AG says plan would aid distressed areas hit by crime and poverty
Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn will announce a $29 million plan to tap funds from the financial settlement with Bank of America and Citigroup to aid “Delaware’s most economically distressed and crime-stricken communities.”
The announcement will be made in a press conference conducted by Denn in Wilmington on Wednesday.
A media alert said, “Lifting Up Delaware Communities,” is designed to address housing, crime, recidivism, substance abuse and education in some of Delaware’s most economically distressed and crime-stricken communities.
Denn has lobbied for funds to be used to aid such communities and recently got an agreement from the General Assembly’s Joint Finance Committee to use $2 million in funds to put more police officers on the street in Dover and Wilmington.
The state and Wilmington Mayor Dennis Williams have been at odds over demands by the state for information on the deployment of police.
The funds came out of a settlement with the banks over allegations of mortgage practices that led to a new collapse of the nation’s financial system in 2008 and 2009.
The state is now facing a lawsuit over the use of more than $30 million in the settlement to balance the state budget earlier this year.
A few legislators have expressed concern over the decision that came out of a budget that came out of a budget deal in the waning hours of the legislative session.
The suit was filed by the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, a watchdog group that monitors community investments by banks in the state.
Left unanswered to date is why the settlement has led to little if any compensation for those who lost their homes as the result of the practices alleged in legal actions that led to the settlement.
Banks admitted no guilt when agreeing to the settlement.
The plan may also be part of a strategy by Denn to discourage legislators from tapping the fund again should another budget shortfall appear.
