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Campbell wants building for center
By jeanne starmack
campbell
The city is taking steps to buy an old building for use as a community center.
City administrator Jack Dill said Friday that council is preparing to use Community Development Block Grant funds to buy the Old Faith Temple Baptist Church building on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Dill said the city council started legislation Wednesday at its regular meeting to use $15,000 to purchase liens that are on the building.
The city then would foreclose on the building, he said.
The legislation has to go through two more readings before council it becomes law.
The building is near the city hall on Tenney Avenue. Councilman Bryan Tedesco, who spearheaded the city’s effort to acquire it, has said he envisions a center that offers meals for senior citizens, services for disabled people and after-school and other youth activities.
A group called the Senior Citizen Benefactor Committee has been raising money for the building.
So far, Dill said, a new roof and a new parking lot have been donated.
The city’s is not the first effort toward acquiring the building for use as a community center.
Two years ago, a group of community leaders formed at the request of the city’s Ecumenical Council.
But plans to have the city help it obtain grants to refurbish the building fell through, and the group stopped its efforts.