City Council
Carnegie Mellon to cover a $200,000 match for safe streets.
Carnegie Mellon has offered to cover a $200,000 match the city lacks for a federal street safety grant. That brings the Safe Streets and Roads for All project to $400,000. Still, a council member wondered whether one large contribution from nonprofits that don't pay city taxes would be more efficient. Council voted to keep moving toward accepting the money.
Written by Amy Whipple
More financial assistance is coming to the city from a local, large nonprofit.
The city received a $200,000 grant from the federal government for its Safe Streets and Roads for All project but it requires a 50% match which Jeff Skalican, Acting Director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI), said at the Feb. 25 committee meeting the city does not have.
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) offered to fill in that funding gap.
The money from CMU brings the project total to $400,000.
Skalican said Safe Streets and Roads for All is a city-wide project that comes under Vision Zero, the international initiative to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and severe injuries. The city's new program is still in the earliest planning stages.
Council Member Barb Warwick of Greenfield brought up recent discussions about financial contributions from large nonprofits that do not pay taxes to the city. "I always appreciate support from the nonprofits," she said, "but I do sometimes wonder if it's not a little bit more efficient for them just to make a large contribution."
Council voted to continue the process to accept the funds.
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Bond sales will pay for local infrastructure improvements.
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UPMC donates $10 million for new ambulances, with state adding $1 million grant.
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