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In Our Opinion

County’s Airport Plan Shouldn’t Include Essential Air Service

County legislator Bob Scudder asks a good question - what is the county’s plan for the Chautauqua County Airports. “What frustrates me personally is we do these studies and then we put the studies away and we move on,” Scudder said during a recent legislature committee meeting. “It seems like we’re good at just doing the business, what we do day-to-day. … What I’d like to see more is ‘what’s the plan? I’ve never really gotten the plan.’” The plan, every five years or so, is to reapply for an Essential Air Service designation from the federal government. The ...

DOT Makes Right Decision On Bemus Point Exit

Friday’s news that the state Transportation Department will create a temporary exit for Bemus Point’s central business district while work continues on the Veterans’ Memorial Bridge over I-86 is good news for business owners. Drivers have had to go around to Exit 10 with the closure of Exit 9. What happened too often is people used to taking Exit 9 didn’t realize they needed to go to Exit 10 and instead ended up at Strunk Road in Jamestown or in Maple Springs before they realized they had missed Bemus Point. The situation was alright for locals, but nearly unmanageable for ...

Overnight Toll-Free Trips On Thruway Worth A Try

A proposal introduced late in the state legislative session to eliminate overnight tolls on the state Thruway makes a lot of sense, in our view. Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Schenectady, suggests eliminating tolls on the Thruway between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in order to reduce congestion during daytime peak hours. There could also be potential savings on freight transportation if trucks can move goods without having to spend money on tolls. Santabarbara’s bill would also require the state Transportation Department to collect data on traffic patterns, toll revenue and public ...

City Residents List Jobs, Economy As Biggest Concerns

We spend a lot of time talking about housing in Jamestown - with good reason. A good chunk of housing in the city still needs to be rehabilitated, more old housing stock that is beyond repair needs to be torn down and we have a shortage of some types of housing that people need. And, lest we forget, lack affordable housing to the point that the city faces a homelessness problem that, while not as public as it has been over the past couple of years, is still there. That’s why CDBG and HOME action plan survey results discussed recently by Kacie Foulk, city deputy director of ...

City Zoning Code Update Coming At A Good Time

Tiny homes have been eyed as a solution to some of Jamestown’s housing problems for years. But judging from last week’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, more work needs to be done before tiny home development is a serious part of Jamestown’s housing mix. City Development Department officials have talked for the past few years about infill housing development on vacant lots in the city, but one of the hold-ups on that work is city zoning laws and state regulations. STEL’s Spring Street proposal was an early test of the tiny home concept that could be used to fill vacant lots ...

Autism Increase Is ‘A Five Alarm Fire’: Speaker

CHAUTAUQUA—If you’re a ways along in life—whatever that might mean—think back to when you were in school. Do you recall any significant number of your schoolmates having autism? Do you recall any significant number of your schoolmates having other childhood illnesses prevalent now? Do you recall any significant number of your schoolmates being on prescriptions? To whatever extent any of these is attributable to improvements in diagnoses of illnesses—or whatever term you prefer—there also appears to be an increase in incidence of illnesses. ♦♦♦ Dr. Peter ...