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The discussion was broadcast live on WRFA radio, with video streaming available on both WRFA’s Facebook Page and Youtube Channel.

A virtual Q&A was also available for audience members.

Funding for the Community Conversation is made available by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization grant fund.

Vehicles should park only on the odd-numbered side of the street during odd-numbered months and only on the even-numbered side of the street during even-numbered months.

Vehicles should be moved at 10 a.m. on the first day of each month.

The rule will remain in effect until the end of September.

Animals must be pre-registered to receive vaccinations. Vaccinations will be provided free of charge to all dogs, cats and domesticated ferrets three months of age and older.

Residents may call the Jamestown City Clerks Office at (716) 483-7612 to make an appointment or pre-register online at https://on.ny.gov/2YPapGT

Pet owners must bring previous rabies vaccination records for each animal receiving a shot to ensure proper and effective vaccination; clinic staff will confirm previous rabies vaccination records. To reduce the risk of animals escaping from pet owners and animal handlers, all dogs must be on a leash (small dogs may be in a carrier) and all cats must be in carriers (with one cat per carrier).

“So the fact that we’re still working on behalf of our kids, our youth, here in the City of Jamestown to make sure we have a space where they can be the best they can be is so incredibly important.”
The $500-thousand dollar project is being funded through a $250-thousand dollar grant from The Skatepark Project, formerly known as the Tony Hawk Foundation, and the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation.

The Skatepark Project‘s Trevor Staples said the process for Jamestown to get this park started 3-years ago with the Built To Play program when he reached out to Jamestown Skate Products owner Pete Scheira,

“And I was going to give him all the information about the new grant program and he said ‘I’m already working on the application,’ so he’s really got his act together and Pete Scheira is really the driving force behind all this. This couldn’t be possible without the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation who’s funded up to 20 skateparks throughout the region, so at least 10 in Western New York”

Scheira, as part of the Skate J-T-N-Y group led the community fundraising for the park,

“We started raising money for this, I’d say, with the Active Artists Alliance about 10 years ago. We started having skateboard art deck shows and just keeping the money put away in a bank account waiting for this day to happen. But really we never knew where it was going to be. We just knew some day that the time would be right and the skatepark would happen and kept having the shows.”

The matching funds of $250-thousand dollars were raised by the City of Jamestown, SK8 JTNY, and the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation. The City also was awarded at $50-thousand dollar grant for green infrastructure as part of the project due to its proximity to the Chadakoin River.

Officials anticipate the skate park will be fully constructed and opened by the end of this summer.

JAMESTOWN, NY – A nationally touring rock band that’s been featured on alternative rock radio for nearly two decades in coming to Jamestown this weekend.

Boston-based alt rock outfit Guster will play the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts on Saturday, July 27. Joining the group is with Mikaela Davis of Rochester.

The concert is being put on by Spirit Animal promotions and Southern Tier Distillery. The event is also made possible by the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and the Fund for Downtown Programming.

Guster’s live shows channel their infectious positive energy into raucous performances that have fans singing along to songs old and new with unbridled enthusiasm, while always promising plenty of eclectic surprises. Guster’s first new album in four years – Look Alive – was released earlier this year to widespread praise. NPR Music called it “sparkling” and Relix said it was “their greatest stylistic leap yet.”

Rochester harpist and songwriter Mikaela Davis joins the bill after recently sharing the stage with Bob Weir at Shea’s in Buffalo this past spring and is now heavily featured in many summer festivals.

Tickets start at just $11 and are available at www.RegLenna.com as well as the Reg Lenna Box Office (716) 484-7070 and the 3rd on 3rd Gallery at 108 E 3rd Street.

The latest round of scores is based on 2015 financial information provided to DiNapoli’s office by local governments. The monitoring system evaluates local governments on nine financial indicators and creates a fiscal condition score. Indicators include fund balance, cash-on-hand and patterns of operating deficits.

Municipalities receiving a score of 45 to 55 are placed in the “Susceptible to Stress” category. Those receiving a score of 55 to 65 are placed in the “Moderate Stress” category. And municipalities with scores of 65 or higher are listed in the Significant Stress” category.

As mentioned, Cherry Creek was the only municipality in Chautauqua County to appear on the list, under the moderate stress category.  Cherry Creek received a 2015 score of 62.5.

While no other municipality in the county was placed on the list for this year, the city of Jamestown was very close to the “Susceptible to Stress” category with a 2015 score of 44.2. That’s up from 40.8 in 2014 and 37.5 in 2013.  Local municipalities that saw noticeable drops in their scores included the villages of Silver Creek (30.4 in 2015, down from 50.8 in 2014) and Lakewood (25.4 in 2015, down from 41.3 in 2014).

This is the fourth year DiNapoli’s office has evaluated the financial stability of local governments.

A complete, sortable list of fiscal scores for municipalities is available at the Comptrollers website.

Looking east on Fourth Street in downtown Jamestown, near its intersection with N. Main St. Since the 1970s, Fourth St. has been a three-lane, one-way thoroughfare through downtown. The JRC’s Peter Lombardi says the city should consider making the street two-way, which he believes would make it more inviting for economic development and related activity.

Jamestown Renaissance Corporation deputy director Peter Lombardi is advocating for changing Fourth Street from one-way to two-way, and believes Jamestown could learn from nearby Olean, which recently underwent an $8.8 million reconstruction project for its North Union Street.

Lombardi recently talked with WRFA’s Dennis Drew and said the effort in Olean not only renovated major sections of Union St., but also reconfigured what is basically the city’s primary downtown thoroughfare. Currently, Olean and the state are installing a brand new streetscape that, when completed, will feature roundabouts, bike lanes, landscaped medians, and a reduction in traffic lanes from four to two.

Lombardi said that all those changes to one of Olean’s most well-traveled streets will help to make the areas around it more inviting for economic development.

“It’s a great example of how the public sector can contribute to economic development,” Lombardi explained. “Other than the jobs created by the construction project itself, this new streetscape doesn’t produce jobs and it doesn’t produce businesses. But what it does is that it lays the groundwork for new businesses to relocate to downtown Olean, because it creates and environment where employees want to be and where businesses want to be.”

An artists drawing of what North Union Street will look like once the multimillion dollar street transformation project is completed.

Lombardi believes Jamestown may want to take a page from Olean’s playbook, and consider a similar project for Fourth Street – which is currently a one-way street four 14 blocks of downtown – from Prendergast Ave. west to Monroe St. He said that at the time it was turned into a one-way street, it made sense due to the amount of traffic in the downtown. But, Lombardi also added, that things are a lot different today.

“When it was converted to a one-way street 30 or 40 years ago, it carried a lot more traffic because during peak commute periods we had a lot of people moving back and forth across the city between factories and neighborhoods,” Lombardi said. “Today, less than 5,000 people use Fourth St. on a daily basis, and that’s a roadway that was really built for 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles each day.”

Lombardi said that Union Street in Olean currently carries twice as much traffic as Fourth Street in downtown Jamestown, yet has been able to successfully change from a four-lane to a two lane roadway, making the street slimmer, greener and more functional. He said that Fourth St. could see a similar change, but it’s not going to happen overnight.

“There were some ideas that came out of the Urban Design Plan the middle of the last decade for converting Fourth Street to two ways,” Lombardi said. “But what we need to do is raise the money to do some detailed engineering work so that you can go the extra step that Olean has taken, from going from a pretty-looking plan to an actual construction project. There are several planning and engineering steps that have to take place and with Fourth Street, we’ve been stuck with this early conceptual process for too long.”

Lombardi said that currently, JRC is trying to work with the city in identifying funding sources to not only take the idea of making Fourth Street a two-way street to the next level, but also making it an eventual reality.

The singular organization will continue to focus on implementing the Urban Design and Neighborhood Revitalization plans, a robust slate of downtown events and developing the downtown area. The consolidation took effect recently, with DJDC board members invited to become members of the Jamestown Renaissance Corp. board.

The new structure will also create a more efficient organization that still addresses the needs of downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. The DJDC’s focus on downtown revitalization is a natural fit with the Renaissance Corporation’s charge to implement the Urban Design Plan. The DJDC will remain in existence as a single-purpose entity that owns the Jamestown Gateway Station. Former DJDC Executive Director Lee Harkness will now serve as the General Manager of the Station.

Other staff will include Peter Lombardi as the Renaissance Corp. Executive Director, Tiffani Conti will serve as the Jamestown Renaissance Corp. events and marketing associate, Jim Goodling will be the Renaissance Corp. downtown project associate, Mary Maxwell is the new neighborhood project associate and Frank Besse will serve as office administrator and assist with a wide range of special projects.

According to Renaissance Corp. co-chair Lillian Vitanza Ney, the creation of a unified organization will set the stage for a united vision and mission, synergy of efforts, greater efficiencies, and the achievement of a high level of performance towards the renaissance and the vibrancy of Jamestown.

The Village of Celoron, the Chautauqua Lake Fishing Association and the Lakewood Celoron Loyal Order of Moose #2587 will hold their rescheduled annual Children’s Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow in Lucille Ball Memorial Park. Each child can register to win a bike. Registration for the bike drawings will be held between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. at the Community Center.

And The Chautauqua Children’s Safety Village will be hosting the Children’s Easter Carnival tomorrow  from 10:30am-1:30pm at the Safety Village, located at 2695 Rt 394 in Asville (next to BOCES).

Those interested in Public Works and Parks summer labor positions would need a valid driver’s license. Work hours would be from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Parks, Recreation, & Conservation Department also is accepting applications for the 2012 Summer Playground Program and is seeking site supervisors and an arts and crafts coordinator. Work hours would be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The six-week program for kids ages 5 to 13 takes place at 6 playground sites in the city of Jamestown. 

A Civil Service application, separate Playground Program application, and a written test must be completed and returned to the Parks & Rec Office at 145 Steele Street.  These documents are available at the office location and on the City’s website at jamestownny.net.

For more information on any of these employment opportunities, contact the Department of Public Works at 483-7545 or via email at dpw@cityofjamestownny.com.