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Tyrone making progress

Leaders of some communities carry out their routine responsibilities well but lack the kind of aggressiveness that’s needed for pursuing important new initiatives.

Don’t count Tyrone Borough officials among those leaders, at least not in regard to the borough’s Logan Avenue streetscape project.

What apparently is falling into place are the financial components for completing the endeavor much more quickly than had been envisioned initially. Instead of three years, borough officials now are optimistic about completing the project in two years.

Even much larger communities might look upon that accomplishment with envy.

While it’s not yet set in stone that the borough’s hopes will be realized, it’s noteworthy that the community has a financial ally in tune with what the borough is planning and how well the community has made its case in terms of eligibility for funding.

That ally is the state, which actually has encouraged the borough to apply for more Community Development Block Grant money than it initially thought it would receive.

That extra money will make it possible to complete half of the $2.26 million project over the span of a year, rather than just a third of it. The last half of the project presumably would be finished by the end of the second year, if the second year’s funding falls into place as now optimistically envisioned.

A key component in putting the project in line for a faster completion apparently has been the borough’s success in keeping the state Department of Community and Economic Development fully informed about the community’s intent.

That included the fact that the streetscape effort would be a project that would involve more than one year — presumably at least three under initial expectations.

But, as a Nov. 30 Mirror article reported, DCED awarded the borough $750,000 in 2016-17 CDBG money for the project’s first phase to complement the borough’s approximately $80,000 in annual entitlement money from the CDBG program.

An additional project financial boost is expected to come as a result of extra money available in the state agency’s competitive grant program; DCED encouraged the borough to apply for $250,000 of it.

At last word, the borough was awaiting official notification of approval.

Meanwhile, the borough has applied to DCED for another $750,000 under the 2017-18 CDBG funding cycle, and Trina Illig, Blair County’s CDBG grant coordinator, also has expressed confidence to borough leaders about the prospect of getting a second extra allotment of $250,000 to help put the finishing touches on the project.

With those two pools of money, coupled with the borough’s expected 2017-18 $80,000 CDBG entitlement, borough officials don’t anticipate any financial shortfall.

It’s important to note that state officials follow established guidelines in the awarding of the money in question and that Tyrone’s project is not being treated as any exception to those guidelines.

According to the Nov. 30 Mirror article, a minimum requirement is that 51 percent of the project’s census tract be people of low to moderate income. The Logan Avenue streetscape area is 80 percent low to moderate income, according to Illig.

Still, even with that statistic, a project doesn’t get off the ground without strong leadership.

That remains the foundation of the streetscape initiative.

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