Golden Speaks Out Against Closing Senior Centers

Senator Golden says he will not let our senior centers shut down, and it seems the rest of the State Senate agrees.

The legislative body voted on Tuesday to approve a budget recommendation that would maintain the current level of Title XX Funding, and they’re hoping the State Assembly will join them in stopping the cuts, which directly funds senior centers. Seven Sheepshead Bay-area senior centers are in danger of closing as part of system-wide cuts that’ll see 105 centers shuttered across all five boroughs, and 31 in Brooklyn.

“The State Senate today decided that we will not allow the proposed Governor’s $25 million cut to senior centers in the City of New York in our budget. Closing senior centers will be detrimental to the health and well-being of thousands of New Yorkers,” Golden said in a press release.

The closures are part of a $25 million budget cut handed down from Albany, and the Bloomberg administration is saying that the 105 centers account for a whopping 40 percent of the entire system.

If the closings go into effect it would leave as many as 8,000 of 28,000 people in New York City’s 256 centers without meals, friendly visits and activities.

“We hope that the State Assembly joins us in sending a budget recommendation to the Governor that also maintains the current level of funding for our senior centers,” Golden added. “We all know how important a neighborhood senior center is to the health, well-being and livelihood of a senior citizen here in New York and such services must continue.”