CSCS: Council of Senior Centers and Services of NYC, Inc.

Queens Chronicle Article

Thursday, March 17, 2011

By Elizabeth Daley

Publication & Publisher: Queens Chronicle

Frances Fitzpatrick, 94, attends Ravenswood Senior Center every
day and spoke out against budget cuts at a rally there.
PHOTO BY ELIZABETH DALEY

You’re never too old to protest, according to seniors at centers in Ravenswood and Queensbridge. The elderly showed up in full force last Friday to speak out against proposed facility closures, which they say would leave them with no place to go.

“We won’t let you shut us in. We want to be able to get out and meet and greet people,” said Olivine Adams, 67, to a crowd of angry people at Ravenswood Senior Center, some with canes and walkers. “Our minds are still active and we want to keep it that way.”

A center regular, Adams began coming 12 years ago for meals and recreation. The program offers bingo, exercise and even Nintendo Wii to its patrons.

“Watching 94-year-old Frances play Wii bowling is one of the greatest things I have ever seen,” said Ravenswood Senior Center program director Kryss Shane of one of her regulars.

If Frances Fitzpatrick doesn’t show up to the center, Shane said a member of her staff will walk over to Fitzpatrick’s apartment to see if she is OK. Shane said many center patrons don’t have anyone else to check in on them, “this is their family,” she said.

If the governor’s budget cuts stand, the Ravenswood center and 21 others in the borough may close, including seven in western Queens.

According to Shane, closing centers would be “pennywise but pound foolish,” since many seniors are able to live independently thanks to the meals and attention they receive at centers near their homes.

Though state Senate and Assembly members have voted to fully restore the Title XX funding, which provides money to the senior centers, the budget remains in limbo.

Seniors from a center in Woodside and politicians including Councilwoman Jessica Lappin (D-Manhattan), chairwoman of the council’s Aging Committee, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) and state Sen. Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria), arrived at Ravenswood to show support for centers in jeopardy.

“As elected officials we can’t do too much for senior centers,” said Van Bramer, whose elderly mother was by his side. “When we win this fight we will have a big party, and I promise my mother will be there.”

Van Bramer said he did not know why the Ravenswood and Queensbridge centers were targeted for closure. He said there are 80 New York City Housing Authority centers citywide, including ones at Ravenswood and Queensbridge, 41 of which are on the hit list. “That’s disproportionate,” Van Bramer said, adding that the city “unfairly targeted senior centers in some of the poorest neighborhoods.”

Seniors at Ravenswood and Queensbridge said they were ready to fight. “We have rocks, we have bottles,” one woman joked, before elected officials were presented with the true weapons — signed petitions.

This week, Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D-Astoria) sent 100 petitions from seniors in her district, along with a letter, to Mayor Bloomberg and Department for the Aging Commissioner, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli. She asked them to reconsider the city’s plan to close down more than 100 senior centers, including the CCNS Steinway Senior Center, located in the community she represents.

“Our state Legislature has worked in good faith towards keeping our city’s senior centers open, and I’m confident that will be reflected in the final budget,” Simotas said. “Instead of spreading anxiety among our seniors by threatening to take away the services they depend on every day, the city should join us in finding constructive ways to prevent these facilities from closing.”