Spending CDBG money on colored lights under the North Main Street railroad viaduct sounded like a good idea for about five minutes of last week’s City Council meeting.

Actually, it doesn’t sound good even then.

But the project looks even worse when you consider the types of projects the money city officials want to spend on colored lights could be used to greater benefit to city residents.

City officials don’t want to use any additional ARPA funding for the viaduct lighting project, which is good. Instead, the BPU will pay part of the cost and part of the cost would be paid with CDBG funding.

“For this project I believe it’s coming out of the bucket that allows us to do public facility-type work,” Crystal Surdyk, city development director, told council members. “We have a significant amount in that public infrastructure right now, so there’s not a project that it would take away from that is in the queue. We have a hard time getting through it quick enough. Every year we’re scrambling at the last minute to try to get money spent. We use it a lot of times for road projects, street projects, and we have to use it within a certain time frame. So we’ve looked into that line item and we’ve got the funding that we’ve got available to use. It would help us meet timeliness required by HUD and would be able to complete this project in this year.”

That raises several questions, the first being why more than $45,000 in ARPA funding was used for security lighting in the first place if the project fit CDBG funding guidelines in the first place. It strikes us as a waste of ARPA funding. It makes one wonder, too, other projects have been paid for with ARPA funding that could have used CDBG funding. Either way, a city that is looking for money to pay down a $6.9 million bond act likely just found another $45,000. Stick with the original $45,000 budget and rescind the ARPA funding for the project.

There is an even bigger question. The federal Housing and Urban Development Department guidelines for public facilities gives a wide range of projects for CDBG money that include streets, curbs, water and sewer lines; neighborhood facilities including public schools, libraries, recreational facilities, parks and playgrounds; facilities for people with special needs; energy efficiency improvements and handicapped accessibility improvements.

Is there not one project in Jamestown that doesn’t fit that definition that is more important than colored lights under the railroad viaduct?

We have a hard time believing that.

It certainly makes one think the Development Department can be more proactive identifying more impactful projects, like further facade renovations downtown or finding ways to help with rundown buildings or even programs to help the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation with neighnorhood revitalization. The popularity of ARPA-funded programs makes clear there is a need in the neighnorhoods. It sometimes seems as if the city waits for projects to come to them rather than proactively seeking out projects.

That’s why Jeff Russell, R-At Large, was right to ask Surdyk for more information over concerns voters will be upset about this use of money.

“I think some of their concern is the backlash that often comes from the public when you put up colored lights and you spend a lot of money doing it, people get upset over that,” Russell said. “The public, our constituents, ask ‘Why are you spending so much money on colored lighting when there’s so many other things that need to be fixed?’ You can guarantee if this project goes forward that’s what we’re going to hear.”

Council members should hear those complaints because, in our view, people have a right to be upset. Colored lights to better use a railroad viaduct near the Riverwalk is not the biggest need for Community Development Block Grant money nor for ARPA money when there simply have to be more pressing needs. If there aren’t, the federal government should rethink its entitlement communities approach.

We don’t doubt there isn’t a better project ready to go. The question the council should ask is why there isn’t.