A dozen senior centers are on de Blasio's budget cutting chopping block.

Queens Chronicle

 
Four senior centers and clubs in Queens are among 12 in New York City Housing Authority complexes that have been targeted for closure in Mayor de Blasio’s 2019-20 executive budget.

The administration says the centers up for closure are underutilized, are in poor condition or both; under the mayor’s plan seniors in the affected centers or clubs would be bused to ones nearby by the city’s Department for the Aging.

In Queens, the sites on the list include the centers or clubs at the Baisley Park Houses and Shelton Houses in Jamaica; the Bland Houses in Flushing; and the Astoria Houses.

In response to an inquiry from the Chronicle, the Mayor’s Office submitted a quote from the mayor in last month’s budget address, and comments made by DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez during her testimony to the Council.

“There will be a cost effective new approach to providing seniors in public housing with access to senior centers rather than the ‘senior clubs’ that had been provided by NYCHA directly,” de Blasio said. “Those clubs, we found were underutilized, could not provide the same quality of service as our DFTA programs could. So, seniors will go to an established senior center that specializes in supporting seniors. There’ll be free transportation provided that will also save us money while providing a better product to our seniors.”

“[M]any of these senior centers were not meeting essential senior center health and safety standards,” Cortes-Vazquez said. “Many are not [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant and have chronic leaks, flooding and sewage back-up. Additionally, several have low participation rates that resulted in higher than usual per-participant costs.”

But the administration is taking fire from all directions from the City Council.

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) acknowledged that the Shelton Houses building is not a sprawling complex like some other NYCHA developments; and that its senior club is a modest one.

“But it provides vital services,” he said. “And for the sake of saving a few bucks, they’re going to force elderly residents to travel a half mile every day ... It’s just another effort to try and squeeze money out of the NYCHA budget.”

Councilwoman Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) said the proposed $800,000 in savings is relative pocket change in the context of a $92.5 billion budget, and that the Baisley Houses center long has suffered from neglect by the city.

“Of course when you don’t offer programs and you don’t keep them in good condition, people are going to stop coming — and then you say they are underutilized?” Adams said. “We’ve seen that closure method before in communities of color.”

In response to de Blasio’s budget proposal last month, Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) expressed disappointment that the mayor did not consider savings of $1 billion that the Council recommended in order to keep some of its priorities funded.
“We made a good-faith effort,” Lancman said of the Council’s counteroffer. “And we got the back of the hand from the mayor.”

And if the mayor’s intention is frugality, Councilman Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) and state Senate Deputy Leader Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria) are questioning why the Astoria Houses center is set to shut down just weeks after a $500,000 refurbishment is going to be completed, with money Constantinides secured from the Council in 2014.

“Astoria Houses seniors’ excitement about moving into an upgraded center quickly turned into despair over these proposed budget cuts,” the councilman said in a statement issued with Gianaris. 

“Instead of paying for buses to another center almost two miles away, I ask the administration keep this center open to not disrupt the daily lives of Astoria Houses seniors.”

“Seniors rely on this center for hot meals and recreation but even more importantly to foster a sense of community we cannot put a price on,” Gianaris said. “I urge the administration to do the right thing by our seniors and revisit this proposal so we can keep the doors open.”