It was a proud moment this morning when the very first NSP2 home dedication was held at 524 South E Street, Lake Worth. As I did not stay for the actual dedication, there were a lot of people there for this re-habilitation event: State Rep. Jeff Clemens, PB County Commissioner Shelley Vana, Commissioners Jo-Ann Golden and Scott Maxwell, Aide to Alcee Hastings, Dan Liftman, CRA employees Mike McManaman, Grant Program Administrator and Director Joan Olivia as well as Cary Sabol, Chair of the Community Redevelopment Agency Board.
As you all know, the CRA applied for a $23.2 million grant from HUD in January 2010. This funding is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. In conjunction with Adopt-A-Family and Habitat of Humanity, 524 S. E Street was targeted for rehab and now sold to the Michael Phillips family.
Any idea on why Golden would be there? She was so against the CRA obtaining the grant if seems a little hypocritical for her to attend.
ReplyDeleteMy bad she's campaigning.
It is just wonderful to see the Neighborhood Stabilization Program portray itself as such as huge success, problem I have with it is that it was accomplished by taxpayer dollars that came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that was a complete waste of money. Can we at least hope that LW picked up the tab for its “pat themselves on the back celebration’ today, or was that on stimulus dollars also? It is little surprise to anyone that this country is going broke, if LW wants to stabilize their neighborhoods pay for it themselves don’t ask the general public to subsidize this fiasco.
ReplyDeleteTo Anon @12:56 - I would challenge you to go meet this family in person, hear their story, meet their children, and then tell us all what a waste of money this program is. Regardless of whether you agree with the NSP program itself, it was funded by the Fed. Gov. and we in LW are lucky to have that money invested back into our City instead of somewhere else. In fact, the next round of Federal community stabilization programs are in the works and the CRA should do everything they can be awarded that grant too. Don't be such a sour puss and just admit that something is going great around here. I promise it will only hurt a little bit as some positivity rolls off your tongue. But once you get used to it, it doesn't taste so bad. Peace my friend.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to the Phillips Family on their new home and I personally hope that this home becomes a place of family and tradition for many years and generations to come.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless this family and a huge thanks to all the people who worked very hard to make this happen!
Great work for a great city and looking forward to many more events just like this! One house at a time we are moving forward as a city and improving our neighborhoods at the same time.
Best wishes to the Phillips Family!
Sincerely,
Robert Waples
Also to anon @ 2:56,
ReplyDeleteI too am conflicted on using our children's and grand-children's future to pay for what may appear to be near term improvements.
The fact is that we were awarded a huge amount of money based on how much good we could leverage and make the biggest impact in an area that really needs it. We won over hundreds of other applicants and received more money to be used in such a small area that almost any other applicant.
Our NSP2 program is being shown all over the country as an example of how to best use these funds to benefit the most families of modest means.
It is because of my concern for making sure these funds are used for the benefit of Lake Worth, instead of another community somewhere else in the state or country, that I applied for and hopefully why I was appointed to the CRA. It is my ambition to make the most of the funds and most importantly, make sure they are All expended here in Lake Worth. All $23+ Million!
There are deadlines for the CRA to have spent the money. One such deadline is in February requiring 1/2 of the $23+ Million to have been spent, not committed, not obligated, not planned.... spent!
The CRA Staff is working with all departments in the city, and there are many, to get this accomplished. Planning and Zoning must approve and recommend some of the projects to the Commission. Properties need legal work to clear titles of liens and other encumbrances. Permit applications must be reviewed and approved for permits and contractors have to be lined up, competitive bids received and executed. It takes time to just get the old structure demolished so that we can start on a new house. If we don't use the money, it doesn't go back into the treasury.... it goes to another community. It needs to stay here.
AND we have to find qualified families who have also been affected by this economy to apply for and get approved for the housing.
Today was a remarkable milestone! Congratulations to the Phillips Family. Thank you to Mr. Phillips for your service to our country.
This is the FIRST ribbon cutting of up to 130.
Thank you to the Commission and Mayor for voicing your support for this project and helping to keep the progress going. The amount of teamwork needed to make this work is extraordinary.
I hope to do my part. If we are spending our kid's and grand kid's money, I want to make sure we are giving them the biggest bang for their buck.
Your comments and ideas are always welcome.
Chip Guthrie
New member of Lake Worth CRA
bguthrie@lakeworthcra.org
I too was at the Ribbon Cutting today. What a great new family to have in our City. Not only did they do the manadatory 300 sweat equity hours required by Habitat in the building of their own home but they also did an additional 200hrs helping on other families homes as well.Hud recently reviewed the CRA's use of funds and the review was excellent. The CRA staff is doing an excellent job of using the funds in a correct and accountable way.As a new member to the CRA Board as well and the Vice Chair I hope to continue this legacy of using every dime awarded to us to bring more families like the Phillips to Lake Worth. They are the real jewels of this program.
ReplyDeleteTo let everyone know, Mayor Waterman WAS at this event. I had left prior to her arrival.
ReplyDeleteMayor Waterman was there, in case you missed her.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Golden being there just to campaign, if she were not there wouldn't she be showing disrespect to part of the city she helps govern? Better to go and join in than stay mad that something she had encouraged caution on had succeeded.
Sam Goodstein
Jo-Ann has never been mad at the NSP2 grant or any of its success, quite the contrary.
ReplyDelete