I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 994
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make
grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of
open space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 13, 2001
Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. BORSKI, Mr.
MCGOVERN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. MCKINNEY,
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of Cali-
fornia, Mr. CLAY, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr.
BARCIA, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. ACKERMAN, and Mrs. MEEK
of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment to make grants to nonprofit community organiza-
tions for the development of open space on municipally
owned vacant lots in urban areas.
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 ‘‘Revitalizing Cities
Through Parks Enhancement Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) open spaces and community parks are a
critically important portion of urban infrastructure;
(2) many inner-city areas suffer from a lack of
public open space for community residents to use for
recreation, social interaction, and relief from dense
urban conditions;
(3) vacant lots, many in public ownership as a
result of tax foreclosures, are common in inner-city
areas;
(4) the recent economic recession substantially
increased the number of such vacant lots;
(5) such lots often become drug trafficking
areas, thereby decreasing the value of surrounding
property and leading to higher crime rates in inner-
city areas; and
(6) the refurbishment of such lots, by removing
garbage and rubble and creating well-lighted and
maintained open spaces and community parks,
would establish positive assets for surrounding com-
munities, provide positive outlets for community
youth, increase property values, make other types of
investment in the communities more attractive, and
generally improve the quality of life for residents of
the affected communities.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development shall, to the extent amounts are pro-
vided in appropriation Acts pursuant to section 13, make
grants under this Act to qualified community organiza-
tions for establishment of community open space in urban
areas.
(b) AMOUNT.—The aggregate amount of any grants
made under this Act to any single qualified community
organization in any single fiscal year may not exceed
$250,000.
SEC. 4. QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.
A grant under this Act may be made only to a non-
profit organization that—
(1) has among its purposes significant activities
related to the improvement of the neighborhood,
community, or city in which any property that is to
be assisted with the grant under this Act is located;
(2) has a history of serving such neighborhood,
community, or city;
(3) maintains, through significant representa-
tion on the organization’s governing board and oth-
erwise, accountability to residents of such neighbor-
hood, community, or city; and
(4) complies with such standards of financial
accountability as the Secretary may require.
SEC. 5. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.
(a) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts from a grant
made under this Act may be used by the recipient of the
grant only for costs relating to the establishment of com-
munity open space, as follows:
(1) To develop eligible municipal real property
for use as community open space, which shall in-
clude design, clearance, demolition, removal, beau-
tification, site improvements, and construction or in-
stallation of facilities and improvements for such
property.
(2) To lease or otherwise obtain the use of eligi-
ble municipal real property for establishment of
community open space.
(3) To maintain community open space.
(4) To cover other administrative costs related
to the establishment, development, maintenance, ad-
ministration, or management of the community open
space, except that not more than 10 percent of any
single grant made under this Act may be used for
costs under this paragraph.
(b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Amounts
from a grant made under this Act may be used by the
recipient of a grant only to carry out activities under sub-
section (a) that are described in the development plan of
the recipient approved by the Secretary under section 7
or that are described in an amendment to the development
plan approved by the Secretary under section 9.
(c) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—A
qualified community organization that applies for a grant
under this Act shall provide for involvement by interested
residents and organizations of the neighborhood, commu-
nity, or city in which the property to be assisted under
the plan is located in—
(1) establishing the development plan under
section 7(b), which shall include—
(A) making the proposed development plan
available in a manner that, in the determination
of the Secretary, provides interested parties a
reasonable opportunity to examine its content
and to submit comments on the proposed plan;
and
(B) holding one or more public hearings to
obtain the views of interested parties regarding
the proposed plan; and
(2) carrying out activities under the develop-
ment plan, if the qualified community organization
is a recipient.