federal funding

It's time for the Census, which is good news for anyone looking for a part-time job. According to the Virginian Pilot, the 2010 Census will bring 4,000 part-time jobs to the Hampton Roads area.

This could be a great boost to the local economy, and good for any homeowners in the area looking for work.

"Taxpayers will spend $14 billion to survey themselves for the 2010 Census.

If that sounds like a bone head idea in tight times, blame the Founding Fathers. The Constitution requires a head count every 10 years to make sure political power is properly distributed. Revenue and representation are based on census data.

The gear-up for 2010 started several years ago at the U.S. Census Bureau. Forms won't be mailed out until March, but a $340 million publicity push began Monday with a cross-country promotional tour launched from New York's Times Square. Census offices are opening this week in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach - part of a 500-office network that will handle the 1.2 million workers needed to conduct the count.

Locally, about 4,000 people will be hired for temporary, part-time work this spring. Jobs will last two to seven weeks. Pay starts at $13 an hour.

Technically, the new hires will be known as enumerators, but census takers will do. Their work begins after April 1, the deadline for returning the 10-question form; responses cannot be filed online. Census takers knock on doors to prod those people who didn't comply.

By the way, the census is mandatory on both ends. Just as the government is required to conduct it, every resident is required to respond. Those who don't can be fined up to $100. Those who knowingly give false answers can be fined up to $500."

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Some localities in the Peninsula received federal stimulus money to help prevent homelessness for some area residents who are struggling, according to the Daily Press.

The funds will be used for rental assistance, utility and security deposit payments and credit repair.

This is good news for all residents in these areas because preventing homelessness is cheaper than correcting it. Also, preventing homelessness can protect property values.

"As part of the federal stimulus package, nearly $1.4 million has come to the Peninsula to help stem the tide of growing homelessness associated with the lingering economic recession.

Government and nonprofit agencies in Hampton, Newport News, York, Poquoson, James City County and Williamsburg recently began disbursing funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing program.

The six localities evenly split about $727,000. A secondary pot of money totaling more than $659,000 was allotted specifically for Newport News, said Joy Cipriano, director of property and resource development for the Hampton/Newport News Community Services Board, the agency administering the grant funds.

The money is specifically earmarked for such things as rental assistance, utility and security deposit payments, and credit repair. It is not targeted for the chronically homeless, Cipriano said.

'The money is for helping people that were otherwise stable and making it. But, due to loss of a job or reduction of income, can't meet rent payments,' Cipriano said. 'It's cheaper to prevent homelessness than correct it once it happens.'

Cipriano said the federal government has instituted strict guidelines about how the money can be used and is requiring stringent reporting to make sure the funds are spent appropriately."

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The Daily Press recently reviewed Hampton's budget cuts and federal stimulus funds.

Although the city received funds to help with construction, the city is struggling to fund operations.

"The city's bottom line took a hit from state budget cuts this year while getting a boost from federal stimulus funds.

So was the result a net gain, a loss or did Hampton break even?

The math isn't that simple, city and school officials say. State cuts affected the city's regular operating budget while the gains from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were primarily for one-time building projects.

On the plus side, the city of Hampton has received, or will receive, $9.73 million so far in federal stimulus funds for a summer youth employment program, road projects, green initiatives and public safety. On the down side, the city had to deal with $1.15 million in state budget cuts for this fiscal year.

That doesn't really mean Hampton has a net gain of more than $8 million this year.

'Any stimulus money we get, we would use for construction, and most of it is because the mindset behind that is that you're building something that creates jobs,' said Hampton Budget Director Chris Snead. 'Stimulus money, we aren't getting any for operating expenses.'

It's not just that the city is choosing to spend stimulus money on construction. The money has been earmarked for certain purposes.

For example, Hampton is getting $3.6 million to grind down and resurface Mercury Boulevard from the Hampton- Newport News line to Big Bethel Road and from Coliseum Drive to North King Street. Another $3.58 million will pay to buy land and acquire easements and rights of way to extend Commander Shepard Boulevard from North Campus Parkway to Big Bethel Road. Hampton also received $1.38 million specifically to 'reduce the city's total energy use and support ... energy efficiency and conservation components of the city's 'Go Green' objectives,' according to city documents."

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Virginia Beach will use $5 million in bonds, which will have to be paid back, to help revitalize 19th street between the Convention Center and the Oceanfront, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

The program that helps fund the bonds attempts to help communities create jobs and develop infrastructure. Hopefully, the money will do just that - and, bring in new residents or businesses that can help current homeowners and residents pay back the bonds.

"The city's plan to spruce up 19th Street between the Convention Center and the Oceanfront is getting a boost from the federal stimulus package.

Virginia Beach will use $5 million in bonds, allocated to the city by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to buy land for sidewalks.

Plans to update 19th Street into a pedestrian-friendly corridor with mass transit had been on hold while the city determines the future of a Convention Center hotel, the former Dome site and light rail.

But since bond money was available, this project seemed like a good use, said Virginia Beach Deputy City Manager Steve Herbert.

'It's kick off money,' Herbert said. 'It's an opportunity to take advantage of that money.'

The money, which the city will have to pay back, is part of the Build America Bonds program aimed at helping communities to create jobs and develop critical infrastructure."

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EPA officials are cracking down on sates that do not help to reduce Bay pollution, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

With a goal to reduce pollution by 60%, the EPA will impose severe punishments on the six states that contribute the Bay. These punishments could include withholding federal grants.

This is an important issue for Virginia homeowners because the risk of losing federal grants could impair progress in the Commonwealth.

"States that contribute pollution to the Chesapeake Bay must have controls in place by 2017 to reduce that pollution 60 percent, federal officials say.

That is one of a list of cleanup requirements the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent the six bay states, including Virginia, in a letter yesterday.

The letter 'is about establishing a new era of federal leadership for the Chesapeake Bay, one that is marked by new accountability,' said J. Charles Fox, President Barack Obama's senior adviser to the EPA for bay issues.

The bay states agreed in May to put controls in place by 2025 that will clean the bay. Yesterday's letter sets a tough interim requirement.
The letter also makes clear that the bay states must not only reduce nitrogen and other pollutants below various limits but keep them there as populations grow.

The requirement could mean, for example, that if a new sewage-treatment plant is built, pollution from the plant must be offset by pollution cuts elsewhere, perhaps by putting grassy buffers along streams.

The letter did not spell out the specifics of that program. The fine detail on how Virginia and other states must reduce pollution will come in a plan to be developed by late 2011."

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