Senior Spotlight By John Toscano
Senior Centers Meet Power Blackout Challenge

Photo Luis Rocha Like many other senior centers, the Peter J. Della Monica Senior Center in Astoria was a haven for older residents during the power outage that afflicted Northwestern Queens. Seniors kept cool despite the heat.

The immense value of the senior centers in the areas stricken by the power outage was once again demonstrated during this unforgivable ordeal which deprived thousands of seniors and their families of the usual comfort of their homes.

As they do every day throughout the year, the centers in Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, Sunnyside and Hunters Point provided the distraught seniors with a refuge where they could congregate to enjoy the companionship of others caught up in the same disturbing circumstances.

They were able to share their problems with others experiencing the same burdens and deprivation, and perhaps, also to talk of more pleasant matters from times past.

The centers and their expert staffs also provided the opportunity to get help with special problems such as assisting someone with a particularly serious medical condition that needed attention or making sure that safe and proper life-saving medication was made available in place of daily medicines that might have been rendered unusable by refrigerators made useless by the lack of electrical power.

Surely the centers provided food and sustenance to members who were cut off from their usual food supplies, and had transportation available to enable people to keep doctors' appointments that could not be missed.

For all these reasons making the centers a welcome port in a storm during this most distressing period local lawmakers are to be commended for being so aggressive in years past in fighting to secure the funds to preserve the centers as a homeaway from-home for thousands of seniors in our neighborhoods.

MARSHALL'S 'RESOURCE GUIDE' READY: Queens Borough President Helen Marshall announced recently that the most popular publication produced by her office, the "Senior Citizen Resource Guide", is now available by calling her office in Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens at 718-286-2864.

Marshall described the useful guide as filled with 49 pages of information about how, where and when to get help for everything from in-home support services to housing and transportation to crime-stopping security services.

MALTESE UPDATE ON 'STAR' BENEFIT: In a wrap-up of benefits approved in the recently concluded legislative session in Albany, state Senator Serphin Maltese reminded seniors that improvements were made in the STAR property tax rebate program for seniors.

Maltese (R-C, Middle Village) says there will be an increase in the existing personal income tax credit for New York City homeowners, including seniors and younger homeowners.

He points out, "the new tax credit would be in addition to the existing federal and state deductions for local property taxes, STAR payments and the state circuit-breaker tax credit."

Under the new program created by the state legislature and Governor George Pataki in the new budget, says Maltese, "current STAR recipients will automatically be mailed tax credit forms [and] under state law, refund checks must be mailed within 45 days of the receipt of the claim form by the state Department of Taxation and Finance."

So make sure you check your mailbox every day and be alert for the documents mentioned by Maltese.

PADAVAN ATTACKS GOV'S VETO: Pledging to continue his efforts for the legislation he sponsored to provide transit service for seniors between Queens and Nassau Counties, state Senator Frank Padavan (R-C, Bellerose) declared: "I'm troubled that this bill was vetoed [by Gov. George Pataki] for questionable technical reasons and I truly feel for those seniors whose lives this affects. Our high-needs residents are the one's who lost with this veto. This bill could have corrected a major inconvenience. I am going to keep pressing to have this legislation passed, whether it's later this year when we reconvene or during the 2007 legislative session. I believe this is an important and necessary bill."

The bill in question was sponsored by Assemblymember Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck) in the lower house. Padavan also revealed that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates public bus service in the entire state, also opposed the bill which authorizes inter-county service between Queens and Nassau for seniors and disabled passengers.

STOCK PRESENTATION: On Tuesday, August 1, The Selfhelp Austin Street Senior Center will present "The Stockbroker's Bond" by Milton Bloch, starting at 1:30 p.m. The center is located at 106-06 Queens Blvd., Forest Hills. For more information, call 718-520-8197.