JAMESTOWN – Jamestown Veterans Memorial Park will see an expansion, thanks to some newly announced state aid.
On Friday Senator Catharine Young (R-Olean) was joined by several other city officials to announce $100,000 in state funding to assist with the cost of renovations for to the park, which is located between West Third St., Logan Ave., and Harding Ave. It currently features a cement path and flagpole memorializing the service members from Jamestown who perished while at war.
In June 2011, the city and the Veterans Memorial Commission worked to relocate the park from in front of the high school on East Third St. to its new location on West Third St. The project was spearheaded by Ron Cotton, a U.S. Navy veteran and former Sergeant with the Jamestown Police Department. Mr. Cotton served as the Chairman for the Veterans Memorial Commission Relocation Fund, devoting the last four years of his life, until his passing in 2015, to help establish Logan Park as Veterans Memorial Park. Through the generous assistance of approximately 130 local organizations, businesses and individual contributors, over $300,000 has been raised to develop and build the Chautauqua County Veterans Memorial.
As a result of the $100,000 grant secured by Senator Young, the city will undertake several renovation projects for Veterans Memorial Park. A new nine-car parking lot will be added and granite curbing will be installed. A five-foot sidewalk, a gazebo with benches and picnic tables will be added to provide people a place to sit and reflect. Two park signs will also be installed. The six historic monuments currently located in old Veterans Park will be relocated, and set in a stamped concrete base, with landscaping added to accentuate the memorials.
A park is nice but Veterans in Chautauqua County have inadequate health care. My husband has suffered from the lack of medical expertise at local VA facility. Perhaps this money would have been better spent for things veterans need such as doctors who are competent; transportation to and from VA facility in Chautauqua County etc. Parks do not help veterans who are suffering physically & emotionally.