Young and old win funding feud

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- While a compromise was reached last week in a funding

battle between young and old, there was no money left over to help an

organization housing people suffering from AIDS.

An advisory board made up of residents finalized its recommendations May

4 to the City Council on how to spend $287,400 in federal Community

Development Block Grant money. The funds pay for area social services for

low-income families. The board received requests totaling $483,373,

officials said.

A dispute over $10,000 of funding threatened to shut down programs that

provide a dance class and a trip to Yosemite for at-risk children from

Oak View, a low-income neighborhood.

City staff wanted the funding for Oak View youth, but the board had

initially decided to give the money to the Council on Aging for its

senior transportation service. The service leases vans to transport

individuals unable to move around without assistance.

The advisory board relented at its meeting last Thursday after Ron Hagan,

the city’s director of community services, guaranteed the senior program

will not be reduced and that city staff will work to increase its funding

to meet the needs of a growing elderly population.

“Now the kids are going to get what they want, and the seniors are

assured of what they want,” Chairman Jeff Lebow said.

But not everyone made out so well.

The board rejected a plea for $25,000 from Annie’s House, which provides

long-term, rent-subsidized lodging for individuals coping with the

devastating effects of AIDS.

The money would help the home hire a paid manager instead of relying on

volunteers, said spokeswoman Patricia Goodman, who came to the meeting to

ask the committee to reconsider.

There’s so much stigma associated with the incurable disease that the

organization prefers not to reveal the address of its Huntington Beach

shelter, which has served up to five residents at a time since 1994, she

said. There is another branch in Santa Ana.

“We’re an open door,” Goodman said.

Lebow sympathized with the group’s plight but pointed out that there were

more worthy causes than available money.

Some of the other groups that did not get a recommendation for funding

are the Salvation Army and the West County Family YMCA.

Goodman said she plans to make a final pitch to the council, which is

expected to make the ultimate decision on funding priorities June 19.