The Village of New Hyde Park finished its Operation Main Street project just in time, because the town’s eligibility for federal funds is shrinking, officials announced last week.
“The qualifications revolve around money,” trustee Donald Barbieri said. “Like how much income is being earned by people in the area. I guess as seniors move on, you can’t buy an [expensive home] and it changed the demographic, shrinking our eligible area.”
The federal funds, called community development block grants, are distributed to the Department of Housing and Governmental Affairs of Nassau County and are administered to municipalities on a need basis. New Hyde Park received $100,000 in funding last year. The county did not return calls for comment.
“We can’t spend money outside a certain area,” Barbieri said. “The way it works is that any member of the consortium can spend money on residential rehab depending on the income of the individual.”
Operation Main Street included new rounded corners that extend slightly into the roadway, along with installation of medians and plantings. The idea for the plan was to set up modern traffic calming features that create a more pedestrian friendly and safer environment, while providing a downtown appeal for the shopping district.
“Most of New Hyde Park will no longer qualify for the expenditure of the community development block grant money,” Barbieri said. “Fortunately we got [Operation Main Street] finished just in time.”
New Hyde Park can still attain funds from Hillside Boulevard west to the New Hyde Park/Floral Park border near Cherry Lane. The eligible areas are based on the last census, in this case in 2010.
“The old map for [grants] shows from the railroad tracks to Lewis Avenue to the village line, all the way to the north barrier,” Mayor Robert Lofaro said. “I didn’t think our community block grant encompassed that big of an area originally. “It appears the new line is the Town of Hempstead section, north of the rail road tracks.”
