Letter: Amherst Seniors Need and Deserve a New Building
The new South Hadley Senior Center. Photo: southhadley.org
We serve as volunteers on behalf of the elderly population of the Town of Amherst. We represent the interests of more than 5,500 senior citizens and concerned members of their families through the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center and the Amherst Council on Aging.
On January 8, we took the opportunity to address the Amherst Town Council about some of our many concerns. The Amherst Senior Center is understaffed and underfunded. Similar towns, such as South Hadley, spend about $117 per senior per year for its senior center, while Amherst spends only slightly more than $45. South Hadley has seven full time staff members at their senior center while Amherst has only four.
Many towns in the Pioneer Valley have chosen to build new, modern and efficient senior centers to offer a vast variety of programs while Amherst has chosen to drastically reduce the amount of space for its seniors. South Hadley offers 16,000 square feet of space for activities while Amherst offers barely over 2,000 sq. ft. dedicated to the senior center. Three other rooms are shared by the seven organizations housed at the Bangs Community Center.
Our present facility doesn’t pass Massachusetts State Code. The kitchen of the Bangs Center is so woefully inadequate that the Senior Center can serve little more than coffee and donuts. The safety of the entire facility would also benefit from the installation of security cameras.
The needs of Amherst seniors have been neglected for far too long!
We have gathered out of deep concern for the wellbeing of Amherst’s senior population. We intend to bring about positive change for Amherst’s seniors. As members of the Council on Aging and the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center we plan to work with the Amherst Town Council to provide Amherst’s seniors the building and services they so richly deserve.
Please express your support for Amherst’s seniors to members of the Amherst Town Council because while its members are elected to serve you, they can’t if they aren’t aware of your wishes.
Dick Yourga
Jenanne Horrigan
Dennis Vandal
Marc Barrette
Dick Yourga is President of the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center.
Jeanne Horrigan is President of the Amherst Council on Aging.
Dennis Vandal is a member of both the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center and the Council on Aging.
Marc Barrette is a member of both the Friends of the Amherst Senior Center and the Council on Aging.
The disparity between Amherst’s expenditure on seniors and what surrounding communities spend is another example of Amherst’s need to reassess its priorities. There is a case to be made for a better Senior Center in Amherst. There is also an overwhelming need to avoid adding yet another major capital expenditure to the budget, given the town’s decrepit roads and streets, and the plans for multimillion dollar expenditures on a new Fire Station, DPW building, elementary school and library renovation.
Seniors (of which, I am one) must recognize the need to constrain town spending along with the need for improved senior services. We need to advocate for our own needs, but must bear in mind those needs include keeping a lid on the town budget and the taxes everyone must pay. Having a shiny new center to go to will not mean much if property taxes increase to the point where seniors on fixed incomes find they must move to cheaper communities.
Not a few towns have repurposed old elementary schools into apartments for seniors. While Wildwood Elementary School would be difficult to rehab into apartments, Amherst should take a close look at it to fulfill some of the program needs currently inadequately being met by the Jones Library and Bangs Center.