Exciting News!

Congressman delivering $200,000 for Vets Hall

From the Danville Express:
January 5, 2010
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by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney (D., 11th) will be in Danville on Thursday for a happy occasion. The congressman will deliver a check for $200,000 of federal funding that he secured to be used toward the renovation of the Veterans Memorial Building on Hartz Avenue at Prospect in downtown Danville.

"Every year he submits funding requests for local organizations and this year was able to get the funds for Danville," said Sarah Hersh, District 11 communications director in Washington, D.C. "It's part of the regular appropriations process."

The funds were allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

McNerney will present the check at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 7, to Mayor Mike Doyle and council members Karen Stepper, Newell Arnerich, Candace Andersen and Robert Storer as well as representatives of the Danville Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Blue Star Moms, Sentinels of Freedom and the Danville Veterans Memorial Building Board of Trustees. Bob Chipley will represent the Veterans Memorial Building Development Committee of San Ramon Valley, which requested the funds.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $7 million, and the Town of Danville has contributed $5 million. San Ramon Valley veterans groups are aiming to raise $3 million - $2 million toward construction with another $1 million for their furnishings and to establish a veterans endowment fund.

The current building plans are the result of a series of 12 public meetings held between December 2008 and August 2009; the total size of the building will double, from 6,300 to 12,792 square feet.

"We are planning to bid the project at the beginning of March, then award a contract and start construction beginning in June," said Danville Town Manager Joe Calabrigo in an e-mail. "We will start to see activity on the site beginning this month with the tree removal."