Jamestown Justice Coalition Director Justin Hubbard shares community priorities with Jamestown City Council (January 26, 2026)
The Jamestown Justice Coalition presented a list of items citizens wants to see City Government and City Council focus on over the next year.
Coalition Director Justin Hubbard presented the list to Council at their voting session Monday night. He said three priorities were developed based on suggestions posted on a discussion post by the Jamestown Justice Coalition on Facebook, “Number one, of course, was housing. Here, we’re looking for quality, affordability and accountability. This was easily the number one area of feedback was frustration with this. People are very angry about slum lords, unsafe units, abandoned buildings, rising rent costs. Homeowners believe that these are actually lowering their housing values as well.”
Hubbard said the suggested actions include establishing maximum response timelines for housing complaints, creating a priority tier system for violations involving heat, water and mold, electric hazards, structural safety; requiring annual safety inspections for all rental properties, creating a landlord licensing program which includes a license required to operate rental units in city; incentives to keep landlords local, establishing a repeat offender registry, and creating a limit on the number of rental properties owned by a single entity.
The second priority Hubbard said was submitted was, “knowledge, dignity and respect for residents experiencing homelessness.” He said suggested actions include the city partnering with agencies already working with those who are homeless, “So, establishing formal city partnerships and framework with organizations such as the UCAN City Mission, Chautauqua Opportunities, YWCA, Saint Susan Center, Conduit ministries and others; providing support and awareness for neighborhood pantries operated by city residents for which we have a number of and overall, treating city residents that are experiencing homelessness with dignity and respect, remembering that these are residents of Jamestown. These are our neighbors.”
Click to access JJC-City-Council-Recommendations-2026.docx.pdf
The third priority presented to Council by the Jamestown Justice Coalition was government outreach, transparency, communication, and accountability. Hubbard said people want to know what local government is doing, “They want to know why decisions are being made and how to participate. City government should be working towards removing these barriers to entry. So some of the suggestions for that are reestablishing the Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission; restoring and creating new commissions; if possible, such as the Housing Advisory (Committee), a Youth Advisory Committee, Small Business (committee), the Human Rights Commission, and perhaps having citizens involved with the hiring of a new police chief.”
Hubbard said other suggestions include social media pages for elected officials, tabling by officials at festivals, regular town hall events, and elected officials going door to door to communicate with constituents.
He added that the list would be sent to all Council members and the Mayor’s office.
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