Friday, March 4, 2011

KOPPELL VOWS TO FIGHT SENIOR CENTER CLOSINGS

Not only are our youth at risk by budget cuts , our seniors are too. It is shameful when a society abandons its elders. Hopefully our Bronx seniors will not have to carry an unfair portion of the burden since so many of them do not have alternative choices for housing, care or recreation as mentioned by Koppell below.

Gregory
*****
For Immediate Release
KOPPELL VOWS TO FIGHT SENIOR CENTER CLOSINGS

Council Member Oliver Koppell was outraged by the announcement made by Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Commissioner, Department for the Aging (DFTA), on Thursday, March 3, 2011 that 105 senior centers throughout the city were threatened with closure. Four of these centers, Bedford Park Multi-Service Center for Senior Citizens, JASA-Van Cortlandt Senior Center, Parkside Senior Center and RAIN Nereid, are in Koppell’s district.

Commissioner Barrios-Paoli said the announced closings were precipitated by Governor Cuomo’s proposal to cut $25 million from Title XX funding for senior services. She indicated that the centers identified for closing were underutilized.

Koppell said, “The loss of the senior centers in my district and throughout the city will have a devastating effect on the lives of thousands of senior citizens. Not only do the centers serve meals, they provide exercise, recreation and socialization to relieve the loneliness that many older people experience. I intend to enlist the help of my legislative colleagues in Albany and in the Council to do everything possible to keep these centers open. I know that Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz as Chairman of the Committee on Aging, is leading the fight to restore the Title XX funding. I will do all I can on a city level to keep these centers open.”

1 comment:

ajlounyinjurylaw said...

This is a decision that will hurt so many of our seniors. These center are needed and without them there will be social isolation and loneliness coupled with poverty. For some it will be traumatizing. The senior community centers could be as simple as a reason to get dressed in the morning or a meal that they cannot afford.