The conference, “Going Green: Growing Our Workforce, Our Community & Our Economy,” will take place Wednesday, July 26 at Chautauqua Institution during Infrastructure Week.

The 10:45 a.m. lecture will feature Nuclear Engineer and Environmentalist Leslie Dewan discussing her work in improving nuclear reactor designs and the potential of nuclear energy infrastructure to help power our energy-dependent world.

BPU Business Development Coordinator Ellen Ditonto said a private lunch for conference attendees at the Athenaeum would take place after the morning lecture, which would then be followed by a panel discussion, “Where we will have again both employers, workforce development experts, talking about how things are different in terms of how we recruit, retain, and train our workforce in the coming years.”

Ditonto said some of the panelists will include Green Force Training Executive Director Jeffrey Conrad, Wendel Companies Environmental Engineer Scott Rybarczyk, Sr., and Goodwill Goodskills Career Builder Program Liaison Bryan Boleratz.

Tickets for the conference are $30, which also includes parking.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit https://retoolwny.jamestownbpu.com/

Reg Lenna Center for the Arts Executive Director Hillary Meyer addresses audience for kick off of the theatre’s Centennial Celebration (February 5, 2023)

The Reg Lenna Center for the Arts kicked off its centennial celebration Sunday.

A ceremony was held in the theatre on the 100th anniversary of the Palace Theatre opening in 1923.

Executive Director Hillary Meyer, addressing an audience of local officials and members of the public, said the theatre has stood while the landscape around it has changed, “Not many 100 year old buildings have maintained the integrity and drama of its original appearance. The age of the building is significant as it shows how much this theatre means to all of you. It’s the community who have helped it persevere for this long.”

Reg Board Vice President Ellen Ditonto said the theatre has had a storied past, “From the days of vaudeville, to the movie debut done by our own Lucille Ball, and to a night in 1981, one night I was here actually, when the late great Harry Chapin performed a one-man concert. It was raining that night and it was raining on the stage. And that was the very start of the refurbishment and the renovation of the old Palace Theatre to Reg Lenna Civic Center first and now the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.”

Meyer encouraged people to share their memories or stories of experiences at the Palace and Reg Theatre.

You can share those memories by visiting reglenna.com/memories. Photos can be shared by emailing memories@reglenna.com

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Business Development Coordinator Ellen Ditonto tells more about the upcoming BPU Retool ’22 Climate Technology Conference in Jamestown.

BPU Business Development Coordinator Ellen Ditonto said the conference is one part of a $750,000 NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) grant the BPU received to help rebuild and retool Western New York.

She said the conference is designed for manufacturers, public sector employees, and businesses, “And this is to help us decide how can we become part of the climate tech, or clean tech, sector. As you know, there are federal and state legislation laws that have been passed now that require changes to reduce greenhouse gases and to move into alternative energy sources.”

Ditonto said they’re looking for manufacturers to move into clean technologies like making parts for electric vehicles (EVs), solar manufacturing, and wind power.

The conference will take place October 17 through 19.

Ditonto said a final webinar ahead of the conference will be held on Tuesday, September 13 featuring Empire State Development (ESD) Director of Industry Development David Whipple and Launch NY President and CEO Dr. Marnie LaVigne. The link to register is available here: https://whova.com/web/QI@22lQwk6A87Aa@hPTaGntUwUVryQuGtn7QxZ5vPZA=/%20%20Webinars/

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission (May 31, 2022)

The Jamestown Reapportionment Commission has voted to move forward with creating a six ward map for new district boundaries.

Following discussion on whether to go with a five ward map as proposed by Democratic Committee City Chair Jim Walton, including whether to have it go to a referendum, City Council President Tony Dolce motioned to have maps designed with six wards. Alyssa Porter seconded the motion. Walton was the only no vote.

Dolce stated during discussion that reducing the number of wards would mean more work for council members and that the Internet has made it easier to contact and communicate with council members on top of council meetings being online. He said he’s receiving more communications about concerns now than in past decades despite population changes.

The commission received a “least change” map from Executive Assistant Zach Altschuler that moves ward boundaries by just a few blocks. This map, like the staff map submitted on May 24, all have populations within 1% of each other.

Ellen Ditonto expressed her desire to be sure the new wards on the maps keep neighborhoods together so they feel they have proper representation.

Ditonto also emphasized that the Commission will have to be diligent about making sure there is quorum of eligible members at meetings coming up, given that some members of the Commission have inconsistent attendance. One Commission member, Billy Torres, has not attended any of the Reapportionment meetings so far.

According to the City Charter, a member “shall lose his or her voting privilege if not present for a majority of meetings.”

The next meeting of the Reapportionment Commission will be held Tuesday, June 21.

Jamestown Reapportionment Commission member and city councilman Brent Sheldon points to an area of his Ward as he discusses redrawing Ward boundaries with his fellow commission members during the May 24 meeting. 

Jamestown’s Reapportionment Commission reviewed the initial drafts of two separate redistricting maps during its meeting on Tuesday as the 11-member panel continues its work of bringing the city’s Wards into compliance.

Commission members reviewed a draft redistricting plan that contains the current number of six wards, with all populations within 1% of one another. The commission also reviewed an alternate five-ward map – which also saw near-equal populations – after it was initially proposed two weeks ago by commission member Jim Walton.

Both maps were presented by Zach Altschuler, the mayor’s Executive Assistant who is also helping the commission by creating digital copies of the maps, based on the input of commission members.

Altschuler said he focused changing the maps by starting with a portion of Ward 3 that extended into the center of the city, just south of the Chadakoin River.

“That’s kind of what the starting point was, and that creates a whole list of downstream effects, so it was about 1,200 people in that little section there. It’s about a quarter of the ward,” Altschuler said, adding that he was then able to shift other populations into Ward 3 to return it to balance, and worked to do the same to all other Wards until they all were within 1% of one another.

Not only did the draft plan bring near-equal populations to all wards, it also utilized more of the city’s natural boundaries, including the river, railroad tracks and major roadways, as noted by commission chair Pete Johnson. “Well, the thing that jumps out right away to me about that map is just the optics test,” Johnson said. “The optics test very nicely.”

Even though the revised map presented more uniform-looking wards, it was at the expense of making large adjustments to nearly every existing ward boundary. That’s something that didn’t go unnoticed by city councilman and commission member Brent Sheldon.

“I just wanted for you to kind of tweak the wards to get them close and not do such drastic changes,” said Sheldon, who represents Ward 1. “Because there’s some pretty radical changes here. I mean, it does smooth out the wards, but I thought we were just going to do some small changes here and there, just try to equalize the population. I thought that’s what my motion was.”

Five Ward versus Six Ward Map proposals to Jamestown Reapportionment Commission (May 24, 2022)

The commission also reviewed Walton’s proposal to reduce the total number of wards to five – who again cited the city’s shrinking population and the call for smaller government as reasons for reducing the size of the city council. But not all commission members appeared in favor of the proposal, with council president and commission member Tony Dolce again saying it would only mean more work spread out over fewer council members.

Commission member Ellen Ditonto also felt that regardless of how many wards the final plan will have, the commission needs to consider more than just whether or not the boundaries follow natural boundaries.

“I like the natural boundaries, actually. I like using the train tracks and the river as a boundary, but when you look at the people who live in those areas, they’re very different. We have a lot of apartments in certain areas versus many more one-family homes in others. So, I think we need more discussion on some of those topics,” Ditonto said.

At the conclusion of the meeting, all commission members felt the draft maps were a good first step, but would like to see a better comparison. As a result, Committee chair Pete Johnson said they will meet again Tuesday, May 31 to continue the discussion.

“Our next opportunity to look at the maps, we’re going to try to hone in with greater detail on what these proposed changes might look like neighborhood to neighborhood. It doesn’t look like there’s any crazy gerrymandering type of thing going on, so from a purely eyeball perspective it’s a good looking map but the devil’s often in the details,” Johnson said.

The commission has until September 1 to finalize a plan and present it to the full Jamestown City Council for its review and approval.

The reapportionment process takes place every 10 years following the results of the U.S. Census, and the city commission is tasked with proposing new ward boundaries to get the average number of people within each ward to be as equal as possible.

Jamestown City Council

The appointments for the City’s Reapportionment Commission have been set.

Jamestown City Council approved the mayoral appointments of Ellen Ditonto, Alyssa Porter, and Billy Torres to the commission. Jim Walton will represent the Democratic Party, Peter Johnson will represent the City Republican Party, and Steve Muscarella will represent the Conservative Party. Attorney Michael Panebianco will represent the Jamestown BAR Association. Council President Tony Dolce and Council member Brent Sheldon will be the council appointments.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said there isn’t a set schedule yet for when the Reapportionment Commission will meet to start the process of redrawing Ward District lines in the city.

He said with the Census count being ended early including people not wanting to answer their doors during a Pandemic in addition to not as many Census workers, he is concerned about an undercount, “Whether you are living in some type of transitional housing or whether you’re living in a permanent structure, those are very important to get, and we’re very concerned that is the case. But we are hearing some news reports that the Census Division is starting to look at those things again. I don’t know that we’ll see any changes, but we’ll take that into account as we go into this reapportionment.”

Sundquist said with the population loss, it’s up to the Reapportionment Commission to decide if the number of Wards or number of At-Large members is changed.

The new district lines would go into effect for the 2023 City Council election.

In County races, incumbent Republican County Executive Paul “PJ” Wendel is facing Democratic challenger Norm Green. Wendel is running for full 4-year term after being appointed to replace George Borrello in January 2020 when Borrello was elected to the State Senate. Green formerly worked in the Chautauqua County Board of Elections as its Democratic Commissioner for over 20 years.

The County Clerk race will feature incumbent Republican Larry Barmore against Fredonia Democrat David Salley.

All 19 County Legislature seats are on the ballot. In Jamestown, the contested races are in District 11 between incumbent Democrat Bob Whitney and Republican Dave Wilfong; and in District 12 between incumbent Republican Elisabeth Rankin and Democrat Heather Fagan.

In the City of Jamestown, all City Council seats are on the ballot.

In Ward 3, incumbent Democrat Regina Brackman faces Republican Robert Reedy. Brackman was appointed in April to fill the seat after the untimely death of Vickye James. In Ward 4, incumbent Democrat Marie Carrubba is running against Republican Rick Elardo.

In Ward 5, Republican Grant Olson is facing Democrat Doug Lawson, however Olson announced in mid-September that he was no longer seeking re-election. As it was too late to remove his name from the ballot, should Olson win and decline to accept his seat again, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist would be charged with appointing a Republican from Ward 5 to replace him in January.

And in Ward 6, incumbent Democrat Tom Nelson is going up against Republican Andrew Faulkner.
There are six candidates running for 3 At-Large seats. Incumbent Republicans Kim Ecklund and Jeff Russell are running for re-election as well as Republican Randy Daversa. Running on the Democrat line are Christina Cardinale, Ellen Ditonto, and Alyssa Porter. Democrat Tamu Graham-Reinhardt is not seeking re-election for her At-Large seat.

There are two seats open for the 8th Judicial State Supreme Court Justices. Running on all four lines of Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Working Families are Grace Hanlon and John Licata. Frank Caruso and Raymond Walter are running on the Democrat, Republican, and Conservative lines.

There are also 5 propositions located on the back of the ballot.

Proposal 1 deals with redistricting and, if passed, includes capping the number of State Senate seats at 63, require that incarcerated persons be counted at the place of their last residence for redistricting, and require the state to count residents, including people who are residents but not citizens, should the federal census fail to do so.

Proposal 3 removes the requirement that persons must register to vote at least ten days before an election. This would allow people to register to vote the same day as elections.

Proposal 4 would allow no-excuse absentee voting. Currently, in order to qualify for an absentee ballot, a voter must be absent from their county of residence, ill, or physically disabled.

Proposal 2 would add a right to clean water, clean air, and a healthful environment to the New York Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

And proposal 5 would allow the New York City Civil Court to hear and decide lawsuits involving claims of $50,000, rather than the current threshold of $25,000.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. in Chautauqua County.

For all of WRFA’s Election coverage, visit wrfalp.com/election-2021

For voting information, including sample ballots and voting locations, visit VoteChautauqua.com

We’ll have Election Night coverage starting at 8pm tonight on 107.9 WRFA-LP.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE

Moderated by WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley, in coordination with media panelists Terry Frank (WJTN Radio) and Justin Gould (WNY News Now).

Margaret Street resident Cathy Lumia said she is definitely in opposition to the project, “We live with the four houses on the block of Margaret Street and that’s where the majority, except Mrs. Heck’s house, is going to be affected. First of all, parking – where are the people who work on that project going to park? Margaret Street is a no parking street. And the construction vehicles, where will they be?”

Dwayne Carlson Jr., who is overseeing his parent’s estate on Margaret Street, said he had received calls from neighbors about the project, “The fact that a lot of people aren’t sure what this looks like. You can talk about plots and you can talk about variances and things like that but I think to ease their anxiety if there were pictures available.”

Ditonto said it would be up to the petitioner to provide pictures of the proposed project. There is not a known date for when the petition will appear on the Zoning Board of Appeals agenda again.