I’m very anxious to hear the results of the annual Community Development Block Grants funding cycle. Each year local area businesses and nonprofits get a chance to propose their ideas for community improvement, better services, more access to sustainable living … all kinds of things including capital projects that make the community better.
The CDBG process, however, is fairly flawed. And though they try to fix some things that make U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) happy, they really do not make it easy for small business and nonprofits to carry out the city’s goals.
This is one time each year when we could do amazing things, but it is just another layer of bureaucracy to keep real people from getting the money earmarked for local people to develop local projects.
Tom McSorley lives in Normal Heights.