Jamestown City Council voting session (January 29, 2024)
Jamestown City Council has voted down a proposal to add bike lanes to East Second Street.
Under the proposal, parking on the southside of East Second Street between East Fourth Street and Tiffany Avenue would have been eliminated in order to install a bike lane with a shared bike lane on the northside of the street.
New York State is scheduled to reconstruct East Second Street in 2025 and the city had to act on whether to request the bike lanes as part of the construction planning process.
Several business owners and a resident spoke in opposition to the plan.
Denise Hutchinson, who has lived at 945 East Second Street for almost 24 years, said the addition of the bike lanes would restrict the area, “I don’t want to park four blocks from my house. I don’t believe that’s fair. You have many businesses on Second Street that would have a deficit if you were to change the parking including The Resource Center, Lena’s Pizza, Butera’s Towing, (Elite) Kreations.. many of them. It’s not just about the residents.”
Elite Kreations owner Robert Reedy, whose business is located on East Second Street, said the street is a “commercialized, busy street” and that adding bike lanes would make the street less safe, “What are we going to do about alternate parking in the wintertime when they snowplow? You’re going to park them on the wrong side of the road in the bike path where they’re not allowed to park in? It’s alternate parking. How’s the plows going to plow? I think it’s an insult to injury. I think it’s a bad idea and I think it needs to be addressed and thought about and really, really taken to the table before it’s voted on.”
Council member Brent Sheldon said he was against the proposal due to the hardship it would create for residents and the effect on businesses, “The Resource Center is a large employer who has a clinic down on Second Street. They would be losing a handicapped parking spot right in front of their business. They would be losing a drop-off area for their bus.”
Sheldon said while the Complete Streets initiative was cited as a reason to add the bike lanes on East Second Street, council also approved the Vision Zero Strategy plan in 2022, which is in an effort to reduce traffic deaths and injuries in Jamestown.
Under the plan, the city is supposed to use a health-based traffic strategy when designing streets and sidewalks and as well when performing street maintenance.
Council members Randy Daversa and Bill Reynolds spoke in favor of the plan, with Reynolds saying he trusts the City Department of Public Works and State Department of Transportation, “All have indicated that this project will slow traffic down and make the road safer. Yes, there’s an inconvenience and it’s going to take time to adjust for that inconvenience to be accepted. But, I don’t understand why we sit here and challenge what I would call authorities in the road structure business?”
The resolution failed In a vote of 3 to 6, with Councilmembers Randy Daversa, Joe Paterniti, and Bill Reynolds being the only yes votes.
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