Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist announces “Safer Jamestown N.O.W.” initiative (June 20, 2023)

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist unveiled a community-focused policing initiative Tuesday.

Sundquist said there is a perception in the community that there has been an increase in crime and violence in the city, which he said isn’t the case.

According to the 2022 Public Safety Annual Report, crimes involving a firearm increased over 30% with overall crime increasing 3.5% in the City of Jamestown last year.

Sundquist said some numbers have gone down for the first part of 2023 through the end of May, “Crimes against persons has decreased 1.2% Gun related offenses have decreased by 45%, and confirmed shootings have decreased by four incidents. And something that I’m very proud of, a lot of organizations that are here helping us, domestic violence cases have decreased by 9%.”

Sundquist said under the initiative called “Safer Jamestown N.O.W. – Neighbors On Watch,” the city plans to commit additional resources to revitalize neighborhood watches, “We want to make sure that our residents are not only protected by our police, but by our neighbors. That’s the whole idea about community and neighborhood. We also want to work and partner with our faith-based organizations, our community groups, and Jamestown Public Schools to provide violence interruption programs in our community, mentoring and employment programs for our kids.”

Safer Jamestown N.O.W Initiative

Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson said the city has been awarded $261,000 in Gun Involved Violence Elimination, or GIVE, program funding this year. He said this is three times the usual amount funded in previous years. Sundquist said some of the funding will go toward youth diversion programs.

He said the Human Rights Commission will be holding community meetings to help develop more responsive city-wide programs.

Sundquist added that a City Public Information Officer also will be hired to provide updates on initiatives, connect with the community, and support the Police Department. The position would be funded through a $150,000 grant through the Federal Communications Commission that the city is receiving to do community outreach about the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program. If approved by City Council this month, the position would be contractual and be in place for two years.

Governor Kathy Hochul announces tentative deal on state budget (April 27, 2023)

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced a tentative deal on the 2024 State Budget.

According to reports by WXXI, Hochul called the news conference after Senate and Assembly members left the Capitol for the weekend, saying that there were too many unresolved issues to approve a spending plan this week.

The governor said in a release that she had reached an agreement with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins on the budget plan

Hochul announced adjustments will be made to the state’s current bail laws. The governor said judges will have more authority to set bail and detain dangerous defendants. The agreement that has been reached removes the least restrictive means standard and gives judges discretion to hold violent criminals accountable.

The budget also includes $40 million for public defenders to retain staff and enhance their services. Assigned attorneys will receive a pay increase for the first time in two decades.

The state plans to invest in violence prevention, including $36 million to Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE), increasing stabilization units for the New York State Police, and $40 million to district attorneys.

The state would raise the minimum wage. Starting next year, the minimum wage would rise to $15 in Upstate New York, with additional 50 cent increases in 2025 and 2026 to bring it to $17 by 2027. Future increases would be tied to the rate of inflation.

The budget also appears to include a ban on natural gas in new buildings and funding for free meals for school children.

The next step in the budget process is for the bills to be printed, so that state lawmakers can vote on them. The budget was due April 1.

The 2022  was released on the city’s website, jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson said while crime is up, it’s important to note that the number of arrests increased by 10.9% in 2022. He said in the report that this is due to more targeted police enforcement as well as using GIVE funding for supplemental officers to be used in areas of high crime.

In terms of crime, in 2022 there was a 30.8% increase in cases involving reported use of a firearm compared to 2021 and 24 confirmed shootings. All of the firearm related violence was targeted and related to narcotics trafficking.

Jackson said JPD will be conducting more targeted impact patrols in areas with a high crime rate this year. He said the department will use GIVE funding to conduct hotspot and micro hotspot policing in targeted areas.

80 firearms were seized last year and the SWAT Team was deployed 34 times for search warrants.

The number of overdoses known to JPD also increased by 12.6% in 2022 compared to 2021; however, the fatality rate from overdoses decreased by 23.5% in 2022.

The Jamestown Fire Department responded to 61 fires in 2022. Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon said of that total 1 person died and 5 fires were arson. He said the number of fires is down from a total of 74 in 2021, but still remain high when compared with 52 fires in 2020.

Coon said in 2022, JFD responded to a total of 4,788 calls for medical emergencies, including 1,298 ambulance transports. This is an increase from 1,130 transports last year.

Coon said neighboring volunteer departments were dispatched into the city over 500 times in 2022.

He said goals for 2023 include

• Continuing to expand fire prevention and life safety services throughout the community,
• Providing better transparency and availability through social media platforms,
• Continuing work with local agencies to provide the best services to the community with an attempt to not duplicate said services;
• And continuing expansion of partnerships county-wide by sharing resources to provide education to not only city residents, but anyone who desires it.

The full report may be viewed here: https://www.jamestownny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2022-Annual-Report-FINAL-V2.pdf

Governor Kathy Hochul delivers 2023 State of the State (January 10, 2023)

Kathy Hochul delivered her first State of the State Tuesday as an elected Governor of New York.

She pledged to expand the number of available beds in psychiatric treatment facilities, address public safety concerns, and tie the minimum wage to the rate of inflation.

Hochul proposes a $1 billion investment in mental health that will include increasing the number of inpatient psychiatric treatment beds by 1,000, creating 3,500 units of housing for those with mental illness, increasing insurance coverage for mental health services, expanding outpatient services, and creating systemic accountability for hospital admissions and discharges to better address the needs of individuals suffering with mental illness.

Under public safety, Hochul plans to double funding for the Gun Involved Violence Elimination, or GIVE, program to $36 million. This will expand the use of evidence-based strategies – hot-spot policing, focused deterrence, crime prevention through environmental design, and street outreach – and result in the hiring of more than 150 police officers and prosecutors solely dedicated to combating gun violence within their communities.

She also said she will work with the State Legislature to clarify the State’s bail laws.

Hochul’s proposal for increasing the State’s minimum wage would be based on the growth in the year-over-year Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners (CPI-W) for the Northeast Region. To ensure that no single-year increase would threaten employment, annual increases would be capped. In addition, the proposal would also allow for an “off-ramp” in the event of certain economic or budget conditions.

Seventeen other states either currently tie their minimum wage to inflation or some other economic formula or are slated to do so, including three states which have minimum wages at or above $15 in 2023.

Hochul also introduced the New York Housing Compact’s plan to deal with housing shortages that will require all cities, towns, and villages to achieve new home creation targets on a three-year cycle. She said the proposals, if adopted by lawmakers, could spur the creation of 800,000 new homes over the next decade.

View Governor Hochul’s complete State of the State address here:

City Council Forum held at Christ First United Methodist Church on September 14, 2022

Public safety was just one issue discussed with over 60 people who attended a public forum held by Jamestown City Council Wednesday night.

Council President Tony Dolce stated one of his goals has been to hold these kinds of forums outside of the regular council meeting, but the Pandemic put that on hold until now.

City Director of Development Crystal Surdyk presented on neighborhood stabilization efforts by the department. She said the department is facing a monumental task with housing code enforcement and housing at the top of the list.

Surdyk said there are just three Code Enforcement Officers right now, “It takes up a lot of our time and energy every day, all day long. We’re on call 24-7. It’s not uncommon to get a call from one these guys (Police) in the middle of the night or on a weekend. And it’s been a really great partnership with the Police Department, with the Fire Department, our other departments.”

Surdyk said the collaboration between the departments has been important because they’re all dealing with the same issues. She said it’s helped the department make some strides.

Surdyk added that housing and housing conditions impact economic development, “..and vice versa, so you really can’t look at neighborhoods and downtown development and business development as separate things. They all have to be worked on at the same time. It’s not a this or this. It has to be this and this and this.”

Jamestown Police Chief Tim Jackson presented next and said the most important issue for police right now is gun violence which comes with narcotics issues. He said as of August 14, there have been 16 confirmed shootings this year, compared with 19 for all of 2021, “In 2022, our cases involving reports of firearms have increased 4.2% compared to year-to-date 2021 and 76.2%, compared to the five-year average. And the five year average is 27.8 cases, so it is an increase.”

He said the shootings have taken place all over the city, which makes it difficult to combat because officers can’t necessarily target where the next shooting event might take place.

Police Captain Scott Forester presented on the department’s work under the GIVE grant, or Gun Involved Violence Elimination grant, which is under its ninth year in the city, “GIVE focuses not only on gun violence but it focuses on domestic incidences, community engagements, it helps pay for our Crime Analyst, which obviously then assists with us with the information we need to run our targeted patrols. As the Chief mentioned, the shots fired calls, warrant services, and then a word you’ve heard a lot tonight, is partnerships.”

Forester said the department works closely with local law enforcement as well as Federal partnerships.

Chief Jackson said prior the presentation that the collaboration with Federal partners has helped the city get around some of the bail reform restrictions in place under New York State.

Jackson said hiring continues to be an issue for the department, with three positions open right now. This includes the Quality of Life Officer that had been approved by council in the spring which was to solely be assigned to deal with issues in the city such as noise and neighborhood complaints.

Sheriff Jim Quattrone was in attendance and echoed the issue facing law enforcement with recruitment, “We currently have nobody who has training and qualifications on the civil service list to be hired by any police department in the county. We currently have 14 Chautauqua County residents in the (Sheriff’s) Academy but they just started, so they won’t be ready to even get out of the Academy until around May, May or June of next year. So that is creating a problem. We’ve looked at other departments but really we’d just be taking them from another jurisdiction.”

Dolce said following the forum, council members and the administration will compile the comments and requests, “Put it together and then put our heads together and see where we go. This is just a beginning. These are issues that are not going to be solved overnight. They weren’t created overnight. But these are the types of things that involve the community that help us help them and move forward.”

Dolce added he does plan to have additional public forums in the future.

Jamestown City Council work session (August 8, 2022)

Jamestown City Council will consider adding an additional $2 million to a roof and sewer line replacement fund after demand well outpaced what was available.

The Roof, Private Sewer Lateral, Private Water Line Repair/Replacement program had initially been funded with $750,000 in American Rescue Plan funds by City Council in March.

Housing Committee Chair Marie Carrubba said the city received 130 requests for funding, “One-third were fundable. Ten applications were ineligible. Apparently, letters have gone out in this category of yes, possibly as a maybe if there were funds available, and there were also letters sent out that they were not eligible.”

Council member at large Jeff Russell said he’s been approached by citizens asking for more funds to be allocated toward neighborhoods, “And like I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, this ARPA funding was not a gift from Washington. This is taxpayer money that has come back to the city, directly to the city, not via Albany. And I would like to see more funding going to the neighborhoods and taxpayers of this city.”

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the additional $2 million would cover the rest of the applicants who had applied and were eligible, but weren’t able to be funded in the first round. She said the application process would not be reopened.

Interest is also very high for the Senior Citizen Home Improvement Incentive Program which provides financial assistance to eligible senior home owner occupants with home repairs. Mayor Eddie Sundquist said as of last week, 128 applications had been received amounting to $519,000 in potential rebates. The application period for that program is open until August 15. More information can be found on the city’s website at http://www.jamestownny.gov/

Council reviewed the receipt of $72,221 from the State Division of Criminal Justices Services GIVE grant program. Public Safety Chair Brent Sheldon said the grant covers the cost of the Police Department’s crime analyst as well as overtime details including beat and bike patrols.

Council member Russell asked Police Captain Scott Forester about the status of the hiring of the new Quality of Life police officer. Forester responded that there are two new hires going through field training right now and they hope to have the public nuisance officer in place in eleven to twelve weeks.

Council will hear details of an agreement with HOPE Chautauqua to obtain 10 sharps containers for syringe disposal. The medical waste disposal would be covered by New York State for one year. The pre-file report says the City has identified locations where syringes are found regularly and that some boxes will be kept in reserve to address new problem areas as they are identified by staff.

Council also will learn more about a resolution authorizing the Mayor and Police Chief to take part in the Gun Involved Violence Elimination, or GIVE program. This is a state program that includes funding of $72,221.

The award would fund a position of Crime Analyst and also fund overtime for officers working in conjunction with other GIVE partners, including the District Attorney’s office, Parole, Probation, and New York State Police.

A resolution to accept the Chadakoin River Strategic Business Plan will appear before council. That still faces review by the Planning Commission on July 20th. If approved, it can move forward to be voted on by City Council at its July 26th session.

Council also will review two consolidated funding applications. One is $1.4 million for improvements to the Chadakoin River area with the other being a $110,000 request for a comprehensive plan and zoning code update. There is a combined local match of $194,000 for the two requests.

Reports from staff will include a mid-year financial update, a discussion on the master plan for the American Rescue Plan funding, and an update on reopening of Housing Court.

The City Council Work session starts with committee meetings at 7pm with the full work session taking place at 7:30pm in the Third Floor conference room.