But residents hope it's just seed money to leverage private investment.
Now, local residents are hoping to pay them back, by rallying around the store, which may close soon if the property changes hands.
Some local residents are hoping that the Bloomberg administration will be receptive to their concerns.
Yeşildere residents hope that this may prevent further loss in population.
Once the construction work on the bridge is completed in two years, residents hope the street will be returned to one way.
Neither has there been the rush of revitalization or development that many residents hoped for.
The residents hope this will mean that the village population will increase again.
But some residents and community advocates hope that the odds go against the plan.
So the residents can only wait and hope that someone comes up with an answer to their dilemma.
Some residents, however, hope once again to change the town's 53-year-old "dry" status.