As the City Council continues to postpone action on several million dollars that remain in the $52 million ARPA federal windfall, more and more requests for funds are arriving.
And public speaker podium pitches are coming not only from programs and services that missed out the first time, but also from some non-profits that already have cashed in and now are seeking more.
Monday night’s trio included:
Leader Tina Swanton of Food Club, which already has received $1 million for a subsidized market across from the YMCA, asked for some or all of the remaining $1 million for the general purpose of bringing affordable quality food to the city. She said the fifth-year FACTS, Food Access Collaboration Team of Saginaw, has raised $3.9 million toward a $5 million goal, but board members “will not allow” construction to begin this spring at the former Big Brothers site unless the full amount is in hand. For an artist’s rendering, click here.
Women of Colors Founder Evelyn McGovern, asked not only for increased monies but also for repurposing last winter’s initial $200,000 grant to capital needs instead of for programming. She noted that WOC this summer is required to vacate Success Academy in the former OIC at 1000 Tuscola, and is seeking a vacant 20th century doctor’s office, 925 North Michigan at Holland. The combined request is for another $449,000 for a 9,500-square-foot structure, 108 years old, with a sales value in the $450,000 range, based on recent city tax assessments, previously owned briefly by Covenant Health Care and now in the hands of an out-of-state owner. For a building view, click here.
Kevin Jones, founder of A Museum of Black Experiences, AMusBE, at 1243 South Jefferson, renewed a $269,000 request that was not funded last winter. He purchased the 5,000-square-foot, 167-year-old historic home out of his own pocket for $130,000, according to city records, and has opened his 7,000-item collection on special occasions, while aiming for regular hours this summer after the Juneteenth holiday. For a look at the property, click here.
Another major proposal has come from STARS, which was zeroed out in a request for $500,000 or more, linked to fleet upgrades and a long-term move to the Potter Street Railroad Depot, which was built 143 years ago. Mission in the City, through New Birth Baptist Church at 1401 Janes, earlier pitched its original $400,000 proposal but since has given up any more appeals. The Saginaw African Cultural Festival is pursuing at least $200,000.
Early in 2002, the City Council voted to use the first $26 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to avoid any covid-caused fiscal deficit in the general fund budget. The City Hall-centric approach, questioned at the time only by Councilman Michael Flores, is rooted in a first things-first outlook. ARPA rules blocked bringing back basics like more police or firefighters, or that would have been on the agenda as well.
At the start of 2023, most of the second $26 million half of ARPA was made final for infrastructure like fixing City Hall, upgrading Ojibway Island and Hoyt Park, and cleaning up the fairgrounds. A main job-creating project, the downtown Medical Diamond, reaped the most publicized share of $5 million, and various established community centers received support.
At the start of 2004, after two six-month delays in rejecting proposals from Councilwoman Monique Lamar Silvia, the council was aiming to cleanup an unspent remainder now pegged at $2.49 million. That’s the twice-tabled pot of funds now pursued by Women of Colors, AMusBE, STARS, Mission in the City and the African Fest. Two January meetings have reaped no action, leaving Mayor Brenda Moore to repeat that the ARPA cash has produced some negative side effects, lamenting Monday, “Money is the root of all evil.”
Food Club is asking for an add-on piece of a separate $1 million that remains for “food access,” or bringing quality grocery sources to the city. If the FACTS board is unable to raise the $5 million to get started this year, the question now is what would happen to their original million dollars from ARPA, which involves federal deadlines. And the food access category is not without competition, because the Hunger Solutions Center at 940 East Genesee, home to Hidden Harvest and the East Side Soup Kitchen, is seeking up to $1 million to expand. Swanton told the council, “Please do not be the reason to delay this much-needed project for the community.”
Food survey facts
Public Policy Associates, a research consultant. worked with Mayor Pro-Tem Annie Boensch and Councilman George Copeland late last year on a poll, available by computer or on paper, that drew 751 responses.
The survey was not scientific, and so representation in numeric counts is not totally balanced. Nearly two-thirds of answers, for example, came from the city’s West Side. Nonetheless, organizers are finding guidance in the results, which show that one in six Saginaw city households lack a motor vehicle, and three-quarters have incomes below the modern-day quoted “200 percent of federal poverty level,” which this year would be $30,000 for an individual and roughly $10,000 for each person added in a household — for example, $62,000 for a family of four.
(Food Club supporters say their franchise would reach up into the 200 percent standard, serving far more households than “low-income” may imply.)
Upward of 80 percent of respondents said, as expected, they would be more likely to support a food source on their own side of town. The Food Club’s parks system site is an attempt to find a balance in this regard. At present, most city food stamps are spent at neighborhood stores that offer liquor but not fresh lettuce, for overpriced groceries like soup, juice, crackers, cereal and other shelf-fillers.
The No. 1 survey preference, and also the top skepticism, was for luring a megastore like Wal-Mart or Meijer. At this point, Councilman Michael Balls asked if it would be possible instead to tax-subsidize improvements at the city’s two remaining medium-sized markets — Great Giant in Sheridan Park and Save A Lot near the courthouse. Copeland said partner options will be included in ongoing “market analysis” for involving the private sector.
Mayor Moore asked whether 751 responses was enough to gauge public opinion, and asked, “What’s next? Are there plans for open forums, or a town hall talk?” Copeland, Boensch and City Manager Tim Morales responded that info sessions last fall were part of the survey, and it’s time to put the study results to use, although more neighborhood meetings no doubt will be part of the process.
Morales said, “If you don’t think there was enough citizen input, they were out there trying.”
For a City Hall review of ARPA spending so far, click here.
Meanwhile, the delay in making final the entire ARPA budget, and to avoid sending unallocated funds back to Washington, continues. The council next meets on Monday, Feb. 5.
