Congress Cuts CDBG Funds; Cities Feel the Hurt

"Allentown, which used to spend about $2 million a year rehabilitating properties, now spends $1.2 million. It used to employ 16 local contractors and their workers, but now has work for only 10. Local officials worry that they will have to cut back even more.

The historic Old Allentown area, a stretch of neat brick row houses with brightly painted wooden shutters and the occasional rainbow flag flying, is far removed from the Rust Belt image of the city that Billy Joel captured in his song 'Allentown.'

As he drove through the neighborhood and its surrounding streets, pointing out blighted houses that had been restored and carved-up rental apartments that had been made into single-family homes again, David Paulus, the director of the city's building standards and safety bureau, said the grant program had helped spur private investment."