ANAHEIM : City Divvies Up Block Grant Funds

Nearly $2.5 million in federal funds for community services was allocated to Anaheim nonprofit groups and neighborhood improvement programs under the Community Development Block Grant recommendations unanimously approved by the City Council Tuesday.

About one-fifth of the $2,463,000 federal block grant will go to the Anaheim Police Department and the city code enforcement service to hire more police officers for the gang unit and to step up code enforcement in four neighborhoods.

The code enforcement service received about $360,000, and the Police Department was given $180,000 to hire two officers to be assigned to the gang detail.

Although the city received almost $300,000 more than it did last year from the block-grant program, it received about $4 million in requests for block-grant money from various agencies.

“The money is never adequate, and the requests are always deserving of funds,” said Keith Olesen, chairman of the citizens participation committee. “But we’re excited about a lot of the programs involved in this year’s budget.”

About $120,000 was allocated to five nonprofit groups--the Orange County Council on Aging, the Orange County Fair Housing Council, the Boys and Girls Club, Hope House Inc. and the Anaheim Interfaith Shelter.

Among the groups that requested funds but did not receive them were the Salvation Army Anaheim Corps and the Golden Opportunity Youth Assn. The 13-member allocations committee ruled that the services offered by those groups--as well as by others who were rejected for block-grant funds--provided services already offered by others in the city.

Before making its recommendations, the allocations committee had a series of meetings and public hearings, and it heard testimony from about 300 residents, city staff members and representatives of neighborhood groups.

Image-improvement programs for four neighborhoods received about $450,000, which will go for traffic and safety improvement projects. Those neighborhoods are represented by the Central City, Patrick Henry, Citron and South Anaheim neighborhood councils.

In addition, about $190,000 will be used for programs such as graffiti removal, the library bookmobile and removal of bulky trash in those neighborhoods.

The city granted $60,000 to the Jeffrey-Lynne Neighborhood Community Center and about $50,000 for improvements at Julianna Park, Little People’s Park and the George Washington Community Center garden.