Smallest town with a gay-rights ordinance getting big donations to revitalize struggling economy

Vicco, Ky., an Appalachian village of 334 people in the southeastern part of the state, is reaping the rewards of being in the national spotlight for becoming the nation's smallest town to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. It was featured in August on the popular Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report," with an appearance bu openly gay mayor Johnny Cummings. Now, the cash-strapped fading coal town is receiving even more unexpected good news, in the form of cash donations, with pledges and grant applications amounting to more than $200,000, Bruce Schreiner reports for The Associated Press. The town's annual budget is $300,000. (Lexington Herald-Leader photo by Pablo Alcala: Cummings at a Kentucky Fairness Alliance rally)

"A mother and son in California pledged to buy all the new playground equipment for a city park, a project that could reach $90,000, Cummings said," Schreiner writes. "The town is applying for an $80,000 grant from a private, out-of-state company that encouraged the application, he said. A company representative reached out to town leaders after hearing about the ordinance, Cummings said. The money would be used to rehab buildings and the sidewalks in the downtown area."

Other projects include "cleaning up the weed- and trash-infested banks along the North Fork of the Kentucky River, which flows through town," Schreiner writes. "The mayor wants to build a walking path and fishing piers along the river. Now, people have to fish off a bridge as traffic goes by. He hopes to renovate downtown storefronts and put in new sidewalks. A more modest update will be a new downtown bench, paid for with a $1,000 donation from another Californian. The town may even become the setting for a reality-based television show. Cummings said he expects to review a contract proposal soon from a production company, but doesn't know which network might be interested." (Read more)

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2013/09/23/2838416/money-for-town-with-anti-discrimination.html#storylink=cpy