Emporia city leaders say recent discussions with Housing and Urban Development Regional Administrator Jason Mohr went quite well.
Mayor Danny Giefer says the discussion was twofold: demonstrating successful projects coming through Community Development Block Grant funding, including recent work on the downtown sanitary sewer project and longstanding projects like Eastgate Plaza, and requests for funding three lift stations before a tour of certain areas of town.
The tour included stops at the Peter Pan Park splash pad, Rural Housing Incentive District housing, Industrial Park 3, Eastside Plaza and downtown Emporia.
Giefer says the lift stations are an important but underrated part of the housing and development picture because things can go wrong if there isn’t an effective way to transport waste. He also says the coronavirus pandemic magnifies the importance of housing and development projects as a whole. Being a small city, Emporia can’t take on a lot of multimillion-dollar projects without some state or federal help.
During an interview on KVOE’s 8:05 am newscast Friday, Mohr said HUD has passed out over $44 million in CARES Act relief funding to Kansas since the pandemic started in March. He also said HUD stands ready to help with other programs, but it and other federal agencies have to wait for Congress to get together and reach agreement on new aid packages.
