced in recent weeks to create a domestic violence registry for repeat offenders. The bills aren’t companion bills, which means there are two completely different proposals floating around the legislature waiting for action. If the bills had been crafted by Democrats one would believe the issue could be ripe for action ...

Safe Streets For All Is A Worthy Goal For City Officials

We’ve seen far too many fatal accidents involving pedestrians in Jamestown over the past several years for there to be no attention paid to the issue by city officials. Some may remember Complete Streets, which has been adopted as a lens through which to view public works projects for years now dating back to former Mayor Sam Teresi. Mayor Eddie Sundquist led the city’s adoption of Vision Zero, which built on the Complete Streets framework and landed a Safe Streets for All planning grant. Now, Mayor Kim Ecklund’s newly hired city planner is ready to begin a new push for Safe ...