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The OBSERVER’s View

DUNKIRK: Necessary detour is about progress

Is closing a city street worth the investment? Absolutely when it comes to Dunkirk and the work being done by Wells Enterprises. Anyone who has been by the site in recent weeks can see the progress that is taking place as part of a $425 million effort at the plant. In the end, it is expected that 270 more jobs will be at the location. It will be a bit inconvenient for a while, however. Dunkirk Common Council is expected to take action to close a portion of Main Street while work continues. Randy Woodbury, Department of Public Works chief, sees no problem in that noting Wells will ...

NEW YORK STATE: Good reason for late budget

It won’t be long before we hear about all the problems caused by a late New York state budget. The budget itself is bad, increasing operational spending 11%, increasing some taxes and failing to deal with out-year structural budget gaps. Spending on education and Medicaid continues to balloon. Rather than rein in the governor, the state Senate and Assembly one-house budgets push spending even higher. That should be more than enough reason to hold up the budget, but this holdup isn’t about dollars and cents. It’s about policy that should have been dealt with outside the ...

DUNKIRK: City needs less talk, more action

Dunkirk is currently facing a $20.5 million budget gap, according to the New York state comptroller’s office. Unfortunately, that issue rarely comes up during the Common Council meetings. Talking points at the two monthly meetings, instead, focus on personalities, grievances or an elimination of a position. How’s that for a lack of priorities? But this is ultimately what got the city of Dunkirk into this position over the last five years. Never mind how much the city government was spending, make sure the theatrics at meetings grab some attention. What council can do, since it ...

NATION: Political influence affecting decisions

We are deeply concerned about the misrepresentations surrounding decisions by a federal judge, James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C. To be clear, Judge Boasberg has not ruled that criminal immigrants or violent immigrants cannot be deported. What Boasberg has ruled is that the executive branch must follow the practices already in place to provide evidence than an immigrant is a felon or a violent criminal to justify a deportation order. The right to due process is crucially important. The right to due process is not only about the rights of ...

COUNTY: Strategy for mergers becomes necessary

Two years ago, Chautauqua County chose not to make any changes to its County-Wide Shared Services Initiative. We disagreed with the decision at the time, in part because the need to find ways to streamline the provision of government services should never rest. We couldn’t agree more, then, with Wendel’s inclusion of further mergers, consolidations and shared services as part of his 2025 State of the County address. Wendel said as part of his 2026 budget he wants to build a financial resource and develop a strategy regarding local municipal mergers, consolidations and shared ...

COUNTY: Homeless effort is worth support

County officials have begun a new effort to better help families who find themselves homeless by better connecting the county’s mental hygiene and social services departments into a unified system. On any given day there are roughly 50 families in temporary housing. The Family-Centered Case Management Initiative is notified when a family enters temporary housing and connects them to support services. A team of case managers and senior caseworkers work directly with families placed in temporary housing. They assess each family’s needs in an effort to help the families become more ...