Monessen seeks parking garage grant

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

The City of Monessen has applied for nearly $1.3 million in grant funding to rehab the downtown public parking garage.

Mayor Matt Shorraw said the $910,000 grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s multimodal transportation fund program would require a match of about $360,000 from the city. The project is expected to cost $1.3 million.

Because the city doesn’t have $360,000 to meet that obligation, Shorraw said he is also applying for a federal grant that would cover that amount. Shorraw said the city would turn away the $910,000 million DCED grant if the matching grant is not received.

Council members Lois Thomas and Tony Orzechowski were skeptical because Shorraw previously said the same thing about a grant from the Blight Remediation Program to stabilize the former Health Mart building on Donner Avenue.

In that case, Shorraw applied for a $300,000 grant without talking to council first and it required a $30,000 match. In August 2020, Shorraw said the city wouldn’t accept the grant if he couldn’t get the program to waive the matching fee.

In June this year, the city learned it had been awarded about $200,000 toward the project and Shorraw said the city would have to pay the matching fees and move forward with the project.

Thomas and Orzechowski were vocal about that situation at the time and brought up the same concerns regarding this grant and the much higher matching funds it would require.

Shorraw said the downtown parking garage is dangerous in its current condition, and concrete is falling from the first and second floors, which is why they’re closed. Shorraw said if the garage were fixed, because it’s enclosed, the city could charge for parking leases, and the money could be used to maintain it.

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