Several city residents attended Monday night’s council
meeting to protest spending CDBG money on a skateboard
park rather than safety enhancements
NEWBURGH – The Newburgh City Council has taken a step back from building a skateboard park with $560,000 in federal community development block grant money. That is because residents are furious over the most recent murder of an 18-year-old man on a darkened street.
Many residents are calling on the city to spend the money on additional street surveillance cameras.
Mayor Judy Kennedy said public safety is priority number one in Newburgh.
“You have two different groups that want different agendas,” Kennedy said. “We are trying to listen to all of it. Safety is a huge issue here in the city and people’s lives are at stake. Safety first has to be the motto.”
The city council was all set to award the contract to build the skateboard park earlier this week, but when a large number of residents called for more security cameras, lawmakers held off on the park. Kennedy now says they may look to a scaled down version to make more money available for safety concerns.
