Jan 28, 2021
New York State Electric & Gas and the village of Gowanda recently collaborated to bring new LED lighting systems to the village’s street lights.
Crews began work in December to convert roughly 327 street lights to the LED systems, which use approximately 50 percent less energy. These conversions are part of a broader effort by NYSEG to work with local municipalities to replace older “cobra head” style lighting to newer and more energy efficient LED systems.
“The village of Gowanda was happy to work together with our longtime partners, NYSEG, to convert our street lights to LED,” Village of Gowanda Mayor David Smith said. “The board voted unanimously to move forward with this project as it is truly a financially prudent, responsible and beneficial decision for all parties involved. This opportunity has improved the quality of life for our residents, increased the health and safety for vehicle and pedestrian traffic and provided a quaint, fresh and well-li
Dec 23, 2020
Gowanda Mayor David Smith summed it up as well as he could. The planned closing of the Gowanda Correctional Facility is “terrible news” to this region.
“To get news right before the holidays that a March 31 closing is imminent is a huge piece of bad news for this community that has worked hard to fight through this pandemic and so much more,” he said.
For a region that has had its share of pain, which includes serious issues of horrible flooding that forever closed a hospital to minor bickering on the school board, this is one more wound. Many communities that have strong downtowns, and Gowanda is one, have an identity. In Fredonia, it’s the state university. In Dunkirk, it’s a strong and growing manufacturing sector.
GOWANDA â Nearly 50 corrections officers stood behind state and local lawmakers at a press conference in front of the Gowanda Correctional Facility Tuesday, a day after it was announced the medium security prison would close.
Four days before Christmas, more than 510 corrections officers and another 130 civilian employees at the stateâs second-largest prison with more than 2,300 beds learned the facility would close March 31.
Two other prisons are slated for closure, the Watertown Correctional Facility and Clinton Annex at Dannemora. Around 400 more corrections officers at the two facilities are scheduled to lose their jobs.
Now is not the time to close the prison, located in southern Erie County, just north of Gowanda on Route 62, said state Sen. Patrick Galavin, who represents the 59th Senate District, which includes the prison.
GOWANDA â Assemblyman Joseph Giglio, the ranking minority member of the Assembly Committee on Corrections, was critical of the governorsâs plan to close three Upstate prisons â including the Gowanda Correctional Facility.
Gov. Andrew Cuomoâs administration will close the Gowanda facility, the Clinton Correctional Facility Annex in Dannemora and the Watertown Correctional Facility by March 30 as the stateâs fiscal crisis deepens and the population of inmates wanes.
More than 900 members of the New York State Corrections Officers Police Benevolent Association, the union for corrections officers, will be displaced, said Michael Powers, the NYSCOPBA president.
Giglio, R-Gowanda, called the news the âgovernorâs attempts to systematically dismantle the corrections system in New York state, which he has done since day one.â