Show support for grant (12/14/04)

Do these show-of-support meetings in connection with grant applications make sense?

The experts think so, and they can point to numerous cases where public support for an idea helped push a proposal over the top with the folks in state government responsible to handing out federal funds.

That’s why it’s important to have a good turnout Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for a hearing at the Portland city council chambers in new city fire station on North Franklin Street.

John Jay Center for Learning has acquired the Weiler Building — the anchor of Portland’s downtown — and plans to restore the vintage structure as its new home.

It’s a project which combines historic preservation, urban renewal, and the elimination of blight with continuing education and workforce development. It’s tough to imagine a stronger application than one which hits all of those chords.

But without public support, John Jay’s application for $500,000 from the Indiana Department of Commerce will have a hard time competing. The money is needed to help secure the building so that further deterioration doesn’t occur while plans for the building’s restoration and development are put together.

When the building was in private hands, one potential buyer removed the soggy, overloaded asphalt roofing material. But a new roof wasn’t put in its place, and water has been “wicking” through the building’s concrete ever since.

While architectural plans are finalized, funds for the restoration are raised, and contractors lined up, it’s imperative to protect the building. In other words, there’s an urgency to short-term needs while long-term solutions are worked out.

If you care about the Weiler Building, if you care about downtown Portland, and if you share the vision of what John Jay Center for Learning is bringing to the quality of local life, then be at Thursday’s hearing. — J.R.

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