City commission is a tree that fell in a forest. No one noticed.

September 24, 2026

The City Council is poised to remove the Strategic Planning and Partnerships Commission from the City Charter after a lengthy period of inactivity. Most city residents didn’t realize that the commission was still in the charter. After being reinvigorated around 20 years ago during former Mayor Sam Teresi’s administration, and largely driven by Dr. Lillian Ney during her time on the City Council, the commission has fallen back into dormancy. The commission was largely a group that made non-binding recommendations to the mayor and City Council and worked on special projects that ...

Democrat’s outside income argument falls flat in rural NY

September 23, 2026

It’s pretty funny that it’s a Democrat who is now taking aim at repealing the state’s outside income limits for state lawmakers. Assemblyman Clyde Vanel makes many of the same arguments that Republicans made in opposition to the $35,000 outside income cap before the state Legislature approved them in 2022. Vanel, D-Queens City, argued in the legislative justification for A.11733 that the outside income cap wouldn’t have prevented any of the laundry list malfeasance involving the New York’s legislators in the 2000s. He also argues that the very costs that the state has ...

New laws alone won’t end e-bike frustration

September 22, 2026

We’re not sure if it’s a majority or a minority, but it’s clear there is a vocal segment of Jamestown residents who don’t like the proliferation of e-bikes and other personal mobility devices in the city. The issue came up again during last week’s City Council committee meetings and work session. Residents’ complaints aren’t without merit. We would have thought the state Legislature would have taken steps to clear up some of this mess over the past couple of years, but despite dozens of pieces of legislation being introduced over the past couple of years little has ...

Shared services committee in Carroll, Kiantone is encouraging

September 21, 2026

We are encouraged by the news that Carroll and Kiantone are creating a committee to examine additional shared services between the towns. It’s early, and we don’t know where these discussions will go in the future, but for now the fact that the towns are brainstorming more ways to collaborate is a positive development. Something Tim Burkett, Carroll town supervisor, said during the August Carroll Town Board meeting is worth examining as we look for more ways to provide better services and save taxpayers money. Burkett said it makes sense for the two towns to share services ...

We need to do better than ‘a room and a key’

September 19, 2026

By now, everyone in Chautauqua County should know that changes are needed in the way we deal with the homeless - both those we see outdoors and those who are being housed temporarily in hotels. For those who don’t, consider something Karen Lippowiths, a documentary photographer from Detroit who has been on a mission to document housing insecurity and homelessness across the Appalachian region, said after staying in what is now known as the Falconer Hotel recently. The hotel, she added, also had a more institutionalized sense to it as well, in that people have ranges of need when ...

School merger process should be streamlined

September 17, 2026

It’s becoming clear, as we move through the state-prescribed consolidation process in Clymer, Sherman and Panama, that the state should consider changes to its school merger process. The process begins with a nonbinding referendum vote during a school budget vote and board election to approve a study. The boards then approve a consultant. Then, the communities have to vote a second time to schedule a vote - either through what is known as a straw vote or through a petition drive that signals the communities’ agreement to set a final vote. If all those steps are approved, then the ...