Grant application makes sense

Is this a stellar community?
We think so.
But it will be up to the folks in charge of the Stellar Communities grant program to make the final determination.
What we know for certain at this point is that the city of Portland has put together a credible, well-balanced, and well-targeted grant proposal for the Stellar Communities program.
The proposal, which is one of about a dozen being reviewed, targets a geographic section of Portland that historically has had the greatest need and has suffered from the greatest neglect. It’s an area bounded on the south by Votaw Street, on the north and west by Industrial Park Drive, and on the east by Wayne Street.
And the grant proposal goes after the nuts and bolts problems facing the neighborhood:
•The lack of adequate sewer infrastructure to prevent combined sewer overflows.
•Housing — including rental units — in need of rehabilitation and improvement.
•A lack of sidewalks in an area that has seen the elderly portion of its population grow.
The proposal goes after all of those problems.
It also includes improvements at Milton Miller Park and would add a bike and walking trail that would connect the neighborhood safely with Jay County Hospital and its campus of medical facilities, the Wal-mart Supercenter, and industrial employers.
In all, the investment in that section of Portland under the proposal would total more than $9 million.
About half of that would come in the form of a Stellar Communities grant. The rest — actually 51 percent — would come in the form of a local match, which is primarily comprised of the city’s bonding for the sewer separation project required under an order from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The sewer work is going to have to be done anyway.
The grant proposal simply puts that planned investment to use in order to leverage additional funds so that more can be accomplished.
It’s a smart approach.
One might even be tempted to call it “stellar.” — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]