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Segarra: Obama's Budget Good And Bad News For Hartford

By Jenna Carlesso

February 16, 2011

Mayor Pedro Segarra offered a mixed reaction Wednesday to the President Obama's budget plan.

"On one hand, there are significant investments in Main Street America that will have a positive impact on urban areas -- high-speed rail, the doubling of COPS hiring grants and increased funding for homelessness assistance," he said in a statement. "However, to then turn around and propose drastic cuts in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and LIHEAP (low-income energy assistance) is extremely disappointing."

Read the full release below:

MAYOR SEGARRA HAS MIXED REACTION

TO OBAMA BUDGET PLAN

---NEWS AND COMMUNITY STATEMENT---

(February 16, 2011)--- While Mayor Pedro E. Segarra supports President Obama's "belt tightening" philosophy, he gives mixed reviews to the federal budget proposal and issues this statement:

"The President's budget proposal contains good and bad news for Hartford residents. On one hand, there are significant investments in Main Street America that will have a positive impact on urban areas; high-speed rail, the doubling of COPS hiring grants; and increased funding for homelessness assistance. However, to then turn around and propose drastic cuts in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and LIHEAP (low-income energy assistance) is extremely disappointing. I agree with my fellow Mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors -- this economic downturn is the worst possible time to cut direct funding to cities. We face higher unemployment rates and slashing these two funding mechanisms, both of which provide critical social services and promote job growth, is the wrong approach. There is much too much at stake when it comes to the wide variety of services and programs for our elderly and our youth. In fact, the City of Hartford, in partnership with the Greater Hartford Arts Council, just received a government award praising us for utilizing our CDBG funds to retain, create, and expand jobs in the Arts and Heritage community.

In the next few weeks I will be traveling to Washington where I will be speaking with members of our Congressional Delegation, and join with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, to make the case for why retaining these two funding streams is essential to the residents of Hartford."