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County OKs $20,000 for Santa Maria Creek Greenway

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By Joe Naiman

San Diego County Board of Supervisors have approved $20,000 in Neighborhood Reinvestment Program money for the Santa Maria Creek Greenway.

The supervisors’ 5-0 vote transferred that money from the Neighborhood Reinvestment Program budget of District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob to the county’s Land Use and Environmental Group, which includes the Department of Parks and Recreation. The money will be used to install minor improvements at a trailhead staging area on a county-owned parcel of land.

The Neighborhood Reinvestment Program is intended to provide grants to nonprofit organizations for public purposes at the regional and community levels. In addition to nonprofit organizations, county supervisors can also fund schools and fire departments, and supervisors can also use money from their budgets to supplement other county funding for specific county projects such as parks, roads,and libraries.

Each county supervisor recommends the allocation of his or her Neighborhood Reinvestment Program funds, but those allocations must be approved by a majority of the Board of Supervisors.

Board of Supervisors approval is also required to use grant funding for any purpose other than what was stipulated in the original grant, and the Sept. 27 vote also amended the purpose of an April 2010 grant to the Ramona Emergency Assistance League. The original grant agreement approved funding for radio equipment, lights with generators, a trailer, a computer, a printer and a projector. The amendment will allow the remaining money to be spent on safety equipment, equipment decals, locks and keys, and road signage that notes hazardous conditions.

The Neighborhood Reinvestment Program was known as the Community Projects program in December 2008 when the Board of Supervisors approved a $30,000 grant to the San Diego Foundation to start up the Ramona Charitable Foundation. Because the San Diego Foundation was able to create the Ramona Charitable Foundation with only $10,000, the supervisors’ Sept. 27 action also reallocated the remaining $20,000 to the District 2 Neighborhood Reinvestment Program budget so that the money can be used for other District 2 projects.

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