City Accepts Grant for Quake Recovery

City coffers increased by nearly $1 million this week as officials accepted San Fernando’s share of a $15-million federal grant that will help several local municipalities complete their recoveries from the 1994 Northridge quake.

The $961,000 grant--presented by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky at Monday’s City Council meeting--will pay for three projects: infrastructure improvements, a marketing strategy and image-enhancement program and a study of the city’s commercial/industrial corridor, budget manager Saul Gomez said.

Physical improvements to be completed with grant funds include improving access from the east to the city, water-line upgrades and street resurfacing as well as new lights, trees and fire hydrants around San Fernando Mission Road and Truman Avenue, Gomez said.

Immediately following the earthquake, the county’s Community Development Commission and 10 area cities formed a partnership to secure a grant from the Economic Development Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department. Los Angeles applied for a grant individually, but Calabasas, Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena and Santa Clarita are among the members of the partnership.

“The EDA is known for what they refer to as ‘brick and mortar projects,’ but they gave us the flexibility to approve projects where the individual communities identified the needs,” Gomez said.

In San Fernando, $505,000 was designated for infrastructure improvements, $331,000 for a marketing strategy and image-enhancement program and $125,000 to study the city’s commercial/industrial corridor.