BP MARKOWITZ STATEMENT ON DFTA DECISION TO WITHDRAW SENIOR CENTER RFP

“This RFP was part of a woefully ill-informed plan, and I’m gratified that Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and the Department for the Aging (DFTA) have answered our call for its withdrawal. I, along with advocacy groups and many of our City’s senior residents, have testified and spoken out repeatedly against this plan, and it is heartening that DFTA is taking action to correct at least part of its mistake. As president of the borough with the most seniors in New York City, I have been urging DFTA to scrap this RFP as well as the misguided reorganization plan that could have resulted in the closing of 89 of the City’s 329 senior centers, a third of which are located in Brooklyn.

On top of everything, this RFP did not add any new funding to accomplish its goals—it simply would have taken discretionary money from the borough presidents and City Council, while stripping away the rights and judgment of elected officials to support the non-profits that we know best address aging concerns in the neighborhoods we represent. When it comes to the needs of our boroughs and distribution of such resources, no one has a more holistic, informed view of the boroughs’ needs than the BP offices—and this effort to disenfranchise the boroughs is not in the best interests of our residents and their families, to say the least.

It is my sincere hope that the Mayor and City Council, DFTA, elected officials, and others can now work together to modernize senior services without cutting critical services that protect our residents in their ‘maturer’ years. I welcome the appointment of Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, and I look forward to working with her to create a plan for seniors that keeps communities and borough presidents involved. I am sure that together we can come up with a strong, fair, community-sensitive plan that effectively responds to the genuine needs of seniors.”