City, state to spend $1.7M on street fixup near food bank

July 10, 2008 01:57 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Maddie Hanna, Globe Correspondent

The state and City of Boston will spend more than $1.7 million toward sprucing up the streets near the Greater Boston Food Bank before it moves into its new, expanded building next year, officials said today.

The money -- $1.3 million from the state, and about $400,000 from the city -- will improve access to the facility. It will also help fund a full-scale reconstruction of South Bay Avenue, including installation of sidewalks, curbstones, street lighting, and storm drainage.

The food bank's director said the improvements were necessary before the new building could open.

"These are the hidden back-door issues, the infrastructure we need," Catherine D'Amato, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank, said after a news conference this morning.

The food bank will move from Atkinson Street to a new $35 million building on South Bay. The larger building will allow the bank to double the number of people it serves, said Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

"We face some very difficult times, and that's why it's so important to have the food bank supplying those nutritious foods," Menino said during the news conference.

With food and fuel prices on the rise, the food bank has seen a 40 percent increase in demand during the past six months, D'Amato said.

The food bank serves 600 organizations, 190 cities and towns, and 83,000 people a week throughout Eastern Massachusetts.