Jamestown has hired Aili Makuch as its new economic development coordinator.

The question now is what will the city do with it.

It’s a valid question. In the past, the economic development coordinator has done a lot of behind-the-scenes work. The position’s work mostly shows up during Jamestown Local Development Corporation and Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency meetings. The economic development coordinator didn’t report to the City Council, at least not publicly. When the public complains about a lack of economic development activity in the city, they’re speaking about what they see with their eyeballs and what they hear from the city’s economic development arm. And, frankly, they haven’t seen or heard much in quite a while. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Jamestown has seen a ton of bad economic news recently. Blackstone Ney Ultrasonics is leaving its longtime South Main Street home. Big Lots is closing after more than 30 years in Brooklyn Square. Empty storefronts – like the former Forte restaurant – still dot downtown while empty manufacturing buildings still dominate an industrial corridor that was once the heart of Jamestown’s economy. For every Electrovaya – even though the lithium battery plant is officially in West Ellicott, it will be a major Board of Public Utilities customer – or New Flyer that brings new jobs and development to the city, there is a corresponding deluge of bad news that make it seem as if we’re spinning our wheels at best and sinking into the mud at worst.

What does that mean for Makuch? Mayor Kim Ecklund said it pretty clearly in the news release announcing Makuch’s hiring – focus on priority properties such as the former McDonald’s on East Second Street, Big Lots Plaza in Brooklyn Square, the former Rite Aid on North Main, and the Blackstone NEY Ultrasonic property and a significant emphasis on downtown revitalization. We’d like to see a focus on the hollowed out industrial core as well, but the priority properties and downtown are a heavy lift as is.

We’d add one more thing to Makuch’s job description – public reporting. No one knows how active the city has been in the past in outbound development efforts, but too often it has seemed as if the city is a passive participant in development efforts by lending a helping hand when someone approaches the city to open a business. We’ve made the case often in the past for the city to take a more proactive economic development stance. We hope Makuch does so – and then talks about her efforts publicly. Not every phone call or email will be successful, but it’s important for city residents to see that the economic development coordinator is beating the bushes to attract new investment rather than waiting for it to magically appear.