Seniors push for newer van in Community Development Block Grant hearing

ALDEN. A crowd of seniors packed a public hearing Sept. 21 to urge the Town Board to seek federal Community Development Block Grant money for a newer senior van.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant program, often shortened to CDBG, allocates federal funds to states and localities for community development work projects that are designed to help residents with low and moderate incomes. Eligible activities include public facilities and improvements such as community centers.

Prior CDBG awards total over $250,000 since 2014 have helped pay for the community center, park bathrooms, and a senior van that transports seniors throughout the village as well as a monthly trip to Eastern Hills Mall. That the town hangs its CDBG hat on seniors because the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which facilitates the CDBG, presumes that people 62 years and older are mostly low and moderate income.

The hearing invited fresh project ideas for the next draft. Liz Steinbrucker said the current van is about 15 years old and the wheelchair lift does not work, recalling a time a woman in a wheelchair could not be picked up. Senior van driver George Kumpf said the wheelchair access does not work, running boards are rusting, the front end is out of alignment, and brakes are starting to fail. Driver Terry Scutt said mileage and fuel use have more than doubled since April as more clients fill the schedule. Other seniors said they rely on the van for shopping, medical trips, and getting to the senior center.

Residents also floated a band shell. Board members said a senior van fits the grant's seniors focus better than a band shell would. Asked whether the town could seek money for the van and something else, board members said they still had to sort which ideas go on the submission and that the town should ask for the moon, meaning put in for as much as the program will allow, then take the van request to a work session and likely put a resolution on the next agenda for the draft.