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In Our Opinion

Hochul Ending NYPA Rate Hike Is A Good First Step

Gov. Kathy Hochul did the right thing last week by pulling a proposed New York Power Authority rate increase for hydropower. The authority was asking to triple its hydropower rates from $12.88 per megawatt-hours to $33.05 per megawatt hour over four years as well as make some other changes that concerned organizations like the Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier and the state Association of Public Power. “Today, I’m calling for an end to the Power Authority’s unacceptable proposal to raise electric rates on its customers statewide,” Hochul said. “Too many New ...

Proposing A Different Path For Preservation Ordinance

Discussions over a local preservation ordinance in Jamestown will continue next week. We’re sure the debate will continue over some of the points we’ve raised in this space over the past week. Taking a step away from what is, in our opinion, a poorly worded, overly punitive, rather restrictive ordinance, there are a bigger series of questions that should be answered before the city Planning Commission and then the City Council vote to approve a local preservation ordinance. What’s the end game with a local preservation ordinance? What are we looking to save and what is the ...

Democracy Wins In Defeat Of Special Election Scheduling Bill

Voters won earlier this week when a bill was removed that would have delayed holding a special election to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives until November. The bill was pulled from consideration - a rare move given that it was given a message of necessity that would have allowed the bill to move to a floor vote in the Senate and Assembly immediately rather than going through the normal legislative process. Whether it was a sudden outbreak of common sense in Albany or the result of back-room arm-twisting between Gov. Kathy Hochul and President Donald Trump - ...

Is Declining Call Volume A Blip Or A Trend?

An interesting set of statistics was tucked inside Mayor Kim Ecklund’s State of the City address, a voluminous document The Post-Journal has been unpacking over the past several days. City police officers responded to 10.7% fewer calls in 2024 than they did in 2023, with call volume decreasing from 41,412 to 37,394. On average, daily calls dropped from 113 in 2023 to 102 in 2024. In 2024, the Jamestown Fire Department responded to 7,786 calls for service, averaging 21 calls per day. It’s a 3.1% decrease from 8,038 calls in 2023 and a 6.3% drop from 8,313 in 2022. Calls for the ...

Go Back To Drawing Board On Preservation Ordinance

We don’t disagree with Crystal Surdyk, city development director, that a local preservation ordinance is needed in Jamestown. We wholeheartedly disagree that the ordinance currently under discussion is needed. The reasoning is simple - it’s hard enough to redevelop derelict old buildings that could most benefit from the tax credits and grant programs a local preservation ordinance is meant to help secure. We used the Arcade Building as an example of just such a building last week, but the same holds true for most buildings that the current ordinance would give the city ...

Drivers Can’t Wait Until 2026 For Relief On Second Street

Some sort of repair to East Second Street in Jamestown can’t wait any longer. We understand the state is planning a major project for East Second Street starting this year and lasting into 2026, but the road is unusable now. It’s not as if Second Street’s potholes just popped up this year. We advocated in this space for a focus on the Second Street potholes a couple of years ago. The problem has only gotten worse since then while the state DOT wasted time focusing on things like bike lanes rather than making sure Second Street was driveable. While the city has an agreement to ...