Koslowitz Decries $39 Million In Proposed Senior Cuts

City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, D-Forest Hills, has spent much of this year speaking out against Mayor Michael Bloomberg for making senior services a target of budget cuts.

Now, Koslowitz is raising her voice again, this time with the Council of Senior Centers and Services.

In a release sent out this week, Koslowitz decried the plan to cut millions of dollars in senior services in the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, along with CSCS Public Policy Director Bobbie Sackman.

“It is unconscionable that the administration is going after seniors in the budget,” Koslowitz said. “For as difficult as past budgets were in the 1980’s and 90’s, we were able to cut back without harming senior services. While some funding was recently restored, it is not enough.”

Recently, more than 100 senior centers in the city were threatened with closure before funds were restored. Two of those centers were located in Forest Hills.

Currently, Bloomberg’s budget proposal calls for the elimination of $39 million in funds for the Department for the Aging. DFTA funds pay for everything from senior meals to shuttles that take seniors from their homes to centers to participate in activities.

“Seniors find themselves dancing in quicksand as millions of dollars are lost and services disappear just as the age revolution is upon us,” Sackman said. “We urge New Yorkers to call Mayor Bloomberg at 311 and urge him to not cut the elderly. The Department for the Aging has taken enough cuts.”

The CSCS has a list on its website of the programs that are likely to be cut. They run the gamut from meals on wheels reductions to elder abuse prevention funding.

Koslowitz said the cuts have to stop to protect residents who depend on senior centers.

“Cutting senior services will be disastrous for our city,” she said. “I am calling for the full restoration of funds to senior services as well as to our borough presidents, who fund key senior programs.”