ML seeks grants for Longview Tracts

Money directed to provide city services to low-income neighborhoods

Ever since its annexation to the city, the improvement of Longview Tracts has been on the city of Moses Lake's to-do list.

Now, with increased needs and a deeper focus on the neighborhood's problems, the city will go after state monies in order to check the item off the list.

The state Legislature appropriated $8 million for Community Improvement Block Grants, with $1 million dollars as the maximum amount an applicant can receive, and the city has applied for them.

The city's community development director Gilbert Alvarado said that Moses Lake as a city "does not meet the low-to-moderate income standards required to receive this type of grants."

If an area of the city does meet the guidelines, a city can apply for that area, and that is what Moses Lake is doing.

One of these areas is Longview Tracts, annexed by the city from the county in the mid-1990s, and a zone that Alvarado said the county had neglected and not taken care of.

"We are doing the legwork," Alvarado said. "We are involving the neighbors and identifying the issues that affect Longview Tracts."

Those issues include bringing adequate streets to the neighborhood, fixing the sidewalks and integrating the community to the city's sewer service, given that the residents are all on septic systems,which could signify a problem on its own right.

"The soil is porous," he said. "It's not a good scenario."

Another option to finance these projects is by putting together a Local Improvement District, where the property owners who do not qualify under the guidelines, would share the costs of the projects on a 15-year repayment schedule.

"We would connect people, but if you do not meet the low-moderate income guidelines, we would use the LID," Alvarado said.

A last option for those who do not qualify would be city funding from sewer and water revenue plus the grant money.

If the city is awarded the grant, given that the grant limit is $1 million, below the total cost of the project, the grant money will go alongside in-kind contributions and the work of city engineers and design inspectors.

Longview Tracts resident Herculano Oronia said that he believed nothing the city will do for his neighborhood will come without a price tag for the neighbors.

"I believe that the day they fix the sidewalks, they are going to charge us for it. They aren't doing it for free," he said.

For Oronia, his whole neighborhood, and not just the sidewalks, needs a facelift.

"The entire Longview Tracts needs a lot of work," he said. "It needs cleaning and the streets need fixing."

Oronia said that neighbors have approached city authorities, but the response is that the city has no money.

"It makes me feel bad, because I know nothing will be fixed."

Longview Tracts resident Marietta Miller disagreed, saying it would be great if her neighborhood could get some help.

Oronia retorted, going as far as to say that in a way, things were better before the annexation.

"When we were under Grant County, they used to put gravel on the side of the road. The city does not put anything."

Alvarado said he understood the neighbors' feelings. "They feel neglected," he said, disputing the claim that the city had not been responsive.

Mentioning the meeting held between neighbors and city authorities in March of last year, Alvarado said the residents wanted a better relationship with the city, the police department, as well as better services.

"They asked us if we could apply for grants and we said yes," Alvarado said.

Resident involvement is a factor in making the neighborhood look better, Oronia said, including the removal of old cars and the better upkeep of homes as part of the improvement efforts.

Miller said the only thing she has asked for lately is code enforcement that is consistent.

Despite this, Oronia said the city does not worry enough.

"They worry about charging us tickets for things that are there, like cars without license plates," he said. "But they don't worry at all about fixing things."

The deadline for the grant is November of this year.