The City of Logan is nearing approval of their community plan that includes improving sidewalks and public services.
Every five years, as a recipient of the Community Development Block Grant, the City of Logan formulates a five-year plan with community goals oriented toward low-to-moderate income residents. This year, Director of Community Development Mike DeSimone said the city is particularly focused on connectivity.
"If you've been around Logan, there are a lot of areas that lack sidewalks and accessibility and handicapped areas and things like that,” DeSimone said. “So, that is really the fundamental goal of the plan.”
Through the grant the city receives approximately $500,000 annually. DeSimone said the city chose connectivity because it offers enduring improvements that will reach far into the future.
“We take it for granted that in a lot of places we live I can walk out my door, I can walk on a sidewalk, walk down the street,” he said. “But we have a lot of neighborhoods, especially the older parts of town, that don’t have sidewalks. So, to get your kids safely to their friend's house or to the park, they got to go out in the street.”
The city has identified several locations where sidewalks can be improved. However, funding for these projects will not be released until the fall, at the end of construction season, so it may take a couple of years for them to be completed.
The city’s second priority with the grant is to provide funding for public facilities and services, such as the food bank or CAPSA. The grant will also cover the expenses for a new mural in Merlin Olsen Park featuring native wildlife.
"For us, it’s really an important project, an important grant, because it just helps a lot of different people,” DeSimone said.
The Logan Municipal Council will detail where the grant funds will go at their next regular meeting on Tuesday, May 21.
