Jamestown Officials Submit Plan To Help Improve Neighborhoods

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JAMESTOWN – Today the Jamestown’s Department of Development is submitting this year’s Annual Action Plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), seeking financial assistance to help cleanup city streets.

Over the past few months, Director of Development Crystal Surdyk’s office led several community walking tours, gaining the community’s feedback to address a slew problems: from dilapidated housing, littered streets to almost unwalkable sidewalks.

“The input we’ve received from the community on our walks, there’s some specific things that people had concerns about,“ explains Surdyk. “Some of those things are things we can address within the Annual Action Plan and the programs and activities that come out of the Annual Action Plan.”

While many of the programs have been in concept for a long time, the ward walks were still an eye opener for Surdyk and her team, and proved to them that they are taking the correct steps.

“I think that our ward walks really reinforced that we were on the right track,“ says Surdyk. “These programs were all developed based on community need.”

The DOD will present HUD their Annual Action Plan, and with their approval, several programs will get underway.

“HUD will approve, or make any suggestions for revisions based on our submission and once we get the letter of approval we start working on implementing the programs,“ stated Surdyk.

Some of the incentives that stand out include a lead poisoning prevention program, community enhancement programs, and small business development and technical assistance programs, among others.

“Owner occupied emergency repair program, we have an environmental assessment and remediation program, so things like brownfield properties, or contaminated properties, or properties that may need some kind of an environmental assessment and/or some remediation,” stated Surdyk.