Senator Charles E. Schumer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2011

SCHUMER ANNOUNCES CITY OF BINGHAMTON TO RECEIVE OVER $480,000 IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR MAIN STREET CORRIDOR

Housing and Urban Development Grant Will Lead to the Creation of a Regional Plan for Economic Development for Binghamton

Plan Will Engage the Binghamton Residents and Focus On Key Areas Including Community Development, Transportation, Construction of Community Center

Schumer: This Investment Will Help Us Work Together to Plan For The Future of Binghamton

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that the City of Binghamton will receive $485,058 in federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Community Challenge Grant award will be used to update the city’s strategic plan and integrate it into the 1.7 mile Main Street Corridor Plan.

“Creating jobs and redeveloping the City of Binghamton needs to be done in a way that engages the community,” said Schumer. “With this investment, the residents of Binghamton can have a role in charting the path for their city’s future, helping to create a strategic plan that will create a sustainable economic plan, coordinate better access to transportation, and boost arts and recreation right on Main Street.”

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development:

The City of Binghamton was awarded $485,058 to update the City's 2003 Comprehensive Plan, integrate it into a 1.7 mile Main Street Corridor Plan, and support a small number of ongoing innovative, cross-sector programs in order to continue building institutional and civic capacity. This project will restore Binghamton as a vital, livable, and resilient urban community. It will also increase enrichment through the culture and arts. By carrying out both community-based planning and resident-centric programming in tandem, the city will solidify and bolster the gains made in the past five years, and integrate what seemed to be “disparate” initiatives into a clear, comprehensive strategic plan to restore the area's economic competitiveness, improve the quality of life for all residents, and foster bottom-up and top-down consensus and action around livability and smart growth practices and goals.

Anticipated Project Benefits:

Restore Binghamton as a vital, livable, and resilient urban core community, with healthy, inclusive compact neighborhoods that offer all residents meaningful work opportunities, housing and transportation choices, recreational spaces, enrichment through the culture and arts, and direct involvement in the decision-making process
Focus investments along the Main Street Corridor, addressing vacancy through infill development, renovation and rehabilitation of existing buildings
Return underutilized lots to active spaces that encourage investments in the surrounding neighborhoods

Core Partners: The Partners in the community effort include Cornell Cooperative Extension – Broome County, NYS Office of Smart Growth, Livable Communities Alliance, VINES (Food & Health Network of South Central NY member), Quaranta Housing Services, Broome County Strategic Alliance for Health, Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition, United Way of Broome County, Broome County Gang Prevention, Binghamton University‘s Binghamton Neighborhood Project, NYS Office of Smart Growth, and Empire State Futures.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s $28 million Community Challenge Planning Grant Program fosters reform and reduces barriers to achieving affordable, economically vital, and sustainable communities. Such efforts may include amending or replacing local master plans, zoning codes, and building codes, either on a jurisdiction-wide basis or in a specific neighborhood, district, corridor, or sector to promote mixed-use development, the reuse of older buildings and structures for new purposes, and similar activities with the goal of promoting sustainability at the local or neighborhood level.

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