Anaheim to Get $250,000 From County for Project

The city’s proposed downtown community center, which is going to cost about $20 million to build, will be getting a financial boost today when Supervisor William G. Steiner presents Anaheim officials with $250,000 for the project--the county’s first major grant since declaring bankruptcy.

Steiner will make the presentation at a meeting this afternoon of more than 400 government, business and community leaders at the Anaheim Marriott hotel, county officials said.

Steiner said Wednesday that the city’s plans for a new community center is just as important to him as Sportstown Anaheim, a sports, entertainment and retail complex that the city wants to build around The Big A.

“I think it’s very important because it’s an investment not only in the youth, but in the senior citizens as well,” Steiner said. “It’s a part of the city’s infrastructure. We hear a lot about Sportstown and what it can do for the city, but the social fabric of Anaheim needs to be maintained as well, and these programs do that.”

The community center, to be built on Philadelphia Street between Center Street and Broadway, is an important element of the city’s efforts to revitalize its downtown area--also the site of the Disney ice skating rink that opened last fall.

Plans call for the community center to be built in five phases. The first phase will cost about $8 million and will house senior citizen activities, an art gallery, a gymnasium, a boxing club, human services offices and meeting and activity rooms. The county grant will help pay for that initial phase.

Later phases of the community center will include construction of a YMCA with a swimming pool, a Boys and Girls Club, a second gymnasium and possibly a community theater.

If the project goes according to schedule, construction will begin this summer. It is being funded primarily through the federal Community Development Block Grant program. But the city is also seeking financial support from corporations and foundations.

Steiner said the $250,000 comes from various sources, including urban park funding and other discretionary grants.

The supervisor acknowledged Wednesday that city-county relations had been somewhat strained since the bankruptcy.

Anaheim had $167 million in the county’s investment pool, which collapsed because of risky investments made by former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron. The city is still $17 million short because of investment pool losses.

“Obviously, the bankruptcy has resulted in some strained city and county relationships,” Steiner said. “While this may be seen as a gesture of reconciliation, it really is meant as a good-faith effort by the Board of Supervisors to invest in a community and a project that is very important to them.”