HUD Bill Would Send Millions of Federal Dollars to New Hampshire
HUD Bill
New Hampshire Union Leader
Joe Markman
Boston University Washington News Service
09/17/09
WASHINGTON — What’s the best way to get $1 million for your community project? Take a day trip to Washington, D.C.
That’s what Carter Siegel did. She is the campaign chairwoman for Squamscott Community Commons, a planned multi-purpose center in Exeter that is set to receive $1 million from the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill the Senate passed Thursday, 73-25.
Several projects in New Hampshire are expected to receive federal money if the bill, which the House has already approved, is signed into law.
In May, with what she described as a “mature” construction plan in hand, Siegel, along with Commons executive director Robin Drunsic, flew to Washington to meet with a lobbyist hired to guide them through the application process and help them get meetings with the state’s congressional delegation.
Sen. Judd Gregg was the only New Hampshire lawmaker who actually gave them face time in his office, but they also were able to pitch their project to legislative aides for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.
Siegel said that they had to squeeze into the offices of Shaheen and Shea-Porter because of the many other constituents in Washington that day. It was so packed, she said, that they were forced to make their presentation standing in a circle with the aides.
“We ended up in the hallway; it was the only place we could talk,” Siegel said.
Siegel and Drunsic flew home that same afternoon, feeling optimistic, she said, despite Gregg’s sober assessment of their possibly slim chances.
“Sen. Gregg was telling us how it is,” Siegel said. “But we left with the overall feeling we had done our very best. We had done everything we could to promote the merit of the project.”
Later, after keeping in touch with the congressional district offices, the Squamscott group found out their project had been offered as part of the bill by both Gregg and Shaheen. But the real celebration didn’t come until July 31, when Shaheen announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved $1 million for the community center.
Squamscott Community Commons was originally established in 1998 as a charitable organization. The center, to be built on the 10-acre site of the old Junior High School in Exeter, has already been 10 years in the making. It will include as tenants a full-service YMCA and several other nonprofit agencies which will provide programs in health, nutrition, arts, recreation and child care.
The center would create 100 full- and part-time jobs at the YMCA and employ 200 during construction, project leaders said.
With $3.4 million raised so far in private contributions and a goal of $16 million the group has a ways to go. Siegel said she is looking at two to four years before a ground-breaking.
“We’re doing something that’s very important for our community. So for us the use of a lobbyist was key to our success,” Siegel said. “This appropriation is a very smart allocation of taxpayer dollars.”
Additional New Hampshire projects in the bill include infrastructure investment and money to ease the current credit crunch.
Nashua will get $500,000 to add sidewalks to Broad Street and the Nashua River Bridge, Berlin is looking to rebuild part of a main trucking route with $800,000 and the non-profit Northern Community Investment Corp. would receive $500,000 for a loan program. The corporation also has $1 million in the bill to expand affordable and reliable broadband service in the North Country.
The process of getting federal money was much simpler for Berlin City Manager Patrick MacQueen. There was no flight to Washington, no squeezing into congressional offices. MacQueen filled out a grant application a year ago and then just waited.
Berlin’s $500,000 will relocate and improve a much-used artery. The road supports heavy truck traffic, including vehicles headed to the new federal prison construction site, but its condition resembles “a poor country road,” MacQueen said.
Kristi Scarpone, campaign manager for the Squamscott project, said such federal money not only creates jobs, it also provides a psychological boost to people who may consider donating their own time and money. Despite the group’s lobbying effort, Scarpone said, with so many projects competing for limited funds the Squamscott advocates were surprised by their selection.
“We were not expecting it,” Scarpone said. “This definitely helps boost our numbers.”
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