Proceed Cautiously With North Side Zoning Change

July 17, 2025

A proposed zoning change that will affect an area around Jackson-Taylor Park is pretty straightforward on its face. City Development Department officials are discussing changing the area from Sixth to 11th streets from an R-2 district into a C-1 neighborhood commercial district after receiving area variances for some properties in the area from some who want to open businesses. Changing the zoning for the area would open the area up to the types of developments people are asking the city to allow without having to approve spot variances throughout the area. “So, a gas station ...

JCC Makes Interesting Decision With College Connections

July 16, 2025

Jamestown Community College officials are proposing a change to its College Connections program. The program is a collaboration between JCC and partner high schools in the region that allows high school students to earn JCC course credit. The content, assignments, projects, and assessments in College Connections courses are consistent with those taught on the JCC campus. College Connections students work towards the same outcomes as those enrolled in on-campus courses. Students who successfully complete College Connections courses earn JCC credit, which is verified by an official ...

Jamestown Cruise-In Once Again Saved From Chopping Block

July 15, 2025

The Downtown Jamestown Cruise-In leads a charmed life. The longtime event was nearly canceled roughly a decade ago after the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation decided it could no longer organize the event. The Jamestown Chamber of Commerce, now known as CHQ Chamber, stepped in to save the event under the leadership of former chamber coordinator Lee Harkness. So it seemed as if the final nail in the yearly downtown car show’s coffin had been driven home earlier this year when the CHQ Chamber announced it was shifting its priorities to new types of events rather than events like the ...

Chadakoin River Dredging A Victim Of Gridlock

July 14, 2025

State and federal politicians have spent the past seven months lobbing accusations back and forth about how federal policy will hurt those who depend on federal programs. But last week we were reminded again that often, the thing that hurts local residents the most is politics itself. At issue is funding to dredge parts of the Chadakoin River as well as wetlands near Jones and Gifford Avenue. Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-23, has secured funding in the 2025 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 8998) that passed the House. The funding then evaporated. At ...

What’s The Next Wave Of Niche Businesses For Jamestown

July 12, 2025

It took years of painstaking work for Jamestown’s first cannabis dispensary to open. Lifted is set to celebrate its first anniversary in August - but in the past year the Main Street shop has been joined by Bob Natural Cannabis Dispensary on East Second Street, the Yeti Greenery in the Third Street Plaza and the Liquid Monkey Cannabis Dispensary on Fluvanna Avenue. It’s the type of growth former Mayor Eddie Sundquist envisioned when he took an aggressive approach to encouraging cannabis businesses seeking to open in the city shortly after the state legalized adult use of ...

We Pay For Prison Crisis In More Ways Than One

July 10, 2025

Corrections officers working in state prisons are no longer striking, but that doesn’t mean the problems in the state prison system are over. The state is still dealing with a staffing crisis in its prisons. The shortage of corrections officers was a problem before this winter’s wildcat strikes, but it has been exacerbated by the state’s firing of 2,000 striking corrections officers who didn’t meet the state’s deadline to return to work. Some of the gap has been filled by the National Guard, but the staffing issues persist. State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, noted a ...