The closing of the local Carriage House facilities has been in the forefront of local area woes for more than two years. In September 2012, Tom Dickerson, president of Chapter 266 NCFO/SEIU32BJ, the union which serves workers at the local Carriage House facilities, alerted local officials and the community of what he called a "dark cloud" which "looms over the economic future of the Dunkirk-Fredonia area and Chautauqua County."