By Ivan Pereira
Recent city budget issues and a restructuring of senior services have left Queens' elders in a dire predicament, City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) warned Tuesday.
By planning to reduce the Department for the Aging's case managers, Meals on Wheel programs and senior centers over the last 18 months, the city will endanger thousands of seniors who are in need of mental and physical support, according to the councilman.
“We've heard a lot about efficiency. We've heard a lot about cost. We've got bean counters who have never met a senior citizen or know what's going on,” he told a news conference at Borough Hall.
Gennaro announced that he will not let the mayor's changes hurt seniors and unveiled a plan to help those residents during these tough economic times. He was joined by Borough President Helen Marshall, City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and City Councilman Anthony Como (R-Middle Village), who all agreed that the Department for the Aging was underestimating the needs of the 374,000 Queens residents who are older than 65.
“I remember when there was nothing for senior citizens,” Marshall said. “We don't want to regress, we want to progress.”
The department reduced the number of independent case management service contracts throughout the city and restructured how the Meals on Wheels program operates. Instead of serving hot meals five days a week, Meals on Wheels will now give seniors meals that can be heated up twice a week, according to the nonprofit group the Council of Senior Centers & Services of NYC Inc.
In October, RFPs for 329 city senior centers will run out and the department has said it was likely that some senior centers would close.
In his 11-point plan, Gennaro called on the department to give impact statements for its proposed changes that indicate how the cuts will affect seniors for the next 10 years, including service enhancements and diminishments and proposed counteractions.
He also asked for the city to reconsider the way it handles which senior citizen centers should be closed since it calculates the usage of those facilities based on the number of people who eat lunch there.
“People don't go to senior centers just for meals anymore. They go to socialize, to learn about computers, to be taken care off,” Comrie said.
The elected officials said the most important part of the plan was for the city to give senior service providers and the elders they represent a strong voice in policy.
Interested residents will have a chance to sound off during a special town hall forum hosted by City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis), Comrie and Gennaro Tuesday at Queens College.
Dr. Linda Leest, the Queens-based Services Now for Adult Persons director, applauded the leaders' stance on the issue and urged the city to reconsider its proposals.
“Clients are going to fall through the cracks,” she said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
