St. Susan Center officials and “Haul for the Holidays” sponsors

The 10th Annual “Haul for the Holidays” to benefit St. Susan Center will take place December 15 through 17.

Northwest Arena Executive Director Keith Martin will stand outside the Jamestown Cycle Shop for three days, accepting food and monetary donations.

Martin said the experience is heartwarming to see the support from the community, “I always say it may be cold outside for those three days, but each time somebody drives up and drops off a donation, you get all warm inside. So, I enjoy doing it. I enjoy seeing the people come in to help support St. Susan’s.”

St. Susan Center Director Cherie Rowland says the needs at the Center are as high as ever, “We’ve seen about a 15% from fourth quarter last year to fourth quarter this year. So, we’re on pace to feed 34,000 meals this year.”

Rowland said that Keith Martin’s goal was to try to raise enough funds to make it $150,000 total for the last 10 years, “He’s on track to do 150,000 pounds, am I right? [Keith Martin – “120,000”] 120,000 pounds. So, last year he collected 13,000 pounds and $24,000 for St. Susan’s. It’s truly been amazing.”

Rowland added that St. Susan Center remains open Monday through Saturdays, with a special Christmas Eve dinner being available noon to 1:45 p.m., Saturday, December 24.

The “Haul for the Holidays” donations can be dropped off at the Jamestown Cycle Shop, located at 10 Harrison Street, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Thursday, December 15, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday, December 16, and 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Saturday, December 17.

WRFA High School Sports Correspondent Collin Wood talks with John Kinder about Events and Activities happening at The Zone in Northwest Arena.

Listen to “Knock on Wood” with Collin Wood – a weekly HS Sports report focusing on Jamestown and the Chautauqua Region – every Thursday morning at 7:45 a.m. on WRFA-LP.

Gebbie Foundation CEO Greg Edwards addresses Jamestown City Council (November 7, 2022)

The executive directors of the Community Foundation and Gebbie Foundation made pleas to Jamestown City Council to move forward with American Rescue Plan funding.

Chautauqua Region Community Foundation Executive Director Tory Irgang, speaking to Council, reminded them how CRCF helped compile the community feedback from public information sessions held in 2021 on how to use the ARPA funds.

She said it’s easy to adopt a “scarcity mindset,” “A time when partnerships and collaborations can be mistaken as weakness. However, we have proven in this community what can happen when we have an abundance mindset. We work through public, private partnerships every day to achieve tremendous results. And I encourage each of you to lean into that shared experience by aligning the remaining ARPA funding with community-based projects that have significant leveraging opportunities.”

Irgang said projects that had been evaluated and awarded other funding from government and philanthropic sources should be considered, “Projects that provide infrastructure and programming for children and young adults, projects that yield measurable results, deliver significant community benefit, and address challenges that are multi-faceted. As we know all too well in philanthropy, our needs are always greater than our resources, but we can meet so many more needs when we collaborate and work together.”

Gebbie Foundation CEO Greg Edwards said the city has been very successful at finding partners in its mission over the last 20 years, “Over the last 20 years, many times not-for-profits have willingly stepped up and the public-private entities have stepped up because they had seen how valuable our joint mission was and invested dramatically in trying to impact the future of the city in ways we could spend a great deal of time tonight celebrating this partnership between the city and these entities.”

Edwards encouraged funding for TheZone project at the Northwest Arena. He said the Gebbie Foundation has provided nearly $4 million in funding for that project. He also encouraged Council to support the new Jamestown YMCA project on Harrison Street.

Council member Marie Carrubba asked what the plans were for the current YMCA location on East Fourth Street.

Edwards replied that the 1929 structure is complicated with the Housing and Urban Development contract for housing that remains in place for at least 13 years, “But there have been significant conversations around how that could actually be a plus to other redevelopments potentially around the city and how that building itself could be reused. I had a conversation two months ago with a private developer who was interested in turning it into what we’ll call higher end housing because it does come with some amenities that other buildings don’t. I mean, having the gyms, the pools, those sorts of things that does provide opportunities, call it built in, that make it interesting.”

Council Member at Large Jeff Russell voiced support for a new YMCA facility.

Any funding for the projects mentioned by Edwards would possibly receive funding from the proposed Non-Profit Assistance Program. A resolution to fund that program with $1.5 million in ARP funds is still awaiting Council action.

Council member Andrew Faulkner questioned how much the 19A Home Ownership program could be funded with and still be successful. Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said $500,000 would be the absolute minimum. The current proposal is requesting $750,000.

Council member at large Russell asked why the city would contract with the Chautauqua County Land Bank for $1 million, of which 20% goes to administrative fees, when the city could do home demolitions itself.

Surdyk said $500,000 of the funds requested by the Land Bank would go to contractors to do the demolition work, with administration fees going to administer that program.

She said while the DOD can administer demolitions, as it has done in the past, there are now over 16 new programs the department is now administering on top of existing programs, “To administer effectively the demolition program and these and new grant programs that we have received over the last year, it’s just not feasible without hiring new staff, specifically to do demolition. So, we can contract with the Land Bank at a roughly 20% administrative fee which would ultimately be less than what we’d have to pay to employ somebody as a city employee.”

The Finance Committee tabled the resolutions related to funding the Chautauqua County Land Bank and 19A Home Ownership Program until the November 14 work session.

And DPW Director Jeff Lehman reported that leaf pickup is ahead of schedule with Phase 2 already underway this week. He said crews do plan to go back through the city again after the completion of Phase 2 to try to pick up any piles of leaves that were missed the first time.

Jamestown BPU Retool ’22 Conference Keynote Speaker John Ellis presents at Northwest Arena (October 19, 2022)

Retool ’22 Climate Tech Conference Keynote speaker John Ellis says exponential change is coming to the automotive industry.

Ellis, a best-selling author, software expert, and former global technologist with Ford Motor company, spoke at the Northwest Arena Wednesday morning. He told the audience that his presentation was intended to provoke.

Ellis said we’ve been in Transportation 1.0, which represents the individually owned vehicle business model with the majority of those vehicles having a combustion-engine. He said we’re now moving into Transportation 2.0, “It’s hallmark characteristics are a shared-vehicle ownership model, autonomy of some form and level, and most important – an electric vehicle.”

Ellis said individual ownership of cars is disappearing in the United States, citing a AAA study that it costs $10,728 a year to own and operate a vehicle and another study in larger markets that showed 66% of car trips are less than seven miles.

He said car sharing in China is booming, where over 150 million residents have a driver’s license but do not have a car, “We have a burgeoning growth over 10% of the economy (in China) that is shared vs. less than 1% here in the U.S. And they’re expecting to grow the sharing. Why is that significant? This past year, China was responsible for 30-something million vehicle units. U.S. used to be at it’s high 17 million and it’s now down to 15.5 and declining. China will serve as an over-sized indicator of where the market goes.”

Ellis said on top of electric vehicles being more efficient than fossil-fuel cars, policy is driving the move to EVs with enacted bans on combustion engines by 2035 by the European Union, China and even here in New York State, “You may say to yourself, ‘Do I really care about the E.U.?’ Well, let me be very, very, very clear. The E.U., specifically Germany, is home to the top three Tier 1’s in the world. If the top three Tier 1’s in the world are forced to become EV Tier 1’s, the auto industry by definition will go EV.”

Ellis said software plays an over-sized role in the change from fossil fuel to electric, saying how Tesla uses software to differentiate its products versus hardware. He referenced a KPMG report that stated by 2030 many of the major automakers won’t exist.

Ellis said exponential change has been seen with adoption of new technology and that people should expect it with transportation.

BPU Retool ’22 Conference Keynote Speaker Clint Wilder and MC Mike McKay (October 18, 2022)

We’re halfway through the transition to modern energy according to Retool ’22 Conference keynote speaker Clint Wilder.

Wilder is the Editorial Director for CleanEdge which is a developer and publisher of stock indexes tracking clean energy, transportation, water, and the grid.

Speaking at Northwest Arena Tuesday morning, Wilder cited five key drivers that are accelerating the transition from fossil fuel to alternative energies such as wind and solar power. He said the first driver is the dramatically declining costs of solar, wind and battery storage, “We have a major shift in investment dollars from fossil fuels into clean energy. Public support in poll after poll in the U.S., and I’ll have some more information about this, something like 70% of Americans support more resources and policy support for clean energy.”

Wilder said there has been an 85% drop in prices for solar and wind since 2010, which has made it competitive with natural gas.

Wilder said another driver is the development of the smart grid and electrification. He said smart grids support the way energy is digitized and stored, making for more efficient distribution. Wilder cited how California’s smart grid was able to handle a 10-day heatwave with no rolling blackouts as seen in the past.

He said policy support is another driver, seen in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act; and Infrastructure and Jobs Act, “So this is the biggest federal support that we’ve ever seen by far to put resources behind growth of clean energy. It’s something that we advocates in the industry have been calling for, waiting for, for a long time and it’s finally happened.”

Wilder said these policies in the last two years have seen immediate impact with multi-billion dollar manufacturing investments being made in the United States.

The Jamestown BPU’s Retool ’22 Conference continues Wednesday and will feature keynote speaker John Ellis at the Northwest Arena. For more information, visit jamestownbpu.com

Jamestown BPU Retool ’22 Keynote Speakers Clint Wilder and John Ellis

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities‘ Retool ’22 Climate Tech Conference kicks off today.

The conference on Monday features afternoon visits to Chautauqua Institution and Robert H. Jackson Center with the full slate of panels, guest speakers, and other activities taking place Tuesday and Wednesday at the Northwest Arena in downtown Jamestown.

The three-day conference will feature industry leaders speaking about market opportunities that exist in climate technology, innovative ideas already being implemented in new business ventures and financial and technical resources available to support business development.

Representatives from secondary and higher educational institutions also will address new careers and workforce training.

Keynote speakers include Clint Wilder, a best-selling author and analyst who has covered the clean energy and climate tech industries for nearly two decades. He is the co-author of two books: The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity, and Clean Tech Nation: How the U.S. Can Lead in the New Global Economy. Wilder will give his keynote address at 9:15 a.m., Tuesday, October 18 on Rink A at the Northwest Arena.

John Ellis, best-selling author, software expert and former global technologist with Ford Motor Company, will present an address on opportunities and advancements in supply chain manufacturing and the transportation industry. He is Ellis & Associates’ Managing Director and is an expert in new and emerging transportation technology and how it is changing the way cities, airports and transportation authorities manage public spaces. Ellis is scheduled to give his keynote address at 9:15 a.m., Wednesday, October 19.

The Retool’22 Conference is expected to bring over 200 manufacturers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators to Jamestown.

A full schedule and registration information for the conference is available at jamestownbpu.com.

CCS Owner Pat Smeraldo said his wife got the idea for the event from something similar she attended in Warren, Pennsylvania, “They dress up. It’s only women. There’s dance music. There’s treats. She has really worked her tail off and she has probably 10 or 12 baskets for a basket raffle collected. So, it’s a great event.”

The event takes place from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. in the Northwest Arena Reception Room on Saturday, September 3.

Tickets are $25 and attendees must be 21 to attend.

For more information, visit http://ccsolutions716.com/

Folk Festival Organizer Gwen Funcel said the two-day event this weekend will take place at the Northwest Arena with the Midsummer Procession going down Third Street, “They have expanded the public market and at 10:00 a.m. Saturday they’re going to be decorating the Midsummer Pole, so please be there. Bring your greens and flowers. And once the pole is decorated, they’ll process down to the arena and place the Midsummer Pole in a specific location there and everybody can attend that and enjoy the rain dances without having to pay an entrance fee.”

Funcel said people can tour a Viking Ship on Lafayette Street outside the Northwest Arena on Saturday between 10:00 a.m to 8:00 p.m. for free as well.

The entrance fee for the Scandinavian Folk Festival inside the Northwest Arena is $5.

For more information, visit http://www.scandinavianjamestown.org/

Collaborative Children’s Solutions

The free event will feature children’s activities including Pirates Arr for You, Marty’s Bubblegum Machine, and the Nickel City Reptiles and Exotics show.

Several local agencies, organizations and educational providers also will be there to share information about the programming they offer to help keep kids engaged during the summer months.

Parents and children are also invited to attend the Jamestown Tarp Skunk’s baseball game at 7:00 p.m. at Diethrick Park. The Tarp Skunks are hosting the Batavia Muckdogs. Fireworks will be featured at the end of the game.

You can also tune to 107.9 WRFA to hear the Tarp Skunk’s game or livestream the game on wrfalp.com.

Jamestown City Council

Chautauqua County Humane Society‘s Executive Director Kellie Roberts will present on the program which will be an attempt to humanely and ethically reduce the feral cat population of the City.

The pre-file staff report says cats will be trapped, neutered or spayed; vaccinated, and returned back to the area they were found in so that they cannot reproduce or spread disease.

The city would contract with the Humane Society in the amount of $5,000 to do the program. Funding is already allocated in the City Budget.

Council also will learn about two American Rescue Plan funding proposals related to public safety.

One resolution proposes using ARP funds to purchase 63 Glock 17 service pistols and 12 Glock 19 service pistols for $9,643. The staff report said 26 Jamestown Police officers have traded in current duty weapons with 44 officers purchase their current duty weapons, which both help offset the cost of the new guns.

Another resolution proposes using $40,000 in ARP funds to purchase mobile data terminals for 12 police vehicles. The staff report said the current data terminals are outdated, failing, and cannot be upgraded.

Council also will hear a presentation by Northwest Arena on “The Zone” project.

The City Council meeting will be held at the Northwest Arena with committee meetings starting at 6:45pm with the Housing Committee and other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full Council work session begins at 7:30 p.m. The meetings are open to the public and will be livestreamed at jamestownny.gov.