Sunday, December 31, 2006
Cashing in on state grant opportunities benefits Kiryas Joel
This community's latest appeal for cash from one of its most reliable funding sources sounds perfectly reasonable at first.
What the village asked for — and got — from the Governor's Office for Small Cities was a $400,000 grant to replace 1,720 household water meters, said to be losing accuracy with age.
Its application hit all the right notes: shockingly low income levels; an explosive growth rate; a mandate from the state to conserve water. But did anyone at the state agency stop to wonder how replacing meters would help the village recover 160,000 gallons a day of "lost" water, as it was led to believe?
Every year since 2000, when New York opened the Small Cities office to ladle out community development block grants from the federal government, Kiryas Joel has sought a piece of the action, competing with hundreds of towns, villages, cities and counties around the state.
And every year, Kiryas Joel has come up a winner. All told, it has racked up nearly $3.9 million over seven years, the fifth highest total of 1,282 eligible communities.
There is no evidence that any money was outright misspent — as happened in 1989 and 1990, when Kiryas Joel diverted $100,000 in federal funds for a medical clinic to pay for a school swimming pool and a drainage pipe.
But a closer look at two of the Small Cities-funded projects — the water meters and a chicken slaughterhouse that opened in 2004 — raises questions about whether they have achieved, or could ever achieve, goals the village set in its applications.
It also provides a master class in creative grant-writing by a community famous for its success in that arena.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/NEWS/612310331
This community's latest appeal for cash from one of its most reliable funding sources sounds perfectly reasonable at first.
What the village asked for — and got — from the Governor's Office for Small Cities was a $400,000 grant to replace 1,720 household water meters, said to be losing accuracy with age.
Its application hit all the right notes: shockingly low income levels; an explosive growth rate; a mandate from the state to conserve water. But did anyone at the state agency stop to wonder how replacing meters would help the village recover 160,000 gallons a day of "lost" water, as it was led to believe?
Every year since 2000, when New York opened the Small Cities office to ladle out community development block grants from the federal government, Kiryas Joel has sought a piece of the action, competing with hundreds of towns, villages, cities and counties around the state.
And every year, Kiryas Joel has come up a winner. All told, it has racked up nearly $3.9 million over seven years, the fifth highest total of 1,282 eligible communities.
There is no evidence that any money was outright misspent — as happened in 1989 and 1990, when Kiryas Joel diverted $100,000 in federal funds for a medical clinic to pay for a school swimming pool and a drainage pipe.
But a closer look at two of the Small Cities-funded projects — the water meters and a chicken slaughterhouse that opened in 2004 — raises questions about whether they have achieved, or could ever achieve, goals the village set in its applications.
It also provides a master class in creative grant-writing by a community famous for its success in that arena.
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061231/NEWS/612310331
Comments:
IT IS A KNOWN FACT THE THE TIMES HERALD RECORD PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS ARE TOTALLY ANTI SEMITES. THEY WILL ALWAYS TRY TO PORTRAY K.J. AND ITS LEADERS AS WELL AS ITS INHABITANTS IN THE NEGATIVE.
I VISITED K.J. RECENTLY AND HAVE SEEN A MOST BEAUTIFUL WELL KEPT VILLAGE.
YES, THEY TRY TO GET THER MOST GRANTS THEY CAN GET BUT SO DOES THE VILLAGE OF MONROE OR OTHER NEARBY VILLAGES. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT K.J. USES THE MONEY TO BENEFIT IT'S PEOPLE TO THE UTMOST. THEY STRETCH EVERY DOLLAR. TRY TO GET TO WIN A BID ON ANY JOB THAT HAS TO BE DONE IN THE VILLAGE, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. THE VILLAGE IS RUN BY THE MOST HONORABLE PEOPLE. WITH THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE AND CHILDREN LIVING IN THE VILLAGE IT IS ALWAYS CLEAN AND WELL KEPT.
I VISITED K.J. RECENTLY AND HAVE SEEN A MOST BEAUTIFUL WELL KEPT VILLAGE.
YES, THEY TRY TO GET THER MOST GRANTS THEY CAN GET BUT SO DOES THE VILLAGE OF MONROE OR OTHER NEARBY VILLAGES. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT K.J. USES THE MONEY TO BENEFIT IT'S PEOPLE TO THE UTMOST. THEY STRETCH EVERY DOLLAR. TRY TO GET TO WIN A BID ON ANY JOB THAT HAS TO BE DONE IN THE VILLAGE, IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. THE VILLAGE IS RUN BY THE MOST HONORABLE PEOPLE. WITH THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE AND CHILDREN LIVING IN THE VILLAGE IT IS ALWAYS CLEAN AND WELL KEPT.
Comment Credit ---This article posted by 
: December 31, 2006 4:52 PM
: December 31, 2006 4:52 PM
You sound like a paid spokesperson for KJ. I didn't see anything negative in this article...
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Comment Credit ---This article posted by : December 31, 2006 6:39 PM
: December 31, 2006 6:39 PM
