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Moore or Less
By Daniel Moore
Sometime in the next few years, the downtown infrastructure of American Falls will be ripped out and replaced, in hopes that a friendlier downtown will increase business in the region. We all hope that is the case. The construction will certainly improve the appearance of downtown American Falls.
The downtown revitalization will come through grants. The current mayor and council are relentless in pursuit of grant funding. The budget of the city has been in the black for years now partly because of grants hunted by city officials and employees. It’s been a boon for the city. County officers should take note.
But there is a problem with a dependence on grant funding, and I’m saying this as a former grant writer. Nearly all of these grants come from the federal government, or from the state government using federal funds. There’s the obvious problem that this money may not be there forever. Additionally, these grants are there for very specific pet projects of U.S. senators and congressmen. Through grant funding, these far-away lawmakers are now partially determining the direction our community is now taking.
If the mayor and council had the funds from the downtown revitalization grant, but could use them on anything they wanted, would they be using them for downtown revitalization? Perhaps so. But I don’t think that downtown revitalization is the most important issue facing our community. Probably there could be other projects the city would rather use these funds for.
For example, we still have portions of the community without paved roads. It makes little sense to be replacing good roads in a different neighborhood when we have neighborhoods without roads. It’s likely that folks living in the area of old town will view the improvements in downtown with some degree of jealousy.
They may feel they are overlooked, if they don’t feel that way already. They are already living with the zoning mistakes of previous city administrations, whose haphazard development did overlook the area. They also don’t have the lighting that other areas of town have. And that’s in addition to the smattering of homes near condemnation status.
And this in an area leading to one of the biggest tourist sites in the region. Many people’s memories of American Falls will be from a time the city lacked a city planner.
The city probably had little choice when seeking federal funding on where to use it. If the city had an unlimited budget, these issues I’ve raised would be addressed, I’m sure. My concern as a citizen of American Falls is that the council and mayor do not become so enamored by federal money that they lose sight of some of the very real needs American Falls has.
Perhaps a push to bring in business will bring in a tax base that will allow for further improvements. Perhaps a grant that is geared towards areas like old town will be found. And with tight budgets, the city may have no choice to wait until one of these things happen. There are certainly more needs for the community than any one group can keep track of. Until something happens, we can only hope for the city to do what it can.
Daniel Moore can be reached at press2@dcdi.net
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