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

Times Newsweekly Article

More Rallies To Stop Elderly Ctr. Closures

Thursday, March 24, 2011

By: Robert Pozarycki

Publication & Publisher: Times Newsweekly

City Council Member Karen Koslowitz (standing at podium) and other elected officials and community activists rallied at the Young Israel of Forest Hills Senior League last Thursday, Mar. 17, to protest proposed budget cuts that would result in the closure of the facility and more than 100 other senior centers across the five boroughs.
(photo: Nicholas Biondo)

City Council Member Julissa Ferreras (standing at podium) along with State Sen. Jose Peralta, City Council Member Daniel Dromm and Borough President Helen Marshall also protested senior center cutbacks during a rally at the Florence E. Smith Senior Center in Corona last Saturday, Mar. 19.
(photo: Nicholas Biondo)

With the Apr. 1 state budget deadline fast approaching, local lawmakers and advocates for the elderly are continuing to press Albany to resist any plans to slash funding for local senior centers which would result in the closure of a number of facilities around Queens.

Elected officials gathered with seniors at the Young Israel of Forest Hills Senior League last Thursday, Mar. 17, to call upon Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other state lawmakers to scrap plans to reduce federal Title XX funding for senior services across the state. Two days later, a similar rally was held by legislators and local activists at the Florence E. Smith Senior Center in Corona on Mar. 19.

As previously reported, Young Israel and Florence E. Smith are among the more than 100 senior centers identified by the Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City as being in danger of closure if the proposed Title XX reduction in Cuomo's preliminary executive budget is adopted in the final budget.

Both the State Assembly and Senate have adopted their own budgets which reinstate the proposed funding reductions for senior centers. Legislative leaders and representatives of the governor are currently in the process of negotiating a final budget, which by law must be approved by Apr. 1.

To make matters worse, City Council Member Karen Koslowitz noted, Young Israel is the only senior center that provides glatt kosher meals to its clients. Should it be forced to shut down, she said, many Jewish seniors who observe kosher dietary standards would have nowhere to turn for a hot meal on a daily basis.

"Seniors are a vital link in our community and have made great con- tributions to our city. We cannot balance the budget during this tough time off their backs," Koslowitz said. "These seniors will have nowhere else to go if this center is closed. I applaud the Assembly and Senate for restoring the Title XX funding, and ask that Governor Cuomo do the same."

The Council member was joined at the rally at Young Israel by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, City Council Member David Greenfield— who chairs the Council's Subcommittee on Senior Centers—State Sen. Toby Stavisky, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio and Young Israel of Forest Hills Senior League Director Susan Rabinowitz.

"I don't remember a time, since I have been serving in government, that senior centers and services faced such devastating reductions," Marshall added. "But the proposed cuts by the mayor to senior services in fiscal year 2012 is in excess of $63 million, and the borough president's discretionary funding for aging services has been eliminated."

Even with news that the Assembly, State Senate and Governor Cuomo are trying to work out a spending plan that could preserve Title XX funding for senior centers, Marshall observed that "none of us can breathe a sigh of relief" as "the city cuts are still looming and they are even more devastating than what the governor has proposed."

"Board 6 strongly opposed the closing of our senior centers, particularly Young Israel, since they are one of the few that serve glatt kosher food," stated Board 6 Chairperson Joseph Hennessy. "Our seniors have paid their taxes, and it is now time that government pays them back by not closing centers."

"Our center serves as a home away from home and often it is the only hot glatt kosher meal of the day that they eat and the only opportunity to socialize," said Rabinowitz. "Depression and sickness would be sure to follow" if it closed. "Who will bear these new costs?"