Lynchburg City Council hears nonprofits’ pleas for money

By Alicia Petska
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: May 14, 2008

Lynchburg City Council was asked to put its neediest citizens first Tuesday as it prepares to divvy up its community development grant money.

“We’ve got to stop being stupid, and help the people that need the help,” city resident Mary Payne said during a public hearing Tuesday night.

Payne, a community advocate, was among 16 people who came forward to speak to the issue. The hearing stretched out for an hour as speakers made their cases for community programs and nonprofits they said would suffer or possibly face dissolution without more support.

“The only government funds we’ll receive for this program are these funds,” said Lisa Dibble, executive director of The Gateway, a transitional housing program. “I appeal to you to help us stay open and continue what we do. We need our CDBG funding.”

The city is deciding how to apportion just more than $1 million from the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which supports a variety of community revitalization efforts.

City Council previously decided to put a hold on one-third of that money, making this year’s funding unusually tight.

The money is being set aside in the event the Bluffwalk Center, a

downtown business, is unable to make approaching payments on a federal loan backed by the city. Last August, the city had to make a six-figure payment on the debt on behalf of the hotel and restaurant.

A handful of speakers Tuesday criticized council’s approach to the situation.

“No citizen should be denied needed services in order to help a corporation,” James Gafford, president of the local NAACP, said. “These funds are designed to help the community, not further the pockets of a few of us.”

The needs of more than half a dozen specific agencies and programs were raised during the hearing, including Amazement Square, the Jubilee Family Development Center and the Fifth Street corridor renovations.

The greatest support went to the Lynchburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which said it could not continue its blight abatement and rental housing rehabilitation programs without CDBG money. Five speakers advocated on behalf of those initiatives.

Council members did not offer any comments on the grant money following the hearing. Their deliberations are set to start during a work session May 27.