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The OBSERVER’s View

The OBSERVER’s View: Rising numbers add concerns over homeless

Since a crisis put Jamestown in a statewide spotlight in the summer of 2024, homelessness has become a major issue in Chautauqua County. A website poll finds that readers are in agreement. Last week’s question, “Are you concerned about the homeless problem in Chautauqua County?” found 64% of the 462 who answered said yes while 36% said no. This month, the issue came up during the county Human Services Committee meeting. There, legislators learned a portion of the Clarion Pointe Hotel, formerly known as the Comfort Inn on Route 60 just outside of Jamestown, that houses ...

The OBSERVER’s View: No derailing county wage hike train

We still struggle to justify automatic pay raises each year for Chautauqua County lawmakers — though judging from last week’s vote Republican lawmakers have no such struggle. In 2024, the county legislature voted to increase the base salary of individual legislators from $9,000 to $14,732, an increase of about 64%. It was the first pay hike in about 20 years. It’s a failing of the legislature that, in our opinion, they’re overcorrecting with the automatic pay raises now. The only reason the legislature didn’t get a raise over the course of 20 years is that the body didn’t ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Once again, merger ideas take time

On its own, it’s not the biggest news that the towns of Ellington and Charlotte are looking to merge courts and share one judge. In 2021, the towns of Sherman, Mina, French Creek and Clymer merged their courts to a single operation. That was followed by the towns of Harmony and North Harmony court merger that took effect Jan. 1, 2025. These mergers are a logical reaction to the county’s declining population and the resulting decrease in rural court caseloads. There is no good reason why Ellington and Charlotte should not move forward with a formal court merger since they ...

Council’s response bolsters mayor’s points

Nick Weiser, councilman at-large, is the sharpest on Dunkirk’s legislative board. After coming aboard in 2024 — right as the fiscal crisis was beginning — he was the first council leader to scrutinize the budget, even helping other council members who had served numerous terms understand it. So it made sense that he issued the press release last week after city Mayor Kate Wdowiasz said she would no longer be attending council meetings in the future. Both Frank Torain and Gary Frederickson are still learning the ropes in their first five months while Michael Civiletto is still ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Region has a dislike for data centers

Take a drive through Brocton-Portland and there are signs of discontent. It stems from the announcement earlier this spring that a possible data center was looking at the former Sugar Hill golf course on Route 5. That opposition also is evident in last week’s observertoday.com poll: Are you concerned about data centers in Chautauqua County? Final results show 503 as being “yes” votes with another 270 in the “no” category. Our region, however, is not alone. Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including ...

The OBSERVER’s View: City’s piddly action in midst of firestorm

As has been well documented for more than two years, the city of Dunkirk is facing real troubles. Finances are in shambles. Morale, of course, is at all time lows in City Hall. How is the Common Council responding to the big problems through the first five months of the year? It does not. Instead, it takes on another meaningless issue. It creates a resolution — that it approved — that would not allow the public to be served with paperwork during a council meeting. “The service of legal papers upon individuals during the course of a public meeting may create a chilling effect ...