FEMA delays could cost Berkeley an $836,000 federal grant

"But Berkeley has had to replace more than $800,000 worth of that promised federal grant with local money, after city workers learned the short-staffed regional FEMA office was expected to take two years or longer to provide the funding, Parks Director Scott Ferris told Berkeleyside. The loss has forced the city to scale back plans for the renovation that broke ground earlier this year at the Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center on Oregon Street, Ferris said, and pull funding from other local projects."

"Waiting for the federal agency to release the funding, he said, wouldn't have made sense. You can add $800,000 in one year of construction cost increases, Ferris said. While it's unclear whether the delay in processing the grant is directly related to the Trump administration's efforts to downsize the federal workforce and slash FEMA's disaster preparedness programs, the renovation project joins other local initiatives that have lost funding this year."

The Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center in South Berkeley is undergoing an $8.2 million seismic retrofit and renovation. FEMA awarded $1.2 million from its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the retrofit, and Berkeley received more than $300,000 in the first phase. City staff learned the short-staffed regional FEMA office could take two years or longer to provide the remaining funds, prompting the city to replace over $800,000 with local money. The funding gap forced scaling back the renovation and pulling money from other local projects. Other federal funding losses include a canceled $1 million USDA tree grant and reports of nonprofits losing federal support.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org