Annual report (1981)

              Cor~unity Development Block Grant Three-Year Plan (1982-84)
A major task in 1981 was to plan the direction of the Block Grant program
over the next three years. Adjustments in the program were needed for
many reasons. First, the three-year program begun in 1979 will come to
an end in July, 1982. Second, new Block Grant legislation requires a
redefining of the purpose and intent of the local program. Third, new
simplified regulations, including the virtual elimination of an active
citizen participation component, made it necessary to reexamine the
local program. Fourth, anticipated cuts in Block Grant allocations
threatened to seriously impede the effectiveness of the local program.
NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING
In 1981, the last of the original seven target neighborhood plans (West
Central) was completed. This plan was developed by the staff and the
neighborhood plan committee and was approved by the neighborhood asso­ciation
and Plan Commission in August.
Neighborhood planners for the seven NSA's spent considerable time assist­ing
to implement the previously approved neighborhood plans and in as­sisting
in special projects such as: downzoning in Northwest Central and
West Central; reviewing rezoning petitions in the NSA's; serving as
liaison for the Urban League's Central City Shopping Center Feasibility
Study and in the reopening of the Hanna-Creighton Nutrition Center;
working on various grants such as the successful $10,000 East Central
History grant from the Indiana Committee for the Humanities; assisting
Neighborhood Care, Inc., in developing new procedures in such diverse
areas as homesteading, marketing, and intake; acting as a liaison be­tween
the City and Lincoln Life on the Lincoln Life Improved Housing
Program; and researching neighborhood delivery systems nationwide and
assessing their implications for Fort Wayne.
The Pontiac Renaissance Organiza­tion
(PRO) was formed in 1981 with
the combined efforts of residents
and merchants on Pontiac Street
and technical assistance from CD&P
staff. This active organization
is concerned with the total revi­talization
of the area along Pon­tiac
Street between Calhoun and
Anthony. Because of the efforts
of PRO, a streetlight conversion
project along the street was com­pleted
and capital improvements
for the street are slated for 1982.
ENERGY PLANNING
In July of 1981, the Division of
Planning added an energy planning
component to its neighborhood plan­ning
section. The energy planner
22
New sodium vapor street lights
on Pontiac Street.