Mayor Harry Tutunjian announced today his recommendations for the distribution of Community Development Block Grant funding, including $1.2 million towards reinvestment in South Troy and $165,942 towards the expansion of recreational facilities like Knickerbacker Pool and Frear Park.

The recommendations are part of the 2010 One Year Action Plan, up for vote before the City Council.

According to the Mayor's recommendations, it appears that this year's CDBG funding has increased by over $800,000 when compared to last year's CDBG recommendations. According to Deputy Director of Public Information Jeff Pirro, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development discovered internally last year that it was under-allocating funds to certain cities, like Troy, and as a result has given Troy more money this year to correct that.

Additionally, $250,000 of the extra money is a result of the city no longer having to make loan repayments to Vulcan Properties as part of the River Triangle Building Rehabilitation.

Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, released a statement in support of the investment in Knickerbacker Pool, saying "I support this plan with the understanding that our kids are our most important asset."

Below is the full list of recommendations released by Tutunjian. What do you think? Are there areas that could use more CDBG funding? How do you feel about the reinvestment in South Troy?

Project	Applicant	Amount
Planning and Administration		$410,000
CDBG Program Administration	City of Troy (Housing)	$400,000
Homelessness Management Information Systems	Corporation for AIDS Research, Education, and Services, Inc.	$10,000
Neighborhood Livibility		$750,000
Street Improvements (Street Paving)	City of Troy (DPW/Engineering)	$300,000
Code Enforcement	City of Troy (Code Enforcement)	$300,000
Elevator for Wheelchair access to 15-17 3rd Street	Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley	$50,000
Vacant Building Demolitions	City of Troy (Code Enforcement/Public Works)	$100,000
Recreation		$165,942
Refurbish Kncikerbacker Pool Locker Room & Bathrooms	Recreation Dept.	$20,000
Frear Park Pavilion Restroom	Recreation Dept.	$40,000
Frear Park Tennis Court Resurfacing	Recreation Dept.	$40,000
Frear Park Fountain Repair	Recreation Dept.	$30,000
City-wide Park Fencing	Recreation Dept.	$35,942
South Troy Area Reinvestment		$1,200,000
South Troy Reinvestment Target Area	City of Troy Enginnering/ Housing	$1,200,000
Decent Housing		$100,000
Homeowner Housing & Energy Improvement Program	City of Troy (Housing)	$100,000
Public Service		$180,000
After School Child Care and Summer Camp Scholarships	Troy Youth Association, Inc.	$25,000
School Age Child Care Program Scholarship Fund	Lansingburgh Boys & Girls Club	$25,000
After School Program & Teen Program	Troy Boys & Girls Club	$25,000
Roarke Connections	Roarke Center (Catholic Charities)	$20,000
Daycare for Working Poor Families	Catholic Charities: Sunnyside Child Dev.	$20,000
Ready for Work Program	YWCA	$15,000
Joseph's House & Shelter	Joseph's House	$30,000
Unity House Domestic Violence Career Development	Unity House of Troy	$20,000
Homelessness		$90,498
Domestic Violence Shelter Operating Expenses	Unity House of Troy	$24,998
TAUM Furniture Program	Troy Area United Ministries	$13,000
Joseph's House & Shelter	Joseph's House	$32,500
Women In Transition Program	YWCA	$20,000
HOME		$755,942
HOME Administration	City of Troy (Housing)	$70,915
HOME Homebuyer Incentive Program	City of Troy (Housing)	$100,000
HOME Homebuyer Incentive Program (South Troy)		$200,000
Making Homeownership A Reality	THDC-THA	$350,027
THDC CHDO Operating Expenses	THDC-THA	$35,000

The City Council voted Thursday to transfer $135,000 of Community Development Block Grant funding from city services such as street paving and vacant building demolition to a number of local neighborhood groups.

The groups and projects which will be funded include the following:

First Street Improvement Project (Think First Neighborhood) - $5,000
Mt. Ida Neighborhood Center Project (Mt. Ida Preservation) - $10,000
Second St. Sidewalk/Curbing Project (Burden Ironworks Neighborhood) - $20,000
South Troy Street Improvements (Burden Ironworks Neighborhood) - $20,000
Stow Ave. Streetscape Improvements (Stow Farm Neighborhood) - $35,000
Troy Little Italy Revitalization Project (Troy Little Italy) - $10,000
Two-Way Fourth Street Sidewalk/Curb (Burden Ironworks Neighborhood - $20,000
Woodside Block Improvements (Contemporary Artists Center) - $5,000
112th Street Bridge Gateway Park (North Lansingburgh Neighborhood) - $10,000

The council also moved $10,000 to both the YWCA's Ready for Work program and the Troy Public Library for installation of an elevator, along with $5,000 for the Italian Community Center's Westside Learning Center.

Councilman Mark Wojcik, R-District 1, made a motion to zero out all of the neighborhood funding and put the money back into city services because neighborhood projects are often left unfinished with organizers coming to the city looking for help.

Mayor Harry Tutunjian had also previously stated that he felt it was wrong to remove money from street improvements and put it into the council's own "pet pork projects."

"We reviewed the mayor's recommendations and found that many groups and neighborhoods were denied funding by the mayor," said Council President Clement Campana, D-At Large. "This is not acceptable considering CDBG money is geared specifically to low and moderate income neighborhoods most in need of assistance."

Members of the council's Democratic majority also touted how their increase of funding to rehab existing housing properties, from $356,000 to $396,000, would allow owner occupied homes for less money than was previously spent on building new structures.

Additionally, they discussed how neighborhoods were in true need of the money they received and that Tutunjian was wrong to refer to them as pork.

"It seems he (Tutunjian) has forgotten the purpose of the HUD program and the tens of thousands of dollars that he allocated to neighborhood groups during his tenure on the council," said Councilman Ken Zalewski, D-District 5. "While the mayor's priorities have shifted away from our struggling neighborhoods, this council will remain steadfast in its continued support for Troy's neighborhood groups."

Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, issued a statement Friday saying that he was outraged by the majority's actions during their regular meeting and that it was inferred that the head no intentions on funding Lansingburgh projecs in the future.

"Council President Campana sits on the board of the CYO, and openly campaigns for funneling money into that program at the expense of others," said McGrath. "Meanwhile the Lansingburgh Boys and Girls Club is going to suffer in the future because of its location. There are members of this City Council that forget those of us in Lansingburgh are part of Troy as well.

McGrath also criticized the council for finalizing their changes only an hour before the council meeting and not allowing the public to have ample time to respond or comment on the alterations.

Three public focus groups have been scheduled centered on the city’s preparation of its 2010-2014 Consolidated Plan.

The plan, which will describe the city’s five-year goals and objectives for the use of federal grant money, must be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this year.

The money applied for each year includes Community Development Block Grants, HOME Investment Partnership funding, and Emergency Shelter Grant funds.

The plan is also the first step in a process Mayor Harry Tutunjian announced earlier this year to steer more than $6 million in CDBG funding toward improvements in the south Troy and North Central neighborhoods.

The meetings will be held April 29 at the Polish American Club, located at 507 First St., May 6 at the North Central police substation, located at 3100 Sixth Ave., and May 20 at the Lansingburgh Boys and Girls Club, located at 505 Fourth Ave. All of the meetings will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Residents with any questions can contact Timothy Mattice in the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development at 270-4476.

After reading in The Record that there was a possibility that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may ask the city to reimburse it's CDBG account with $469,616 by the end of April, City Council President Clement Campana said Wednesday that he had decided to call a special meeting of the City Council to meet with Mayor Harry Tutunjian to discuss the matter next week after a regularly scheduled meeting of the council Finance Committee.

Upon learning about the meeting Campana had scheduled, Tutunjian issued a statement asking for the council to call a separate special meeting to discuss the proposed sale of the River Triangle and Dauchy buildings, which the council compelled the mayor to sign off on in September and is current the subject of litigation.

“Only the members of this City Council would show great concern for $475,000, and totally ignore $8 million,” Tutunjian said. “Their New Year’s resolution must have been to remain consistent, as they continue to govern by ‘gotcha politics’ while showing no regard for my administration and the difficult decisions we make each day.”

Campana said that while the issues did need to be discussed, Tutunjian had only called for the meeting because he had already scheduled one to discuss CDBG spending.

“The meeting is obviously just his reaction to the block grant issue,” said Campana. “There has been no decision on the River Triangle sale and he (Tutunjian) had a chance to veto the legislation and he didn’t. That’s a fact.”

The special meeting to discuss the city's CDBG issues will take place Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.
A time and date has not yet been set for the River Triangle meeting.