Thurgood Marshall graduation 2012
Badin vs. Versailles
Law Enforcement Memorial Day
Home > Blogs > Greene County News > Archives > 2009 > December > 09 > Entry
State grants Xenia $400k for downtown improvements
XENIA - City leaders learned Wednesday, Dec. 9, they’ll have another $400,000 in grant money to work with as they continue to revitalize downtown.
The Ohio Department of Development and Gov. Ted Strickland announced $2.4 million in grant money for six cities including $400,000 in Xenia for facade improvement, curb and sidewalks, murals, bikeway and other streetscape improvements.
Mary Crockett, Xenia community developement director, said the money will be paired with about $450,000 of stimulus, state and federal grants the city has already received for a total of about $850,000.
“I’m very excited about this,” Crockett said. She added that city council members and downtown merchants worked together to win the grant award.
Much of the money will go toward a loan program that allows downtown business and building owners to borrow money interest-free to paint and fix the facades of their buildings. “These grants give zero percent interst loans to cash strapped building owners,”Crockett said.
Money also will be used to landscape and improve access to the bikepath around Xenia Station and to spruce up streetscapes along East Main Street.
Mark Bazelak, city finance director, said the beautification paid for with the grant money should aid the city in its efforts to attract new business. “Obviously, as we are looking toward the future one principal element to focus on is economic development,” Bazelak said.
Gov. Strickland echoed this sentiment, saying in a news release that “downtowns often showcase the best of what Ohio has to offer and keeping them strong and vibrant will help accelerate our state’s economic recovery.”
Besides Xenia, Wilmington, Cambridge, Defiance, Nepoleon and Waterville received grant money for downtown improvements.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Tweet
Comments
By memomaymn
March 30, 2011 8:08 PM | Link to this
Shoot, why do so few good blogs have left? This is competition.