Group to meet with seniors
First meeting set for May 23
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » In order to gauge the concerns of senior citizens within the city, the mayor’s Senior Advisory Committee will host a series of neighborhood meetings over the next several months.
The first meeting, scheduled for May 23 at the Embury Café from 3 until 4:30 p.m., is for seniors living in the neighborhood north of Church and Van Dam streets and west of the arterial. Mayor Meg Kelly, Commissioner of Public Safety Peter Martin, and senior center Executive Director Lois Celeste will provide short presentations before discussing issues with seniors.
“We feel like we needed to reach into neighborhoods to get people to be able to express their needs and desires and to get their questions answered,” said Barbara Thomas, a member. “The committee has in the past done forums that were aimed at seniors city-wide. We felt we needed to bring our organization closer to where seniors are, and to get more seniors involved.”
Thomas said Martin plans to address topics such as scams that senior citizens should be aware of, and street crossing and accessibility, while Celeste will discuss programs offered at the senior center, including Senior Connections, which matches volunteers to provide services to seniors in need.
The committee works directly with the senior center.
According to the city website, the group is a non-political committee, which is appointed by the mayor. Currently, there are 14 members of the committee. The committee, according to its website, aims to: elicit senior concerns, raise awareness, report back to the mayor, and advocate for solutions to the needs of seniors; increase access and mobility for seniors within an age friendly community; enhance opportunities for seniors to participate fully in the life of the community; advocate for support services for seniors; attend meetings of organizations that are of significance to senior issues and to serve as a liaison between seniors and the mayor and the members of the City Council.
Although the second meeting hasn’t been officially scheduled, the committee plans to meet with the southeast side of the city in June. The meeting will most likely take place at the Rec Center.
“We thought by having them in different neighborhoods, you get more participation and more different ideas, because neighborhoods might have different needs,” said Thomas. “The neighbors might see things differently.”
Thomas hopes senior citizens can discover the necessary information from Kelly, Martin and Celeste, while explaining to the city ideas they believe the city should be working on.