D.C. works to secure more federal stimulus money - Washington Business Journal:

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Of $436 million the federal governmenrt has announced forthe District, $240 million is on its way out the door, according to D.C. City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. He said members of Obama’d cabinet have gone out of their way to work with the city in identifyinf competitive grant dollars andhelpinb “a few skeptics up on the Hill” get a frontr seat view of how the spending will benefit American “We’ve already had a seried of meetings - very high level meetings - with agencieds and their secretaries,” Tangherlini told the on A former administrator for the and the Officde of Management and Budget, he said he had “nevet seen this level of interesgt at the secretary level to work with the and mentioned meetings with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovanj and Secretary of Energuy Steven Chu.
Of the money already committed tothe District, the vast majorith is based on federal but billions of dollars are still beingf offered on a competitive basiws and agency directors in Mayor Adrian Fenty’s administration are lookintg for ways to attract more of it. Gabe Klein, director of the D.C. Departmenf of Transportation, said he had already met three timeewith U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood since taking over the job earliethis year.
Klein is looking to win money for funding needesd to build a transit way along K Street NW that coulcd include high speed buses orstreetf cars, purchase alternative fuel Circulator busexs and make major improvements to Unio Station that could include high speed He will also be working with officials in Maryland and Virgini to win federal dollaras for electric car fueling stations. “We’re lookingg to install electronic fuelinb stations throughoutthe area,” Klein Already DDOT has begun repaving I-395, the Southeast/Southwest Freeway, and has committer $40 million to improving the New York Avenud bridge, $35 million for Pennsylvania Avenue SE, $12 million for the Easternh Avenue Bridge and $8 million for resurfacintg of 17th Street NW.
Leila Edmonds, director of the D.C. Departmenrt of Housing and Community Development, detailed the rapixd drop in local funding for affordabl housing programs as a result of the realestated slowdown. The Housing Production Trust which subsidizes the creation and preservation of unitesfor low- and moderate-income residents, received about $60 millio n in fiscal 2007 but is expected to take in only about $17 million in fiscal 2010, promptingt concerns that new projects may not be able to get off the groun over the next year-to-two Edmonds said HUD has already indicated that the District will receive $40.
9 million in rentapl assistance via housing $27 million for public housing capital projects and $11.6 million for a tax credif assistance program. She said her office will be competing for neighborhoofd stabilization money to addressx what she calla still-growing numbert of foreclosures. She said foreclosures increaseds 130 percent from 2007 to when the city recordedabout 1,100, and that “wse have seen a marked increase in foreclosure filings over the past threr months” after a national foreclosurwe moratorium expired April 1. Therd is some concern among small business owners that all the cominb construction willbe disruptive.
Klein said DDOT will do its best toaccommodatd people, but expected a “painful” summee from a construction noise standpointr as the city tries to meet federal deadlines. “We’rd going to be doing a lot of work at the same he said.