Apr 12, 2021
The biggest takeaway from this year’s state budget isn’t the record spending, the legalization of mobile sports betting or the $2.1 billion the state will spend for those who weren’t eligible for unemployment benefits during the pandemic.
What should be striking to everyone in the state from the most conservative to the most liberal is Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s weakened position.
For the past several weeks Cuomo had said taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents didn’t need to be increased because the state’s budget deficit had disappeared through a combination of stronger-than-anticipated tax receipts and the federal government’s generosity. Cuomo has also said consistently for the past several years that the state needs to be careful raising tax rates on the state’s wealthiest residents because those residents could move from New York state and leave the state’s finances in shambles.
For the first few months they were available, COVID-19 vaccinations were the hottest ticket in Chautauqua County.
Clinics would be announced and fill up within minutes.
Is that trend reversing?
A clinic at Jamestown Community College announced late March 29 did not fill up quickly. In fact, almost 24 hours after the clinic was announced there were still hundreds of appointments still available. By Wednesday morning, the clinic was finally filled.
One would have thought the March 31 clinic would have filled even faster than previous clinics because the state has rapidly made more people eligible for the vaccine.
More than 37.5% of Chautauqua County adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That number will have to go much higher before Chautauqua County reaches herd immunity from COVID-19. It had been thought that Chautauqua County was struggling to get shots in people’s arms because there weren’t enough doses making their way to Chautauqua County.
The Jamestown community was shocked to learn of the recent sudden passing of Vickye James.
Tributes have poured in in the wake of James’ passing noting her warm, open nature to those who needed help, her deep involvement in her church, her work with children as Jamestown’s Youth Bureau director and her civic involvement as a Chautauqua County legislator and Jamestown City Council member.
All of those things are true.
But perhaps the biggest hole James’ passing leaves is her perspective on the City Council. James is very much cut from the same cloth as Vivian Taylor, the longtime Ward 3 representative on the City Council. Like Taylor, some of James’ most important work was done when the council wasn’t in session answering constituent concerns, advocating for her ward to recieve its share of dollars the city had to spend on road work and infrastructure and marshaling the city’s resources to projects that benefitted her constituents, like the Jackson-Taylor Park upgr
Apr 1, 2021
What were Chautauqua County legislators thinking last week when they proposed appointing Loren Kent as the next Democratic election commissioner?
We aren’t quibbling with Kent’s qualifications, nor are we opposing the appointment of the Luz Torres, the Dunkirk resident chosen for the post by the county Democratic Party.
Our issue is with the flagrant disregard for taxpayers shown by the legislature’s five Democrats Charles Nazzaro, Robert Whitney, Paul Whitford, all of Jamestown, Robert Bankoski of Dunkirk and Christine Starks of Fredonia who introduced the resolution for legislative action and put county taxpayers on the hook for a lawsuit over internal Democratic Party infighting.
Mar 17, 2021
State Labor Department statistics showing the damage COVID-19 has done to the state and local job markets should come as no surprise.
Businesses have dealt with nine months of attendance limits, closures, restructuring to meet social distancing guidelines and a laundry list of increased costs. The struggles of the state’s unemployment system to keep up with demand was all the proof anyone needed to know the state’s Main Street economy was struggling regardless of the booming figures from Wall Street.
But the Chautauqua County numbers are particularly concerning because other rural areas haven’t been as hard hit as we have here. Chautauqua County has lost 4,600 jobs in the 12 months from January 2020 to January 2021, the most among rural counties. As a percentage of a county’s jobs, Chautauqua County’s job losses are the fourth-most among rural counties at 9.4%.