Bird Bike Share – eScooter and eBike

Electric bikes and scooters could be available to rent in Jamestown this summer.

Jamestown City Council heard a presentation by Bird Bike Share, who has proposed a pilot program in the city.

Bird Bike Share currently has programs in Dunkirk and other municipalities around New York State.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said bringing ebikes and scooters to the area would be a way to increase mobility for those who do not have cars, or good access to public transportation.

He said New York State passed a law in 2020 making eBikes and eScooters legal, “The program itself, when we were originally looking at it, the city was considering starting its own bike share program which had a lot of upfront capital costs. In this scenario, in this partnership, Bird actually provides all of that capital. They also hire a local operator to manage and take care of those bikes and scooters. And then the city receives a portion of the revenue on each of those rides.”

Sundquist said the pricing would have an initial fee and then a 49-cents per minute fee after that. He said the program would also offer community pricing where those who have an EBT card could receive a reduced rate. Pre-paid cards could also be used for rental in cases where someone doesn’t have a debit or credit card.

Sundquist said the bikes and scooters would be limited to operation within the city of Jamestown.

Council tabled a resolution to contract with BusPatrol for the installation and management of a bus stop arm camera program.

City Council had previously authorized a Bus Stop Arm camera program to catch violations of motorists passing buses when the stop arm is out.

BusPatrol would outfit the Jamestown Public School district’s bus fleet at no cost, with the City receiving a share of the fine money. The Jamestown School Board passed the proposal in February.

Corporation Counsel Elliot\ Raimondo recommended that council table the measure for further review.

Public Safety Committee Chair Brent Sheldon said that 239 feral cats were spayed or neutered under the Community Cat Program in 2022, “151 had the surgeries done at Operation Pets in Buffalo and 88 were done at the Chautauqua County Humane Society. That did result in some savings there because they didn’t have to do the transportation and everything, so they saved approximately $1,841 on that.”

Sheldon said between the City’s allocation of $5,000 toward the program in 2022, a Chautauqua Region Community Foundation grant of $8,000, and donations of $3,000; the Chautauqua County Humane Society had enough funds for the program. He added that the City has also allocated $5,000 for the program in 2023.

Drawings of proposed Splash Pads at Allen and Jackson-Taylor Parks (provided by Parkitects)

Jamestown City Council will hear a presentation on $721,000 worth of American Rescue Plan funded parks projects that include two Splash Pads at its work session tonight.

Resolutions pre-filed include $500,000 toward the construction of splash pads at Allen and Jackson-Taylor Parks. The staff report said the City anticipates grant funding could cover a significant amount of the project and that unspent funds will be returned to the ARPA funds. They said while they anticipate water usage costs will increase, it can be absorbed in the Parks Department budget.

The pads would be ADA compliant and, based on drawings provided by Parkitects in the staff report, be located on the current skatepark pad at Jackson-Taylor Park and near the corner of West Virginia Blvd and Elizabeth Avenue in Allen Park.

Another resolution allocates $120,000 toward improvements at Roseland Park that includes a new pickleball court and new shade or pavilion structure.

Improvements to Willard Park are proposed under another resolution allocating $72,000 in ARP funds. This project includes a new playground and volleyball court.

The staff report said the City is in talks with the Chautauqua County Soil and Water Conservation District on an Urban Farming Grant to plant a fruit tree orchard in the park.

Two additional resolutions would allocate $15,000 toward resurfacing basketball courts at Jackson-Taylor, Allen, and Bergman Parks and $14,000 toward the purchase of eight self-watering flower pots for the downtown area. These planters would repace concrete planters.

A presentation on a proposed Electric Bike and Scooter pilot program will be done by Bird Bike Share.

Bird Bike Share currently has programs in Dunkirk and Olean. According to the staff report, a similar bike or scooter share program here would have no cost to the City and involve a revenue-share of $0.20 (cents) per ride to help fund protected bike lanes or other transportation projects.

Council also will review a resolution to contract with BusPatrol for the installation and management of a bus stop arm camera program.

City Council had previously authorized a Bus Stop Arm camera program to catch violations of motorists passing buses when stop arm is out.

BusPatrol would outfit the school district’s fleet at no cost, with the City receiving a share of the fine money. Jamestown Public Schools passed the proposal in February 2023.

While the staff reports states there is no cost to the school district, nor the city, the contract states the city is responsible for the cost of the camera installation as well as a monthly technology fee. These costs will come out of the 40% in fee revenue the city receives.

City Council also will hear an update on the Jamestown Community Cat Program that was being done by the Chautauqua County Humane Society.

The Housing Committee meeting is at 6:45 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full City Council work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. All meetings are open to the public with the full work session also being livestreamed at jamestownny.gov.

Chautauqua County Humane Society Senior Programs Director Brian Papalia updates us on the “Season of Hope” adoption/foster drive, the TNVR cat program, and what’s up for 2023.

Senior Programs Director Brian Papalia said the shelter plans to continue its Trap, Neuter, Vaccination, and Return; or TNVR, program for this year, “What we’re looking for is people who be able to work with us in the sense that they can come in and borrow a trap or traps from us. They can trap the cats, bring the cats in so they can be done, and also, afterwards, help us make sure the cats get the proper aftercare they need before they get released back to where they were found.”

Papalia said the Humane Society is doing some of the spaying and neutering in house while still working with Operation Pets in Blasdell for surgeries.

According to cats.org.uk, an unspayed cat may have between 4 to 8 kittens in a litter.

In April 2022, Jamestown City Council approved an ordinance to establish a Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return (TNVR) program for feral cats in the city in addition to voting to contract with the Chautauqua County Humane Society for $5,000 to run that program.

Papalia said the Humane Society is still accepting financial donations to help with the program. Visit chqhumane.org for more information.

Jamestown City Council (April 25, 2022)

Jamestown City Council passed over $5 million in American Rescue Plan funded projects, with four resolutions for economic development related initiatives failing to pass.

Council members Marie Carrubba, Andrew Faulkner, Kim Ecklund, and Randy Daversa voted no on three resolutions related to giving funding to the Small Business Development Center for a business marketing program, a branding and marketing program for the city, and a program to provide marketing funding to businesses. Brent Sheldon was absent at Monday’s meeting, so the resolutions failed on a tie vote. The fourth program that failed was a resolution to contract with the Jamestown Local Development Corporation for $500,000 to administer the ARPA program.

Council member Faulkner said he voted no because he felt some of the proposed programs were duplicates. He also said other communities have used an average of 11.1% of ARPA funds toward economic development and workforce development, “If we were to allocate the full $7.5 million tonight, that would have been 27% of our entire ARPA funding. From the start, I thought we were pushing too much money toward the economic when we have other issues that need to be dealt with. So seeing those statistics of how we are almost three times higher than what everyone else is doing kind of reassured me of that.”

Faulkner said he wants to see funding more focused on public safety and housing initiatives.

Two programs for business building and infrastructure improvements and equipment and machinery upgrades had funding reduced from $1 million to $500-thousand each under an amendment proposed by Faulkner that council approved. Faulkner said if the programs run out of the money, then the Department of Development can always request additional funds be added.

Council President Tony Dolce said he was surprised that the four resolutions failed. He said one concern some council members had was having enough oversight of how the money was allocated under the proposal to contract to the JLDC for administration, “We have three members on the JLDC board – myself, Councilwoman Ecklund and Councilman Russell, as well as JURA, we have representation. So anything over the $100,000 threshold would have come back to the City Council anyways for a vote. So I’m not so sure.. I mean the whole purpose of having council representation on any board or commissions is to have some oversight and a direct link to the City Council.”

In other business, a request home rule legislation from the state to put speed zone cameras in school zones will move forward.

An ordinance to establish a Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return (TNVR) program for feral cats in the city was approved in addition to a contract with the Chautauqua County Humane Society for $5,000 to run that program.

Council also approved a resolution to purchase 12 mobile data terminals for $40,000 for police vehicles and to purchase 75 service duty pistols for $9,643 using American Rescue Plan funds.

Jamestown City Council

The 17 resolutions fund a host of programs including business building and infrastructure improvements; marketing programs, an equipment and machinery upgrade program; workforce development programs, downtown programming fund, and a restaurant and retail program.

Council had previously discussed these programs at a special work session held in March at the Robert H. Jackson Center.

Council also will vote a second time to request home rule legislation from the state to put speed zone cameras in school zones.

Council’s previous request to the state in 2021 did not make it through committee in the State Legislature last year, so the city must make the request again during the new legislative session.

Council also will vote to enact an ordinance to establish a Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return (TNVR) program for feral cats in the city in addition to voting to contract with the Chautauqua County Humane Society for $5,000 to run that program.

A resolution to purchase 12 mobile data terminals for $40,000 for police vehicles and to purchase 75 service duty pistols for $9,643 using American Rescue Plan funds will be considered as well.

A work session will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Fourth Floor Police Training Room with the full voting session taking place at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed as well.

Chautauqua County Humane Society Executive Director Kellie Roberts spoke with WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley to explain more about how a proposed Trap, Neuter/Spay, Vaccinate, Return (TNVR) program for cats would work in the City of Jamestown.

Chautauqua County Human Society Executive Director Kellie Roberts presents to City Council Public Safety Committee

Jamestown City Council members learned more about a proposed program and ordinance to reduce the number of feral cats in the city.

Chautauqua County Humane Society‘s Executive Director Kellie Roberts presented on the Trap, Neuter, Vaccination, and Return; or TNVR, program. She said community cats are cats that are not owned, “So they may be feral, you know, not tamed cats, or they may be friendly cats that just don’t have a home. And we know that they are all around the city and some people are taking care of them right now. But we have been working on this ordinance to make it more official. That it’s okay to do that and what the rules are for that type of program.”

Roberts said the lack of veterinary services in the area made it hard to get the program going before, but were able to arrange surgery slots with Operation Pets in Blasdell, New York that only cost $25 per cat, “And the way that the program works, is that folks in the community who we call colony caregivers, you know they feed these cats, they take care of them, watch out for them, a lot of animals have been spayed and neutered on their own as it is already. So we want to help them and we want to let people know it’s okay to do that.”

Roberts said the Humane Society estimates the cost of the two-year pilot program to be $16,000 and has applied for grants from the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation to go toward that in addition to the proposed $5,000 from the City. The City’s funding is already in the 2022 budget. Roberts said while the pilot program will only take place in Jamestown, the Humane Society will continue to help cats found outside of the city at their Strunk Road location.

Public Safety Committee Chair Brent Sheldon said the program is a way to humanely reduce the number of stray cats in Jamestown, “And also to reduce the number of rabid animals. It’s very expensive. If you’re bitten by a stray cat, they cannot catch that cat to be treated for rabies, so that would be a cost savings there. Some of you may have seen that there was a rabid fox in Washington D.C. over the weekend that bit, I believe, nine people. So we’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had a lot of rabid animals in Chautauqua County but there are some programs out there that can help reduce those numbers.”

Council’s Finance and Public Safety Committees also approved two resolutions using American Rescue Plan funding to purchase 75 new service duty pistols in the amount of $9,643 and $40,000 to purchase mobile data terminals for 12 police vehicles.