Neighborhood Development Allocations

The July Plain Press releases some of the information on Neighborhood Development Allocations made by Councilman Cummins and others with regards to Ward 14.  Please pick up a copy of the Plain Press [1] at your local library--the pdf will also be available soon.

Meanwhile, of the $450,000 available to Ward 14--Councilman Cummins has alloted $365,000 to these organizations:

$260,000 to Detroit Shoreway Development Corporation for start-up satellite office in Ward 14 (with a manager and four staff persons).
$100, 000 to Tremont West Development Corporation
$5,000 to Ohio City Near West Development Corporation

The article mentions a new model plan (do residents get to see it?) that will provide services to Ward 14--Councilman Cummins rejected the proposal presented by Stockyards in favor of this model plan, because the commitment to Detroit Shoreway leverages additional funding from Councilman Matt Zone $90,000 and Councilman Westbrook $15,000 and Neighborhood Progress Inc $40,000--for a grand budget of $405,000 allocated to a new service agency in Ward 14.

The article mentions that additional services will be provided by Tremont West $100,000 (down from $120,000 provided by Councilman Cummins last year for "various services") and to Ohio City Development Corporation $5,000.

After monies are allocated to salaries for the employees of this new service agency--what will be left for actual project development and what services can we expect to see provided in our neighborhood? 

What are we getting for our money?  Where are the deliverables for monies that have already been spent? [2]

Councilman Cummins seems to have a fixation on demolitions as a service--this does not bode well for our community.  Quoted from the article: [3]

"In addition to his concerns about process, Cummins felt that systems in place at Detroit Shoreway would allow the service area to attract additional dollars and services.  He noted that with over 800 vacant and abandoned properties in the old Ward 14 last year, only 59 were demolished.  He said in contrast, in Anthony Brancatelli's Ward, which includes the Slavic Village, there were 11,000 vacant and abandoned houses and 259 were demolished last year.  Cummins said this difference in services provided represents $1.2 to $1.6 million in funding not being spent in the neighborhood."