Orangetown CDBG Requests Denied

Rockland County’s Office of Community Development awarded $3,126,494 million in federal Housing and Urban Development grant funding for Rockland County not-for-profit organizations, towns and villages this week -- none of it to Orangetown.

The Orangetown Town Board recommended three Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) requests Jan. 12, but none received funding.

"Personally, I’m very disappointed," Orangetown Councilman Denis Troy said. "I think Orangetown gets the short end of the stick on tehse federal grants."

"I'm extremely disappointed with it," said Councilman Michael Maturo. "Orangetown is consistently not represented in CDBG funding. All of the projects were serving important communities from seniors to children. We didn’t get resperesentation from the committeee on that. It's disappointing that these important communities did not receive any aid.

"Sadly, it is not that surprising."

The Orangetown Board set as a top priority a request from Thorpe Valley, a federally-subsidized facility for seniors on Route 340 in Sparkill, for $200,000 to purchase backup generators. The need for back-up power in Thorpe Valley was highlighted when it suffered a 36-hour power outage a little over a year ago.

"To me, that was very important," Troy said. "I'm surprised and disappointed that Thorpe Valley (did not get the grant)."

Conway House on Orangeburg Road requested $82,208.71 for renovations, mostly directed at improving the energy-efficiency by upgrading insulation, siding, gutters and windows in the facility. Conway House has limited options for funding, so this is a considerable setback.

The third request was from the Rockland Conservatory of Music, which is moving from Spring Valley to Pearl River later this year. The conservatory asked for $25,000 to cover the cost of transportation to lessons for children of low-income families.