Applying for Grants: At a Town Board meeting in January a presentation was made by Glenn Gidaly, a Gardiner resident and professional grant writer. Gidaly covered the basics of how the Town of Gardiner could apply for grants and low cost loans.
There is always some town infrastructure that needs financing, like the Clove Road bridge which currently needs rebuilding. Mr. Gidaly emphasized that application for a grant should start a year ahead of the deadline. Most grants require that the town match funds. That means that if we applied for and won $50,000 to fix the bridge, the town board would vote to provide $50,000 in matching funds.
The last major grant that the town won financed our new sidewalks. This was secured by Nadine Lemmon when she was a town council member. There were two federal grants for phase 1 & 2. Nadine applied for and won the first grant in 2006 (though she had applied for one in 2005 that was denied). The grants won were from the Transportation Enhancements Program: $353,026, (some town match) and the ARRA grant (stimulus): $1,057,490 (no match). Since then Supervisor Zatz secured a $50,000 grant offered by NYS Senator John Bonacic, which will be used to extend the sidewalks to the ball field, including twenty five additional parking spaces.
Applying for grants takes work and persistence. What appears to be needed to secure more similarly useful grants is a dedicated paid person or a volunteer person or a committee to focus on grants. It would be a great place to serve the community of Gardiner.
Ah Yes, the Cell Tower Cometh: Well, the foundation is in, the tower is up, the fence around it is being built. The permits are all in place. Wireless Edge, the Wright Farm folks and many Gardinerites are waiting for word from AT&T, who is the first tenant on the new tower.