Minutes 04/19/1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ADril 19, 1994 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The City receives annually about $2 million from the Federal Government as a Community Development Block Grant entitlement. The principal purpose of these funds is to assist cities in carrying out activities which benefit low and moderate income persons or which address slums or blight. Within these broad ~uidelines, there are many activities which are eligible for the use of CD funds. For many years, most of the funds have been used by the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority to carry out assemblage of property for ultimate sale to a developer in order to provide jobs for low and moderate income persons. It has also been used to expand the City's-tax base by returning unproductive real estate to the tax rolls. These activities should continue, and I will be making appropriate recommendations in that regard for the 1995 CD program. However, the flexibility-of the regulations offers.an opportunity to do a variety of things using CD funds. Accordingly, I am recommending the use of $800,000 from the CD program. The necessary public hearings and application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development will be scheduled at a later date. Of the $800,000, $400,000 will be used to provide street paving in low and moderate income areas of Portsmouth. In addition, $300,000 will be provided for codes enforcement in the same areas, and $100,000 will be, provided for public services through the Department of Leisure Services, again in the same low and moderate income areas. These services may include playground improvements and programs for youth, another effective alternative to "hanging in the street." The code enforcement activities, together with the public improvements and services, are part of an overall, concentrated program which is intended to reverse decline in these areas. LEISURE SERVICES For several years, this City has planned for the new Children's Museum of Virginia, and in December our waiting will be over when this exciting facility opens to the public. That event will be the culmination of a cooperative effort in which a public c~mpaign raised about half the required capital funds. We were also fortunate with the assistance of our General Assembly delegation to receive two special grants from the Commonwealth of Virginia. When the Museum opens, an expanded staff and operating budget will be required. Accordingly, $70,000 is included in the recommended budget for increased operational costs from December until the end of the fiscal year in June. It is the City's intent to operate the Children's Museum as a first rate, superior facility. With the inauguration of the new Museum, the City will have an opportunity to re-examine its cultural focus. I am recommending that the Arts Center program be discontinued and that resources of the Museum Department be reallocated so that the Children's Museum can receive the staffing it needs. This action will allow us to concentrate our endeavors on Portsmouth's specialized niche, which consists of two primary elements. First, the Children's Museum will be one of the finest such institutions in the nation, and second, the Lightship and Naval Shipyard Museums will continue to enlighten visitors and residents on the rich naval history which is Portsmouth's.