Residents think of ways to revitalize Athens Borough

Morning-times.com  12-13-11

Residents think of ways to revitalize Athens Borough

By KRISTY WESTBROOK

Staff Writer

Several residents talk to a FEMA official during Monday’s meeting at Athens High School. Pat McDonald/Morning TimesATHENS BOROUGH – Athens Borough residents Monday brainstormed on ways to bring the borough back after the recent flooding.

A community meeting was held in the Athens Area High School cafeteria on long-term community recovery with local and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials.

Athens Borough Emergency Management Coordinator, and co-chair of the Athens Recovery Steering Committee Scott Riley headed the meeting alongside co-chair Yvonne Maslin. Riley and Maslin created the committee with the help of FEMA, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency officials and Bradford County Emergency Management Agency representatives.

“Hopefully, this will help move the borough forward,” said Riley.

“It will take all of us to put all of the pieces of Athens back together,” Maslin said to residents, adding that Athens is not the same after the recent flooding and will not be again.

Several Athens Borough business owners attended Monday’s meeting. Pat McDonald/Morning Times“Together we can shape what will happen,” said Maslin. She said the borough now has the opportunity to come back even stronger.

Before creating a new community, Maslin said residents have to decide what they liked about the borough before the recent flooding and how they would like to be after it is revitalized.

Long-Term Recovery

John Boyle of FEMA, who is specifically working on long-term community recovery, said the Athens Borough Steering Committee and its FEMA consultants have also been speaking with agencies such as the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Committee and the Central Bradford Progress Authority on ways to find funding for the borough once reconstruction plans are devised.

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Minot Adopts FEMA Recovery Plan

KFYR TV News, Dec 19th, 2011
The City of Minot has approved a comprehensive, long-term recovery plan.    See Plan  

FEMA published the plan December 7, after months of public input following the Souris River Flood. Now that the Minot City Council is on-board attention turns to getting started and footing the bill.

Six months since the Souris River`s crest through Minot, emotions are still raw in neighborhoods... Inside Minot City Hall elected officials approved a FEMA plan that aims to get the region back on its feet.

More than 150 pages in length with a completion date years from now, it`s a challenge, but Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman says the investment is worth it. "A lot of times these kinda plans get set on the shelf and are never looked at again but I think this is the kinda plan that we can honestly take a good hard try at and accomplish," Zimbelman said after Monday`s City Council Meeting.

Building affordable housing, promoting economic development and building parks are all priorities of the plan. Now, the minds behind the final draft say it`s important that communities work quickly to get the smaller- more manageable projects completed first.

"A lot of the things we`ve worked on in previous disasters we start with the small things, work on those, get those accomplished, and then start working on biggest things. It`s kinda that confidence builder if you will," said FEMA representative Steve Greene. 

The other reason planners put smaller things first: money. Big undertakings such as improving traffic along Burdick Expressway as well as a miles-long greenway will be expensive and while this plan doesn`t come with a check- it isn`t without suggestions.

Greene said, "We don`t guarantee funding but the one thing we can do is start asking our federal and state partners what programs they have out there that these communities can take advantage of."

Will it be expensive? Definitely; but Zimbelman says the cost is worth it, "Can`t let that hold you back. You have to have a vision and I think this sets us on a track for a better Minot at the end."

Nothing about this plan is set in stone, but Minot leaders hope this will be the bed rock of a healthier city.

Ward County Commissioners will discuss the plan Tuesday.