CITY GRANTS CAN FINANCE NEIGHBORHOOD FACE LIFT
Byline: By Ryan Konig, Staff writer
Residents now have another way to improve their neighborhood beyond mowing the lawn --
they can apply for new city grants to buy street lights and playground equipment.
The grants come from the city's recent sales tax increase expected to raise more than $340,000 from July to December for neighborhood improvements.
City Hall recently approved a program in which neighborhoods can apply for the money.
Application forms are available by calling Phoenix police Sgt. Rick Switzer at 262-7399. The deadline is June 27.
Switzer said the program allows neighborhoods to design projects they think are most needed for their neighborhoods.
Nancy Schneider, a north-central Phoenix resident, said the program will help neighborhoods to solve problems of increasing crime, delinquency and decay.
The funding comes from Proposition 301, which was approved last year by voters. It raised the city sales tax by one-tenth of a percent.
The increase is expected to raise more than $12 million a year. Five percent is to be used for neighborhood improvements.
Richard Fox, a central Phoenix resident who helped create Proposition 301, also helped design the neighborhood grant program.
''The goal is to get the money for neighborhood improvements directly into the hands of the true experts -- the people who live in the neighborhoods,'' Fox said.
The money, up to $10,000 per neighborhood, can be used for any program that is crime-prevention oriented.
''That can mean anything from paving a neighborhood basketball court, creating a neighborhood newsletter to promote Block Watch, to keeping schools open after hours for youth programs,'' Fox said.
Chart
Improvement grants
City Hall is holding public meetings to show residents how they can apply for grants of up
to $10,000 to pay for neighborhood improvements.
--> 7 p.m. today, Madison Heights Elementary School, 7150 N. 22nd St.
--> 6:30 p.m. Monday Los Olivos Senior Center, 2802 E. Devonshire Ave.
--> 7:30 p.m. May 25, Mountain Sky Junior High, 16225 N. Seventh Ave.
--> 6:30 p.m. May 26, Paradise Valley Community Center, 17402 N. 40th St.
--> 10 a.m. May 28, Shadow Mountain High School, 2902 E. Shea Blvd.