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If you drive through Beman Park and Congress Street neighborhoods,
you will notice some very positive changes. And it has
just begun. The neighborhoods were recipients of a N.I.C.E.
(Neighborhood Improvement through Code Enforcement) grant
provided by CDBG money for 2003-2004. This provided for
a Troy Code Enforcement Officer to concentrate on our
neighborhoods for one year.
The result has been removal of litter, yards maintained,
houses painted, trim and porch repairs, and new sidewalks.
Our neighborhoods have more than 60 precent absentee
landlords, which is the highest in the city of Troy.
The goal of our grant is to reverse the steady deterioration
our neighborhoods have been experiencing over the last
10 years.
With RPI students as potential renters, our area has
been inundated with investors whose only interest was
getting the highest rents possible while spending as
little as possible on property maintenance and repairs.
Our neighborhood was being destroyed.
Concern was expressed at every neighborhood meeting
about quality of life issues and the fast decline of
property values.
Our first consideration when applying for this grant
was long-time residents of our neighborhoods who were
on fixed incomes and who may not have the resources
to do the work needed to bring their property up to
code level. RPI came up with an incredibly generous
solution. They provided fifty $1,000 grants to income
eligible residents. They also were awarded a federal
grant for thirty $8,000 grants to aid local homeowners.
This, coupled with programs from the Commission on
Economic Opportunity and the Sidewalk Program through
the city, has been an enormous help to our older residents.
The N.I.C.E. grant has provided for the exterior inspection
of 525 properties in the Beman Park and Congress Street
neighborhoods. More than 300 notices with a total of
741 violations were given to property owners. To date,
it appears we have about 75 percent compliance. That
includes people who are repairing their properties
and people who have applied for grants.
At the end of this grant, we are expecting to have
100 percent of the properties in our neighborhoods
well maintained.
This program has been a real success and we are hoping
that it will be a model, which can be repeated, neighborhood
by neighborhood, throughout Troy.
The most rewarding aspect of this venture was to have
our program so well-received by our neighbors.
Our residents' spirit of cooperation and pride in
their properties is an indication of what can be accomplished
when we all work to help each other pull a share of
the load.
Congress Street and Beman Park are on the way to improving
quality of life, ensuring safe housing in their neighborhoods,
and enhancing the value of their properties.
Our grant covers from south of Hoosick Street to the
Poestenkill Creek from 15th Street to 11th Street.
Michele DeLair and Gerri FitzGerald, leaders of the
Beman Park Neighborhood Association are administering
this grant.
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