This is a Continuation of the Senior Center Saga

News from Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz

3107 Kingsbridge Avenue

Bronx, New York 10463

(718) 796-5345

dinowitzj@assembly.state.ny.us

For Immediate Release Contact: Raffi Holoszyc-Pimentel

March 7, 2011 (718) 796-5345

Assemblyman Dinowitz leads the fight to save over 100 senior centers

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging, is fighting tooth and nail to save over 100 senior centers in New York City from closure.

In February, Assemblyman Dinowitz sent a letter to New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver signed by 54 New York City Assembly Democrats calling for the restoration of $25 million in proposed Title XX funding cuts in the 2011-2012 state budget. As a result of these proposed cuts, Mayor Bloomberg has announced that 105 senior centers that serve many thousands of seniors in New York City will close. Assemblyman Dinowitz is fighting to make the restoration of this critical funding and keeping these senior centers open a top priority during budget negotiations.

             Assemblyman Dinowitz is calling on Mayor Bloomberg to make keeping these senior centers open his priority as well. Assemblyman Dinowitz said, “Mayor Bloomberg should insist these senior centers stay open. How can the City waste hundreds of millions of dollars on the over-budget Croton Water Filtration Plant, the fraudulent CityTime contract, and the Department of Education’s no-bid contracts and highly paid outside consultants, but when it comes to critical, beneficial funding for senior citizens, they get kicked to the curb?”

On Friday, Assemblyman Dinowitz, along with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., State Senators Ruben Diaz Sr. and Jose M. Serrano, and Assembly Members Marcos Crespo, Vanessa Gibson, Eric Stevenson, and Naomi Rivera, rallied on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse to oppose Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed closing of the senior centers.

“As Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging, I am leading the fight in the Assembly to restore Title XX funding for New York City senior centers.  I am confident that the Assembly will insist on this restoration.  I will not rest until all of this money is restored, which, among other things, would save the Van Cortlandt Senior Center,” said Assemblyman Dinowitz.