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In Our Opinion

Other voices: President should reevaluate pulling Secret Service details

President Trump is taking Iran’s threats to assassinate him seriously, as well he should. He reportedly switched Air Force One from the new Qatar version on his return from the recent NATO summit on the advice of the Secret Service. How about a little concern, then, about Iran’s threats to kill his former national security adviser, John Bolton? The White House hasn’t confirmed the Air Force One switch, but it hasn’t denied the story either. Notably, the Justice Department has subpoenaed New York Times writers who reported the story to disclose their sources. That’s harassment ...

State’s data center moratorium is reasonable – for now

It’s reasonable to see Gov. Kathy Hochul’s one-year moratorium on data centers as a reasonable delay in order to develop appropriate protections and guidelines in state law to govern data centers. What the governor has done is no different legally than what local towns and villages have been doing over the past year by enacting - and in some cases extending - moratoriums on wind and solar projects and on battery energy storage systems. It’s reasonable to see data centers as an emerging issue that requires a pause to manage the development appropriately. Our concern is that ...

State should make housing demolitions a priority, too

Jamestown officials are moving fairly expeditiously through housing demolitions so far this year. And that’s a good thing, but as we noted a couple of weeks ago something has to change in the way housing demolitions are funded as the sources of money fueling this binge of demolitions is dwindling. It’s worth noting, though, that even if money were no object, the state does the city no favors with voluminous regulations that unnecessarily drag the demolition process out and drive up the cost of demolitions. It's amazing what can happen when the power of government gets behind ...

Legislature should delay vote on office move

An artist’s rendering of the former Third Street post office features a big Chautauqua County logo on the building’s wall facing Jamestown City Hall instead of the Lucille Ball mural that was also used as a U.S. postage stamp. We’re sure it’s artistic license as part of a sales pitch rather than a serious proposal to actually remove the mural, but the artist’s rendering raises a question that we hope Chautauqua County legislators keep in mind before they vote on a proposal to consolidate the county’s Jamestown offices into the post office building - what else looks funny ...

In Our Opinion

Chautauqua Lake has seen its share of potential invasive species over the past couple of decades. We had a close scare with the water chestnut, an aggressive aquatic plant that was most primarily concentrated in the Chadakoin River outlet and nearby waterways like the Audubon Community Nature Center's big pond. Chautauqua Lake was largely spared the worst. Hydrilla has been found in nearby water bodies, but not in Chautauqua Lake so far despite warnings dating back to at least 2013 that the invasive plant is spreading. Luck hasn't been quite as good with starry stonewort, though ...

The post-commercial air service future is here for county

It should come as no surprise to anyone except the most ardent supporters of the Jamestown Airport that the federal government has once again declined to restore the airport’s Essential Air Service subsidy. We noted last year that the number of passengers had decreased in the latest Essential Air Service proposal while the amount of the federal government’s subsidy was projected to increase. That was hardly the best way to show the federal government that there was so much pent-up demand locally that the Jamestown airport would be able to average 10 passengers per flight and a ...