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In Our Opinion

Local Decisions Led To Democrats’ Gains In Tuesday’s Election

This should be a week of soul-searching for Chautauqua County Republicans - particularly those in the cities - after Democrats made gains in Jamestown and the Dunkirk area on the Chautauqua County Legislature and the Jamestown City Council. Surely national politics and their effect on the cities played a part in Tuesday’s local elections. What happened here happened elsewhere too, with Democrats either retaking positions they haven’t held in years or making large enough gains to prompt hand-wringing among Republicans who have come to take electoral wins for granted. There is some ...

Court Decision Shines Light On Growing Energy Dilemma

Local officials have spoken loud and clear - they support Rep. Nick Langworthy’s Energy Choice Act. That bill seeks to prohibit states or local governments from banning an energy service’s connection, reconnection, modification, installation, or expansion based on the type or source of energy to be delivered. It’s a bill that seeks to protect those who heat with natural gas as states, including New York, increasingly push to end the use of natural gas in favor of solar and wind. The problem is Langworthy’s proposal is federal, while the problem local officials have to ...

Region Could Benefit From Santa’s House Expansion

Falconer Rotary Club and Falconer officials are looking for grant funding - including NY Forward grants - to expand operations at the Santa House and surrounding park in Falconer. Some of the improvements are small right now - improving handicapped accessibility in and out of the Santa House. A range of bigger projects include expanding the decorations in the Santa House to better transform the entire park into a winter wonderland so the space can be used throughout the entire winter season. Such projects could include updating the electricity within the house, as well as adding ...

County Can’t Solve SNAP Problem, But It Can Help

The federal government shutdown certainly caught counties with their pants down. It’s not as if there was no warning that SNAP benefits could be delayed when the calendar turned from October to November. It had been a topic in newspapers, on television news and amongst those who receive SNAP benefits for weeks. Decision makers knew the possibilities, but they didn’t think the shutdown would last this long. Frankly, no one did. There’s never been a federal government shutdown that has lasted this long. That means we are dealing with an extraordinary circumstance for which there ...

Area Races Have Impact On Region

Tomorrow is Election Day. While there are hundreds of county residents who have taken part in either early voting or cast an absentee ballot, Tuesday is the day when the majority of local residents will go to the polls to cast their ballot for town, city and county offices. Precisely because no federal or state offices are on the ballot this year, today’s election affects you more directly in your day to day existence than any other. These are the levels of government that provide the services that affect you every single day in one way or another through things like police and ...

Elect County Legislators Who Represent You, Not Their Party

There aren’t enough contested races countywide to change control of the Chautauqua County Legislature. But Jamestown voters can vote on Tuesday to change the way the legislature relates to its two biggest cities. It’s a change that, in our opinion, is much needed. We noted a couple of weeks ago that Mayor Kim Ecklund needed to take a page out of former Republican County Executive Vince Horrigan’s playbook by finding a revenue boost to stabilize the city budget while putting together a growth formula. Horrigan looked to New York state to increase the county’s sales tax. ...