Paul working for you.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Community Development Block Grant
Massachusetts Community Development Block Grant is a federally funded competitve grant program designed to help small cities and towns meet a broad range of community development needs. Assistance is provided to qualifying cities and towns for housing, community and economical development projects that assist low and moderate income residents, or by revitalizing areas of slum or blight.
Eligible Applicants:
Municipalities with a population of under 50,000 that do not receive CDBG funds directly from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are eligible for CDBG funding. Communities may apply on behalf of a specific developer or proprty owner.
Eligible Activities:
Eligible CDBG projects include but not limited to housing rehabilitation or development, micro-enterprise, or other business assistance, infrastructure, community/public facilities, public social services, planning, removal of architectural barriers to allow access by persons with disabilities, and downtown, or area revitalization.
Can anyone say East Templeton School for a town hall and using this grant for the modifications to meet handicap access requirements along with improving the surounding neighborhood? Roads, improved side walks along with the increase of persons working or visiting a town hall at that site, lunch at JK Crossroads, coffee at Dunkin. The possibilities are out there and can come to be but we need people on the select board who will work for Templeton and not them selves.
I hope this above information accomplishes a few things; makes a little clearer what CDBG is about and why selectmen actually do have a part in how and where these funds are put to use and to the importance of the next town election in that it may keep a majority vote of the BOS moving in a positive direction rather than a backwards motion. This moving backwards by way of an election may have some people wondering how that could happen. Look no further than last years recall that proponents claimed was a move forward when all that happened was a trip to the past. History matters and what some people did in the past with regards to Templeton government can be a good indicator of what would come if....so remember history and decide if you want Templeton to keep moving forward or not. Please remember to call your state reps to let them know how you feel about chapter 90 funding. Thank you
Jeffrey Bennett
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Anyone interested in having a voice in how and where money is spent in improvement projects in Templeton, be sure to pay attention to the Templeton Master Plan Project. The Planning Board has held public meetings in conjunction with MRPC recently to gather input in creating a 20 yr. master plan for Templeton. We went to the last meeting held a couple of months ago and it was a great meeting. One of the areas that was at the top of the list of areas of concern is East Templeton--especially the intersection. So, there is movement towards focusing on this part of town. On the town's website there is a link on the main page to more documents regarding this project.
ReplyDeleteAlso with CDBG grants, there are public meetings held to gather input from the citizens and to seek direction for where to turn the focus next. I think the Town Hall project might be a good candidate for the grant as it will benefit the whole town. There are specific guidelines depending on what type of project you are seeking money for (which some do include income requirements when used for area revitalization or housing rehab). One of the former selectman never seemed to understand that part of the grant and kept trying to get grant money to fix Otter RIver Road (the road he lived on). But Otter River Road didn't meet the grant guidelines.
Of course selectmen can help support a project with this kind of grant money. But, if someone is really interested in seeing a certain project happen, there are opportunities to voice your opinion and get involved. There is a need for new people to serve on the CDBG committee as the Back Bay project comes to a close. It would be great if citizens from ET would join the committee and help lay the groundwork for the next big focus to be in the ET area. I think the majority of the town would support that. Just my opinion.