FeedsCity receives county grant for $750,000
Inkster residents won’t be looking at blighted, abandoned homes and buildings much longer, thanks to some funding from the American Recovery and Revitalization Act.
The city was notified June 11 by mail that the grant application submitted by the Planning and Economic Development Department had been approved in the amount of $750,000.
According to Jeannie Fields, housing and economic development manager, the confirmation was good news for the community.
“This will work much like our Community Development Block Grant funding,” she explained. “The city enters into an agreement with county, then we are reimbursed for the expenses incurred up to the grant amount.”
Slated for demolition are 20 abandoned houses, two former schools and six commercial buildings in the city.
Fields noted that there are still several steps involved in the process and several signatures required on the contracts but she expected that to move quickly.
“I believe that we have to use 50 percent of the funding within two years and all of it within three years,” she said.
The grant will be administered through the office of Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, who awarded the grant.
Fields noted that Wayne County Commissioner Joan Gebhardt helped the city in their efforts to address the problem of vacant and foreclosed properties. The schools, she noted, have been a public eyesore for several years.
