"Smart growth" is a phrase that is often used in conjunction with urban economic development strategies, but rarely do we see it defined. Smart growth is more than just a buzz word! The New York State Regional Economic Development Council, the primary funding agency...
Huge shadows cast by a growing forest of skyscrapers. Overcrowded tenements next to smoke-belching factories. Garment sweatshops encroaching on the mansions of millionaires. These and other pressures led to the adoption of America’s first citywide zoning...
"Will the last person leaving town please turn out the lights." Variations of this phrase have been uttered in Jamestown and many other cities during economic downtimes. Real estate agents in Seattle even paid for billboards with this message in 1971 when that city...
Good news arrived for Chautauqua County's neighborhoods and Main streets this month when Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that his office will grant the Chautauqua County Land Bank another $1.3 million to battle vacancy and blight. This brings the Attorney...
New signage went up earlier this month at Holmlund's Wallpaper & Paint, right next to the North Main Street viaduct. The sign caps off a complete overhaul of the building's exterior by owner Andy Jochum. It also caps off the polishing of the entire city block...
By Frank Besse Do you have a great idea for a new business in Jamestown? A bookstore? A spice emporium? A zip line across the Chadakoin River? Consider unleashing your idea this fall at the Pearl City Small Business Pitch Fest, a new event from the Jamestown...
The recent decision by Con Agra to shut down its Carriage House plants in Dunkirk and Fredonia, resulting in the loss of over 400 local jobs, reveals once again how decisions made in distant places can have a significant impact on the local economy. But what can be...
In 2012, a group of citizens in Oswego, NY, decided to do something about the disinvestment that was steadily eroding stable neighborhoods in that city of 18,000 on Lake Ontario. As they explored their options, they came across some information about Jamestown. They...
How can downtowns compete with suburban shopping centers and their acres of free parking? Provide the same. Just remove parking meters and make way for an influx of retailers and customers. At least that was the conventional wisdom for many years. But it hasn’t...
Next month, almost 91 years to the day after opening as Jamestown's grandest movie house, the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts will be showing its last film. Not its last movie, but its last movie on actual film, as it makes the conversion to the Digital Age. Over the...