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Owner seeks help to restore bowling center; council says CDBG likely ineligible
Summary
Mark Williamson told the council he invested roughly $270,000 in a local bowling center that hosts Special Olympics leagues and school visits and asked whether CDBG funds could help fix the parking lot. Council members said CDBG is generally not available for private, for-profit businesses and referred him to LCDC and other grant programs.
Mark Williamson addressed the council to ask whether the city’s CDBG funds could be used to help repair a privately owned bowling center that offers community programming.
"I bought it with my own money 4 years ago, and I put about 270,000 of my own cash into trying to fix it up," Williamson said, noting the facility hosts Special Olympics-type leagues and school field trips. He said the parking lot continues to cause problems after winters and that he had met with state senators to seek assistance.
Council President and other members responded that CDBG funding is not typically available to for-profit enterprises and that the city could not direct block-grant funds to a private business. Council members referred Williamson to the Lackawanna Community Development Corporation and to county and state grant opportunities that might be more appropriate for business rehabilitation.
