I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3734 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 
and carry out an urban revitalization and livable communities program 
to provide Federal grants to urban areas for the rehabilitation of criti-
cally needed recreational areas and facilities and development of improved 
recreation programs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 6, 2009 
Mr. SIRES (for himself, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 
Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. ROTHMAN of New 
Jersey, Mr. MCMAHON, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. 
RUSH, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. DAVIS of Ala-
bama, Mr. COHEN, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. LEWIS of 
Georgia, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. CAPUANO) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Serv-
ices, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment to establish and carry out an urban revitalization 
and livable communities program to provide Federal 
grants to urban areas for the rehabilitation of critically 
needed recreational areas and facilities and development 
of improved recreation programs, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Urban Revitalization 
and Livable Communities Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the 2000 United States Cen-
sus, 79 percent of the population of the United 
States lives in urban areas. 
(2) The quality of life in urban areas is closely 
related to the availability of fully functional park 
and recreation systems including land, facilities, and 
programs. 
(3) Residents of urban areas need close-to-home 
recreation opportunities that are adequate to special-
ized urban needs, with parks and facilities properly 
located, developed, and well-maintained. 
(4) The greatest deficiencies in recreation with 
respect to land, facilities, and programs are found in 
many urban areas, especially at the neighborhood 
level. 
(5) Inadequate Federal financing of urban 
recreation programs has led to the deterioration of 
facilities, nonavailability of recreation services, and 
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an inability to adapt recreation programs to chang-
ing circumstances. 
(6) According to the Centers for Disease con-
trol and Prevention (CDC), over the last 25 years, 
rates of obesity have more than tripled among ado-
lescents ages 12 to 19 and doubled among adults 
ages 20 to 74 and children ages 6 to 11. 
(7) Physical inactivity contributes to obesity. A 
study by the CDC found that the creation of, or en-
hanced access to, places for physical activity led to 
a 25.6 percent increase in the percentage of people 
exercising on 3 or more days a week. Physical activ-
ity can improve physical and mental health. The an-
nual costs of medical spending and lost productivity 
from individuals in the United States being obese 
and 
overweight 
are 
estimated 
to 
be 
$139,000,000,000. 
(8) Urban parks and recreation facilities play 
key roles in improving the health of the population 
of the United States by providing convenient access 
to the places, spaces, and opportunities that lead to 
increased physical activity. 
(9) According to the Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 
without structured, supervised activities in the after- 
school hours, youth are at greater risk of being vic-
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tims of crime or participating in anti-social behav-
iors. Juveniles are at the highest risk of being a vic-
tim of crime between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., and 
the peak hour for juvenile crime is between 3:00 
p.m. and 4:00 p.m., the first hour after most stu-
dents are dismissed from school. 
(10) The National Youth Violence Prevention 
Resource Center reported that students who spend 
no time in extracurricular activities, such as those 
offered in after-school programs, are 49 percent 
more likely to have used drugs and 37 percent more 
likely to become teen parents than are those stu-
dents who spend 1 to 4 hours per week in extra-
curricular activities. 
SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To authorize the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development to establish and carry out an 
urban revitalization and livable communities pro-
gram to provide Federal grants for the rehabilitation 
of critically needed recreational areas and facilities 
and development of improved recreation programs in 
urban areas. 
(2) To improve urban areas through economic 
development. 
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(3) To prevent and improve chronic disease out-
comes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, de-
pression, and obesity. 
(4) To improve recreational areas and facilities 
and expand recreation services in urban areas with 
a high incidence of crime and to help expand recre-
ation opportunities for at-risk youth. 
(5) To promote collaboration between local 
agencies involved in parks and recreation, law en-
forcement, youth social services, and juvenile justice 
system. 
(6) To ensure accessibility to therapeutic recre-
ation services and to provide recreation opportunities 
for injured or disabled members of the Armed 
Forces. 
(7) To encourage the renovation of urban rec-
reational areas and facilities with environmentally 
beneficial components, when possible, such as sus-
tainable landscape features and upcycled and recy-
cled materials, and to prioritize the selection of 
projects that provide environmental benefits to 
urban areas, including by updating lighting, planting 
trees, increasing the urban forestry canopy, improv-
ing stormwater management, increasing green infra-
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structure, employing water conservation measures, 
and adding green spaces to urban areas. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘recreational areas and facilities’’ 
means indoor or outdoor parks, buildings, sites, or 
other facilities that are dedicated to recreation pur-
poses and administered by public or private non-
profit agencies to serve the recreation needs of com-
munity residents, with emphasis on public facilities 
readily accessible to residential neighborhoods, in-
cluding multiple-use community centers that have 
recreation as a primary purpose, but excluding 
major sports arenas, exhibition areas, and con-
ference halls used primarily for commercial sports, 
spectator, or display activities. 
(2) The term ‘‘rehabilitation and construction 
grants’’ means matching capital grants to general 
purpose local governments for the purpose of re-
building, remodeling, expanding, or developing exist-
ing or building new recreational areas and facilities, 
including improvements in park landscapes, infra-
structure, buildings, and support facilities, and the 
provision of lighting, emergency phones, or other 
capital improvements to improve the security of 
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urban parks, but excluding routine maintenance and 
upkeep activities. 
(3) The term ‘‘innovation grants’’ means 
matching grants to general purpose local govern-
ments to cover costs of personnel, facilities, equip-
ment, supplies, or services designed to demonstrate 
innovative and cost-effective ways to augment park 
and recreation opportunities at the neighborhood 
level and to address common problems related to fa-
cility operations and improved delivery of recreation 
service, but excluding routine operation and mainte-
nance activities. 
(4) The term ‘‘at-risk youth recreation grants’’ 
means matching grants for new programs, or con-
tinuing program support for existing programs, that 
provide constructive alternatives to youth at risk for 
engaging in criminal behavior, including grants for 
operating or coordinating recreation programs and 
services in neighborhoods and communities with a 
high prevalence of crime, particularly violent crime 
or crime committed by youthful offenders. 
(5) The term ‘‘recovery action program grants’’ 
means matching grants to general purpose local gov-
ernments for development of local park and recre-
ation recovery action programs, including for re-
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