"Stimulating" your city

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office says more than $1.19 billion in federal stimulus funds

have been committed to initiatives in Connecticut.

The Tribuna reached out to the administration of three Connecticut cites and asked them how "stimulated" they have been by the federal funding.

Community building "blocks" for Waterbury

From the state's share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), millions will be allocated to the City of Waterbury for an array of projects.

"There was a big allocation that will certainly improve the quality of life of our communities as whole, but we have not received a lot of the actual funds yet," said Steve Gambini, Director of Operations for the City of Waterbury.

Part of the ARRA grant (stimulus) funding that will be heading to Waterbury includes $8,101,919 for Title I Education grants (financial assistance to local education agencies and schools with high numbers of poor children to ensure that all children meet state academic standards), more than $1 million for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, $429,942 for Justice Assistance Grants (allows states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system), $1,698,361 for Public Housing Capital Funds, $931,128 for the Homelessness Prevention Fund and $608,548 for the Community Development Block Grant (run by U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development to provide communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs).

"I have to say the block grant is a piece of the benefit we have received from ARRA that we are very excited about," said Gambini.

Jesus Diaz was the owner of CTown Supermarket at 91 Cooke Street in Waterbury. In March of 2007, the supermarket was destroyed by fire. The former C-town Supermarket was the heart of the residential neighborhood and served as the only large grocery store in the largely Hispanic/African- American neighborhood. "The loss of the market had a profound impact on residents who had greatly relied on the supermarket for their needs and were able to access the market by foot, since many local residents do not have automobiles," explained Gambini

It is Mr. Diaz' intention to rebuild the Supermarket on the same site. Although he owns the property, when the market burned down, he was underinsured and the current economic environment made him ineligible for conventional financing to rebuild. CDBG-R support in the amount of $350,000 will allow him to rebuild the store.

The parcel of land consists of 3 acres, of which 1.5 acres would be used for the supermarket. The remaining 1.5 acres would be used for additional neighborhood retail development in the future.

"The project is ready to go to bid as soon as the last financing piece is in place. This is a shovel-ready project that will rebuild a corner-stone of the neighborhood and create many jobs in our community," Gambini added.

Safety first in Bridgeport

In Bridgeport, grants to insure the city's safety were the highlight of the city stimulus package.

Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) and Mayor Bill Finch secured over $4.8 million in grants to hire or retain 20 law enforcement officers in Bridgeport under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), through the federal agency's COPS Hiring Recovery Program, will administer the grants.

It will provide 100 percent of the approved salary and benefits for entry-level officer positions over a three-year period. Police departments receiving the grants will then be required to retain the grant funded positions for a fourth year.

The COPS program gives local governments a much needed boost in their efforts to keep our communities safe and encourage development to turn our economy around and create jobs," said Congressman Himes. "This Recovery Act grant is even more important as tough economic times squeeze local police budgets and drive crime rates higher."Earlier this year, Congress passed the COPS Improvements Act, which restores the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program and provides funding for approximately 85 new police officers throughout Southwestern Connecticut. The bill provides grants for local governments to hire law enforcement officials.

"Public safety is our No. 1 concern and this funding will help us recruit, train and hire 20 new officers, which will enable us to expand our City's community policing efforts," said Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch.

The road to economic

recovery for Danbury

The Danbury area will receive about $9.8 million from the national stimulus package for transit-related projects. "Transit projects are an excellent investment in Danbury's economic future," said U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District. "In the short term, this news will put people back to work. In the long term, fixing aging infrastructure will provide for a more reliable and sustainable transit system."

Mayor Mark Boughton said as part of a separate pool of stimulus money, the city would receive a significant share of about $7 million that is being funneled through the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, the regional transportation planning authority, for roadwork projects.

"We excited about the potential for the dollars, but the frustration has been that we have not seen any money," said the Mayor.

Boughton said that if the money was supposed to arrive in time to get the economy jump started, unfortunately, the state government has missed their cue. Construction season has ended and there is not much that can be accomplished in the fall and winter months, the time slated for the city to see a check, he explained.

"The idea behind the stimulus package was to put people to work by investing in infrastructure. We need the funding so that we can hire the contractors so that they can people. I want to people to work, that is what the President wants us to; that is what the stimulus was for," concluded Boughton.

Want to know more about how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars are being spent in our state? Visit http://www.ct.gov/RECOVERY/ site/ for further details.