John Sellstrom takes oath of office as City of Jamestown’s new Comptroller (July 25, 2022)

Jamestown City Council has approved the city moving forward with a pedestrian and traffic safety strategy.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the city is applying for a federal grant to help create the Vision Zero Plan for the city, “It is essentially an added amount, added bonus, to Complete Streets which the City already has and says ‘How do we educate the public? How do we also redesign not only our streets but other components of the city to provide zero fatalities over the course of ten years?’ So there’s a lot of things that have come up over the past several years with City Council, including stop-arm cameras for school buses which we’re moving forward with as well as school speed zone cameras.”

Sundquist said the plan would also be used in designing streets and sidewalks. As part of the approved resolution by Council, the city also would develop an annual progress report on the Vision Zero goals and outcomes that would be presented to City Council.

Council has approved the shared services agreement with Jamestown Public Schools regarding sidewalk plowing.

Sundquist said the approval was needed so the school district could purchase the sidewalk plows, and that the city was continuing to work on how staffing would be done of those plows, “We’re still working with the union to determine how we’re going to handle the personnel power for that. Whether that’s going to be a seasonal position, part-time position, or full-time position, there’s a lot of factors and as you probably know in this job market right now, we’re not quite sure what we’re going to get as we start to get closer.”

The shared services agreement initially proposed hiring two Parks employees using American Rescue Plan funds at an estimated cost through 2026 of $689,672.

The Jamestown School Board passed the agreement at its meeting earlier this month.

Council has approved funding to do a Zoning Code update.

Sundquist said the city’s zoning code was originally created in the 1960s, “We wanted to provide this opportunity and the funding for the zoning so we could do both the Strategic Plan, the Comprehensive Plan, at the same time as Zoning. It is actually cheaper for the city to do that. So we’re looking at about $200,000 to do both. $100,000 comes directly from the State. The other $100,000 will come from federal ARPA funding, Rescue Plan funding.”

Sundquist said a request for proposals to do the updates will go out in August.

Council also approved four appointments to a new Broadband Ad-Hoc Committee.

Sundquist said the ad-hoc committee will determine if the city should move forward with municipal broadband or a municipal fiber network, “In the meantime, we are also working on working with our federal partners to determine what grants are out there. We know that in talking with the State Broadband Office, the City of Jamestown is probably the furthest ahead of any city or municipality. So they’re very excited about our work and are currently creating the grants that they received from the Federal funding for us to apply for.”

Brendan Fagan, Phillip Zimmerman, Dan Swackhammer, and Bill Johnston are the citizen appointments with Sundquist adding the committee will also feature representatives from local foundations, the Jamestown Public Schools District, Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, and City Council.

Council also approved appointing John LaMancuso as chair of the Jamestown Planning Commission. He replaces Greg Rabb, who resigned in June. His term expires on December 31, 2022.

Project will launch in June with a goal of interviewing 100 area residents

JAMESTOWN, NY – Area residents who want to share their memories to help chronicle local history in Chautauqua County will get a chance to do so later this year.

WRFA-LP in is launching an oral history program that will allow Chautauqua County residents to provide their first-hand accounts of people, places, industries and events from our region’s rich past.

The “I Remember” oral history project will begin with a series of interview sessions starting in June, and local residents who want to serve as primary sources on a variety of historical topics are encouraged to participate. The interviews will then run in a series of audio and video programs that will be broadcast on the local airwaves and also streamed online.

“As a former trustee with the Chautauqua County Historical Society, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of documenting first-hand accounts of everyday people who’ve experienced, lived and witnessed our local history,” explained Jason Sample, WRFA general manager, adding, “That’s why this project is so important for our county.”

Funded through a Community Action Grant from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, as well as from additional funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act Stabilization Grant, the “I Remember” project has a goal of interviewing at least 100 different individuals and providing 25 hours of audio and video programming in its first year. All interviews will also be transcribed and donated to the Chautauqua County Historical Society and the Fenton History Center for their archives.

“We’ve already established a committee of local historians to help us identify topics to focus on for this year,” Sample said. “Starting in June, we’ll schedule a series of interview sessions and invite community members to meet with us and share their memories of a particular topic or topics.”

Partnering with WRFA on the project is Kipp Reynolds from Kranky Plate Productions, who will help to document each interview. Conducting the majority of interviews will be Dan Swackhammer, a long-time resident of Jamestown who has a past history of working on a similar project. In 1986, Swackhammer produced and directed an hour long video documentary in conjunction with the Jamestown Centennial entitled ‘A Century of Life- A Century of Living in which he interviewed residents born in the 1800’s as well as local historians.

FIRST INTERVIEW SESSION IS JUNE 4

The first interview session for the I Remember project is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the James Prendergast Library. Specific topics for the June 4 session include: Brooklyn Square & Urban Renewal; the Kent Mansion, including its time as the Scottish Consistory and also the transition to the Robert H. Jackson Center; Jamestown General Hospital; Jamestown Community College from 1950 to 1990; and the development and early history of the Lucille Ball Comedy Festivals.

Other sessions, which will focus on other topics, will also take place on June 25 at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts; July 16 at a location to be determined in Bemus Point; and August 13 again at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts. Other dates and locations for future months will also be announced.

WRFA is asking anyone who wishes to be interviewed for the project during any upcoming session can reach out via email at WRFA@RegLenna.com with “I Remember” in the subject line. You can also call (716) 664-2465 ext. 209. More information can also be found online at WRFALP.com/IRemember.

Once enough interviews have been collected, WRFA will launch the first episode, tentatively scheduled for September 2022.

“This is going to be a very exciting project and we are looking forward to not only hearing the stories and memories of people who’ve lived and experienced our local history, but also sharing it with the greater Chautauqua Community,” Sample said. “I cannot express enough how excited we are to see this project launch and usher it forward!”

Comments, questions, or suggestions about the project can be directed to Sample using the above contact information.

ABOUT: Founded in 2004, WRFA-LP is a noncommercial, listener supported, low power FM radio station licensed to the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts and broadcasting at 107.9 FM in Jamestown, NY.  As a radio station licensed to a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization, all financial donations/contributions made to WRFA are 100% tax deductible. Businesses and organizations can also provide corporate underwriting for WRFA by making a tax-deductible contribution of $100 or more.

‘Radio Girl’ from the Pin-Up series by Andy Palermo.

JAMESTOWN – A group of local photographers and illustrators will present “People, In All Their Forms” at the James Prendergast Library Art Gallery from today through Nov. 23. Exhibitor organizer Andy Palermo invited photographers Jenn Randall, Dan Swackhammer, and Chris Wysard to join him in presenting images accompanied by the illustrations of Jeff Creager, Gary Peters, Sr., Gary Peters, Jr., and Wysard.

There will be an opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight that will give residents a chance to meet the artists and discuss their collaboration.

Library hours to view “People, In All Their Forms” are 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

WRFA Will also feature an interview with Andy Palermo during the Oct. 26 edition of our Arts on Fire program.