CUOMO VISITS SAN DIEGO TO MARK PROGRESS OF URBAN VILLAGE AND CONGRATULATE CITY ON PROGRESS OF ENTERPRISE COMMUNITY

SAN DIEGO, CA - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo told San Diego officials today that the city's Enterprise Community is making strong progress in spurring economic development and revitalizing an inner city neighborhood.

Congressmen Bob Filner and Mayor Susan Golding joined Cuomo in a tour of the Urban Village complex that is being built in the Enterprise Community with the help of $8.4 million in funding from a broad range of HUD programs. The project has also received $5 million in funding from the Price Charities.

The Urban Village complex includes a police substation and adjoining gymnasium, which were opened in 1996. A library, park, child care center and Head Start preschool are now under construction.

"San Diego's local government, business community and non-profit groups have joined with residents of the Enterprise Community to work as a united team to revitalize the area," Cuomo said, as he signed a benchmark agreement marking progress by San Diego's Enterprise Community in achieving its goals.

"HUD is proud to be part of the successful partnership that is working aggressively to turn your hopes and dreams for San Diego's inner city into reality," Cuomo said, on the first day of a four-day visit to Southern California to survey HUD-funded programs and meet with local officials and residents. "Our role in Washington is not to tell you what is best for your community. Our role is to help you implement programs you decide at the local level will deliver the greatest benefits."

"I am honored to welcome Secretary Cuomo to San Diego," Filner said . "The Urban Village project is a perfect example of the success that can be achieved by building a bridge between government, business and community residents."

San Diego's Enterprise Community was designated by President Clinton in 1994 - one of 72 Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities created around the nation. The designation won San Diego $3 million in federal grants over 10 years to act as a catalyst to spark an economic rebirth of the area.

President Clinton's proposed 1999 budget calls for the creation of 15 additional urban Empowerment Zones in inner cities. The Zones provide additional incentives beyond those offered by Enterprise Communities for job creation and economic revitalization. San Diego would be eligible to apply for Zone designation if Congress approves expansion of the program.

The President's budget would boost assistance to the City of San Diego from major HUD programs to an estimated $42.8 million in 1999 - a $7.2 million increase over HUD spending in the city this year.

Cuomo said the President's budget would jump-start the economies of America's communities, particularly inner cities, where job growth has trailed other parts of the country. Just 13 percent of the 14 million jobs created around the nation in the past five years are in central cities.

In addition to the new Empowerment Zones, nationwide programs targeted for expansion and improvement in the budget involving jobs and economic opportunity include: $400 million in grants for a Community Empowerment Fund to create and retain an estimated 280,000 jobs; expanded Community Development Block Grants to local communities; and increased funding for programs to redevelop contaminated industrial sites and to train high school dropouts for jobs.