Feedback Foundation

The City Council on Monday approved a $60.5-million budget for the 1991-92 fiscal year. The budget includes $9.1 million for the city's water services and $9.3 million for the Redevelopment Agency, along with $16 million for improvements to streets, lighting and other capital projects. Although the City Council held three workshops on the 1991-92 budget earlier this summer, it waited to adopt it until August because of uncertainty surrounding the state budget and its impact on the city.

Six nonprofit organizations offering services in Anaheim will receive more city funds after money was reallocated that had been earmarked for transportation services for senior citizens. The city Community Services Department distributed $50,000 to the agencies rather than put the money toward senior transportation.

The U.S. Marines hope that parents shopping for toys in Orange County remember other children who might not be on Santa's list this Christmas. The annual Toys for Tots program, run by the Marine Corps Reserve, provides Christmas presents to underprivileged children throughout the nation, said the Orange County program coordinator, Capt. William Fox. The toy collection, which has grown from 7,000 toys nationwide in 1947 to more than 7.5 million last year, has become a major operation, Fox said.

The City Council has approved two agreements that will provide food and transportation for senior residents at a cost of about $26,000. The first contract, with Orange County Transportation Authority, was approved unanimously and will continue a lunchtime ride program for seniors for about $16,000 in city funds. Brea has been contracting for the bus service, which covers transportation to and from the Brea Senior Center's daily noon lunch program, since 1993.

The City Council has awarded $1.2 million in federal grants to dozens of local community groups and city programs, handing out the largest portions to police, recreation and anti-gang programs. The council unanimously awarded the Community Development Block Grants to more than 40 programs at its regular meeting Monday night. After approving the grants, City Councilwoman Patricia McGuigan said she wished the city could offer more assistance to financially strapped community service programs.

The City Council agreed to partially fund the Feedback Foundation, a group that assists residents displaced by city code enforcement efforts, while the city investigates the foundation's operation. The council voted Tuesday night to grant $55,000 in federal funds to the foundation and have city staff members prepare a report on the program's operation to be presented in December. Foundation manager LaDale Dunbar said the organization would have run out of money without Tuesday's action.

A rally will be held in Birch Park April 12 by groups protesting the Reagan Administration's proposal to cut off community development block grants in 1987, grants used by the cities for a variety of programs. A group called the Coalition for Liberty, Health and Housing for All is organizing the rally, which will include the Housing Coalition of Orange County, Urban League of Orange County, Lutheran Social Services, the Feedback Foundation and the Dayle McIntosh Center for the Disabled.

More than a dozen public service agencies will share $1.8 million in federal funds during fiscal 1996-97 if the city receives the amount it anticipates for its Community Development Block Grant Program. In drawing up the budget for the coming fiscal year, the city designated federal funds for these nonprofit agencies: Meals on Wheels of Fullerton, Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County, Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Services, and Boys and Girls Club of Fullerton.

State Department of Housing and Community Development Director Susan A. DeSantis put her seal of approval on a recommendation for a $1-million, low-interest loan to a group hoping to rehabilitate the former Santa Ana Hotel as housing for low-income residents.

Loneliness in old age is a pain no matter where you live, but it's particularly difficult for Orange County seniors because "most people come from someplace else and neighborhoods keep changing," says Shirley Cohen, executive director of the Feedback Foundation. And even stable neighborhoods are often empty because it takes two incomes to support a household in this high-priced housing market.