A friend recently dropped off a book about Jamestown’s “Lost Neighborhood,” the old Italian-American neighborhood that was located along the Chadakoin River adjacent to Harrison Street. I remember this neighborhood well, as I used to trek through it when walking to or from Jamestown High School.

“Twenty-twenty” hindsight often resolves nothing, so I tread lightly when I say that “it would have been better had Brooklyn Square been rebuilt without destroying this community.” But, it was done. Can we learn from the experience?

It has been my view, over the years, that the old industrial and commercial buildings that constituted much of the area of Brooklyn Square, were likely beyond repair and the city needed to remove them, start over, and reopen the river so it could be seen again. But, what was gained by taking down the small homes around Derby Street, an important residential ethnic neighborhood?

Admittedly, the time of the late 1960s and early 1970s were “heady ones” when it came to urban planning. Most of the cities of the nation were getting old, so a national urban renewal program was initiated. It affected communities across the country, including Jamestown.

That whole era makes me think of today; of neighborhoods today, of what we are doing to insure their future. It is not just a matter of what is happening in the cities. Neighborhoods happen in villages, in suburban communities and even in the country.

I have grandchildren growing up in these neighborhoods. They are making friends, going to school, playing sports and making life-long friends. We all should be thinking and hoping that 20 years from now, these will be places for them to return to, to repeat the experience.

We usually hear more about housing demolitions than replacement or new housing. Housing, especially in the cities, is a challenge because the lots there are often small. Because of that, any new or replacement housing likely needs to be built on a smaller footprint. Yet, it may also be possible to replace houses by combining lots…thus enabling one-story, handicapped accessible housing to be built.

I mention this latter approach, as older people (like me) need to have things on one floor. Climbing stairs is not a good option. Most two-story houses around here have a kitchen and living area on the first floor…but the bedrooms and bath are upstairs.

Hopefully, city fathers and the housing people in places like Albany and Washington, also realize this. Keeping elderly citizens in their homes can help keep neighborhoods together. The city of Jamestown recently announced a pilot program to make the renovation of existing housing more affordable. We will have to wait and see how that develops.

Of course, good schools also help stabilize neighborhoods. There is a lot that goes into it. The beauty and stability of growing up in a good neighborhood is of irreplaceable value. We need to keep figuring out how to keep doing it.

This is what will keep our kids and their kids coming back here to live.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.