The Jamestown City Council has approved applying to New York state for $200,000 to support it's ongoing efforts to eliminate zombie houses in the city.....
City Development Director Vince DeJoy says the effort received $150,000 two years ago to help bring on legal support to help residents dealing with the foreclosure process. DeJoy says the grant would be for another two-year cycle.
Zombie houses are those that are left vacant and abandoned and, are not maintained during a prolonged foreclosure proceeding. DeJoy says the key is helping people stay in their homes through the foreclosure process and, he says having the legal help on staff is very helpful. He says Attorney Ben Haskins has been on staff to help deal not only with Zombie properties, but, other code enforcement matters. DeJoy says the first $150,000 grant from the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative program went toward addressing the issue by boosting the city's ability to enforce it's housing code, tracking and monitoring vacant properties and for legal help to ensure banks and mortgage companies comply with local and state law.
The city will have a new Director of Financial Services -- and City Clerk -- next week.....
The city council last night accepted the resignation of current director Todd Thomas, effective this Friday. Thomas will be moving onto a new position with the Chautauqua County Attorney's office. Lawmakers approved the appointment of retired Clerk, James Olson, to fill out the remaining 10 months of the year. With Mayor Sam Teresi not running for re-election, whoever the new mayor is, they would appoint a new financial services director/city clerk. More on this story later.
Two people have died in a weekend structure fire that heavily-damaged a mobile home in the Cattaraugus County town of Cold Spring.....
Sheriff's officers in Little Valley say they received a 9-1-1 call reporting the blaze last Saturday... and, firefighters found the structure fully-engulfed in flames on arrival at 9192 Sawmill Run Road. During the investigation, officials found the two victims inside the home. Deputies say foul play is not suspected, but add the fire remains under investigation by the Cattaraugus County Fire Investigation Team. The victims names will be released once official identificatino has been made, and family members have been notified.
Several fire crews from across northern Chautauqua and Erie counties were busy battling a fire that destroyed a home in Sunset Bay early Sunday morning....
Crews from Sunset Bay, Silver Creek, Evans Center, Sheridan, Forestville, Fredonia, East Dunkirk, Farnham, and Angola responded to the blaze at 936 Erie Street shortly after 4:30 AM. Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello went to the scene and says four adults and a baby got out safely, but a pet cat perished. The flames also spread to two neighboring houses, but Borrello says firefighters were able to save those two houses. No injuries were reported. The County's Fire Investigation Team is looking into the cause.
There's been no official assessment of damage in Chautauqua County from the wind and snow storm of the past day or so, but Executive George Borrello says the area faired much better than Erie County did....
Borrello says it may be a couple of days before they make a determination on the amount of property damage from the fierce winds. He says most of the damage reported was along the Lake Erie shoreline. Dunkirk city firefighters found the roof of a two-story commercial building had blown off of the building at 3 West Talcott Street around 3 PM Sunday. However, no injuries were reported. While fire crews were standing by, the west wall of the structure also collapsed. A contracting crew was called in along with National Grid.
A Pennsylvania man was killed in a two-vehicle accident -- involving a dump truck -- last Saturday in the Town of Ellery.....
State Police in Jamestown responded to the colllison on County Route 380 and 66 and learned 50 year-old Victor Luce, junior was traveling west on Route 66 when he reportedly failed to stop at the stop sign. Troopers say the Reading man's Honda was struck by a 1997 model dump truck traveling north on 380. The Chautauqua County Coroner pronounced Luce deceased at the scene. Troopers were assisted in the investigation by the Collision Reconstruction Unit and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
