Some say the economy of Chautauqua County is in decline. Others say that cannot be true–just look at all the “Help Wanted” signs. This apparent contradiction has a simple answer.

The United States Department of Labor reports that for 20 years, 1990-2010, Chautauqua County’s labor force was stable at around 68,000 people. Over the last 12 years the labor force has declined to about 56, 000 people, a loss of 12,000 in Chautauqua County’s labor force, or an 18% drop in people working or looking for work here.

We also know that the 2020 Census said that Chautauqua County’s population dropped from 135,000 in 2010 to 128,000 in 2020, or a loss of 7,000 residents.

The County’s loss of population and the loss of work force are not signs of a healthy economy.

In addition to the objective evidence of Chautauqua County’s population, job and labor force losses in the thousands since 2010, anyone with eyes to see can recognize the signs of decline.

For our County leaders who have pushed tourism as our economic development opportunity, look around. Peek ‘n Peak abandoned one of its two golf courses in 2017. Point Chautauqua Golf Course closed this year. The PGA’s Nationwide Tour, now Korn Ferry Tour (last sponsored here by LECOM in Erie) abandoned us for Florida. The Skating/Gymnastics 2 hour made for TV spectacular at the Northwest Arena featuring American Olympic athletes, is gone. Our fine Junior Hockey team is gone.

No tourists or visitors have been able to fly commercially into the County Airport/Jamestown for 3 ¢ years. Unbelievably our local political leaders cheered as Jamestown became the only city in America to lose its Federal Essential Air Service (EAS) that year (after about 30 cities had been threatened by the Federal Department of Transportation with loss of service). Instead of having some temporarily bad air service at times, our leaders favored no air service.

No one can fly to the National Comedy Center or the world-famous Chautauqua Institution, even though Jamestown is the biggest city in our Congressional District. No one considering establishing a business in the Greater Jamestown Area can fly here anymore. They can fly to little Bradford and its tiny McKean County, but not to the much bigger Jamestown market.

In manufacturing, Truck-Lite, founded in Jamestown in 1956, abandoned us, taking away hundreds of headquarters, engineering, research and development and manufacturing jobs from Falconer. Power Drives with 100 jobs, but with a need to grow, left Ellicott for Downtown Buffalo. Our County economic development people could not offer Power Drives a suitable larger facility nor offer a new building on a shovel-ready County Industrial Park location. Petri Baking shut down in Silver Creek costing us 200 jobs and now the County Industrial Development Agency announces that the property will become a warehouse. Carriage House (formerly Red Wing) left Fredonia and we lost 500 jobs. Jamestown Metal departed in 2020 after 70 years in Jamestown.

In retailing, even Wal-Mart’s fabulously strong Sam’s Club abandoned Chautauqua County costing us about 130 jobs. Our population decline and income decline no longer justified a Sam’s Club. Now the Valu Home Center chain is abandoning their Lakewood and Fredonia stores. You can no longer even buy a Buick, GMC or Cadillac in the Jamestown market.

What exactly is the plan from our County leaders (political, business and academic) to reverse this dismal reality?

While our neighbor, Erie County, N.Y., grows, Chautauqua County continues to shrink into increasing irrelevancy to the state and the nation.

It was not always so. The 1970s saw Cummins Engine come here. The 1980s saw Bush Industries come to the new South County Industrial Park in Ellicott. The late 1990s saw the opening of more County Industrial Park lands and the construction of a 40,000 sq. ft. spec building in the Town of Busti. Soon thereafter, Southern Tier Brewing was born in that County spec building, and Serta Mattress built in the expanded South County Industrial Park. The County even led the way to reopen a steel mill in Dunkirk.

For those who would dismiss this essay as being “negative,” there were probably passengers on the Titanic who were criticized for being “negative” by observing that the ship was apparently sinking.

Chautauqua County must do better. We are beyond being a stagnant economy; we are a community in disastrous decline.

Fred Larson is a retired Jamestown City Court Judge and a former Chautauqua County Attorney.