Back to the filing cabinets

I was back to the Irvington Public Library today - they had 6 fire alarms go off during my 2 hours there and the photocopying machine does not work; my handwriting bites. I was fortunate enough to locate close to twenty years (1976-1995) worth of information on the town's applications and progress reports for the HUD Community Development Block Grants as well as some newspaper accounts related to community reaction/dismay over the handling of the grants. For the most part I am finding the opposite of what pessimistic me was expecting - the grants had a positive overall effect from year to year. The East Ward projects, however, were given less attention than some infrastructure issues like sewers and sidewalks in more middle class areas. With the influx of drugs in the mid 80's you can start to see cuts in funding to public projects and more going to counselling and treatment. The Congress cut funding to these grants in the mid 1990's by over 50% hampering efforts - then in 2003 they were cut again by 50%; the town was left to fend for itself and it seems to have cost them dearly as gang violence escalated.

So I am surprisingly optimistic I have enough to work with in terms of the life of the grants; I now need to research HUD, Newark movement and maybe more on community organizations.